Hacker News Reader

Comment by robocat | Hacker News Reader

> line cooks

I agree with you. However it is interesting that Charlie Ayers (employee #53 as a cook at Google), made millions when his stocks vested.

View on HN

I have a friend who's actually a line cook. He has absolutely been touched by these types of code competitions - in his case, because of the interest it fostered in his kids. He's working hard to support them to follow their dream of being a SWE and he has a pretty darn good understanding of their interest in these types of competitions.

The reach of these programs isn't limited to people who work in an office. The impact is broad and includes many people across different industries and different economic/cultural divides -- because it's a program for their kids.

Charlie was not a "line cook." That's someone who takes prepped ingredients and combines them into a dish according to directions, and may in fact have zero ability to choose and create dishes himself.

I don't know if he'd call himself "executive chef" but that's more like his job description.

Aye. This guy was a pro chef hired to cater to a cash-rich start up.

Not a college dropout working the prep line, or, like many of the kitchens in the US, a Hispanic guy with semi-passable English skills and who may-or-may not be here legally.

Charlie got lucky.

he got lucky, but when they said, "We'll give you some stock in lieu of a big salary" he had to say Yes. How many chefs would do that?

>> "We'll give you some stock in lieu of a big salary"

big tech salary or big restaurant salary? The difference is 10x

How much do you think an executive chef at a successful restaurant in the Bay Area makes?

I'm not surprised that google has cooks as employees — but it's surprising to know they were hiring a cook when they had at most 52 other employees!

It's not that surprising to me. Ships with a crew of 8 will have a cook to feed everyone. Eating is pretty essential, and I think they were working pretty hard at the office back in those days.

When you're on a ship you don't have the option to walk into town or call for takeout so having a chef is essential. As a software company, food is a very nice perk but it is a perk. In my personal experience lots of companies outside of tech work equivalently hard but almost never have food provided.

Don't get me wrong, I really like food as a perk - it fosters cohesion and encourages people to form social bonds that help your company make it through difficult times etc, but it's far from the norm in other industries (except for media and entertainment where on-set catering is absolutely expected it seems).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com