I spent five years working for Google, and I got good annual reviews, yet nearly all my work was wasted, much of it thrown away before it ever hit the public, and through no fault of mine or of our development team - and I left 14 years ago now.

Even at the time, I and other people working there believed that at least some of Google's tremendous hiring spree was to suck all of the oxygen out of the room for other software companies.