Is Sundar Pichai a good programmer to to be the CEO of Google?
Here goes the answer.
No, he is not a good programmer, he may have basic programming skills. He's a great leader and product manager. First of all check his background before joining Google in 2004.
Background:
Sundar Pichai was born in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India in 1972 to Tamil parents Lakshmi & Regunatha Pichai. His father Regunatha Pichai was a senior electrical engineer for the British conglomerate General Electric Company (GEC) and managed a factory that made electrical components.
Education:
Pichai earned his degree from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT KGP) in Metallurgical Engineering. Sundar's professors at IIT recommended he pursue a PhD at Stanford University, but he decided to pursue MS and MBA degrees instead. He holds an MS from Stanford University in Material Sciences and Engineering and an MBA from the The Wharton School, where he was named a "Siebel scholar and a Palmer Scholar.
Pichai worked in engineering and product management at Applied materials and in management consulting at McKinsey & Company.
He joined Google in 2004 as VP, product management , overseeing research & consumer products. Some of exceptional qualities of Sundar Pichai , which helped him to reach the top position at Google:
Politics navigator: One of the important reason for Pichai's rise, industry insiders say, has been his ability to navigate the politics of $365 b company. Pichai was skilled at staying out of politics and drama at Google.
Solution finder:
He is one of the guy who knows the solution of the most problems. Instead of being someone who interjects throughout a meeting, he sits at the back, listens, and, once everyone has had their say, delivers an idea that works for everyone.
Great leader: He is known to promote good people as opposed to the one who are political and opportunistic. His reputation of being a fun manager to work under means people want to transfer to his teams helping him build strong set-ups.
Great Connector: Another's of Pichai's major skills is his connection with Page, who talks more concepts and big ideas. It is often left to Pichai to translate Page's vision to specific goals.
Charismatic memory: Pichai has an unusual gift that seemed little more than a curiosity to him when he was a child, but has served him incredibly well in adulthood: he has insane numerical recall and can remember every number he's ever dialed. Also, he holds really deep knowledge about Google's various products.
Conclusion:
Well, only programming isn't enough to take you that high. You must have certain qualities. There are already many brilliant programmers working in Google.
A good programmers knows:
How to write a great piece of code.
How to make an app, which works great in a device.
To find bugs and fix them.
But leaders are different:
They know what people want.
They know what people like the most. They have a vision.
They know how to manage and how to inspire people to do work, how to make them work.
They know where their company is heading. What they are going to do 5 years from now.
They know how to overcome the competition.
They know about the problems of people. They observe tiny little details.
