>Answer: I think it's really true. A suprisingly large fraction of the smartest programmers in the world do* work here.*
Not so sure about this. There are people that are smart for solving math problems and IQ style quizzes and such, and there are also people that are smart with language, patterns, empathy, creativity etc ("Emotional Intelligence" also doesn't cut it to describe this kind of smart completely).
I've met several IQ 140+ people that are basically stupid in lots of ways and incompetent of doing anything with their lives, much less contribute to society. Some of them thrive only on some small niche areas (like chess or speaking many languages).
I think there are smart programmers in both of the categories that I have described, and a process like Google's is mainly getting the first kind.
> a process like Google's is mainly getting the first kind
They might have decided long ago that they largely need just the first kind but how are you going to communicate that sort of preference and why should you..
Not so sure about this. There are people that are smart for solving math problems and IQ style quizzes and such, and there are also people that are smart with language, patterns, empathy, creativity etc ("Emotional Intelligence" also doesn't cut it to describe this kind of smart completely).
I've met several IQ 140+ people that are basically stupid in lots of ways and incompetent of doing anything with their lives, much less contribute to society. Some of them thrive only on some small niche areas (like chess or speaking many languages).
I think there are smart programmers in both of the categories that I have described, and a process like Google's is mainly getting the first kind.