Silicon Valley Hiring Perks: Meals, iPads and a Cubicle for Spot

"But even with a glut of engineers on the job market, few have the skills that tech companies look for, said Cadir Lee, chief technology officer at Zynga. Colleges rarely teach the newer programming languages like PHP, Ruby and Python, which have become more popular at young Web companies than older ones like Java, he said."<p>That seems a little demeaning to portray a computer science education as one of languages and syntax. It's not about learning PHP or Ruby; it's about learning programming paradigms, concepts, algorithms, etc to make better software.<p>Perhaps the author of the article isn't particularly versed on how the CS =&#62; Software jobs process works. But to suggest that many engineers can't find jobs because they weren't taught PHP in school is grossly incorrect.<p>Does anyone actually know of academic programs that teach PHP?

Maybe it's just my age showing, but going to work somewhere because they're buying you an iPad seems totally ludicrous. One would think that with a $90,000 salary, a $500 tablet should not be a deciding factor.

"Then there are salaries. Google is paying computer science majors just out of college $90,000 to $105,000, as much as $20,000 more than it was paying a few months ago."<p>That's a pretty remarkable stat.

This has been happening for the past 12 years. At ArsDigita you got 100k, free food, massages and weekend drives in a Ferarri. And that was to compete with places like "Sapient" who offered more money. Even further back in ancient history, I believe Symbolics used the same approach to recruiting. I guess the new twist is that Google and Facebook can actually afford these salaries and perks.

"Shannon Callahan, who recruits engineers for the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s portfolio of companies, said a third of the engineers she called ask for financing to start their own companies instead."<p>This seems like it would be the biggest problem in finding top talent.

90k for entry level is pretty crazy. Any Googlers in the Atlanta area who can give the range in those parts now?

"cubicle for spot"? What does that mean?

Not a bubble!

So proud to be working with two of the startups mentioned in the article.

This article makes many claims. A few of the claims I am in a position to verify, and all of these are false.<p>This observation does not give me confidence that the other claims are true.