>>tech-h+(OP)
Google works like crazy to hire all of the smartest and the best people, but do they really need them? Billions and billions in shareholder value could be extracted by hiring a bunch of mid-tier Java programmers and having them farm Ad Words for the next decade, until the first competition shows up.
>>whatsh+Ac
> until the first competition shows up
Their worry is that competition will be started by the people they've not hired and kept on the bench. I'd imagine a large amount of their top-level hiring is driven by taking minds off of the market, more than optimising their output.
>>KirinD+Fh
Some people are brilliant but just want to be financially comfortable enough to do the things they actually want to do. Ask some CS majors why they are trying to get into the field and a huge swath with frankly say it's because they can bust ass now and get six figures at 22 years old and coast the rest of their lives. Not exactly the reality, but that's what freshman CS majors are thinking about when they hand their resume to the google rep during the career fair.