The Adventures of Marissa Mayer

Ah, geek celebrity. While publicly Google is viewed as a meritocracy, working there you quickly realize that it's very much a hierarchy of intimidation and arrogance. You may have great ideas, but if you really want to be successful you need one of the Google engineering celebrities to back your play. These "chosen ones" aren't in their position because they necessarily have the best ideas; in fact, many of the good ideas at Google are never explored because folks with social influence express doubt. Marissa Mayer isn't the only one in engineering, she's just the most famous.<p>As the company increases in size, the meritocracy of ideas fades and being a good politician becomes more important. While it's not the primary reason I left after five years, it was certainly a consideration.

It's unfair to men that the technical press ignores our sex appeal, bulging crotches and foresting chest-hair, and focuses instead on the tiresome minutia of our work and accomplishments.

Note: the article is from 2008. I thought it was more recent. Still doesn't take away from the content though.

Aaah.. the subtle sexist bias even in Marissa comes through. From the article:<p>Indeed, Mayer invokes her mother a lot, which makes sense, given her steadfast devotion to the ease of the end user.

Another Marissa Mayer article that boils down to "hey look, a girl!".

Surely one of the most unimpressive, boring people in technology. Her distinction: she was in the right place at the right time.