Facebook Chief Technology Officer Adam D'Angelo has left the company and
will not be replaced, a company spokesperson told eWEEK May 12.
The company confirmed it is looking to hire a vice president of engineering
in his stead.
While the blog AllFacebook.com reports that the arrival of Chief
Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg from Google is causing dissension among the
programming-minded executive ranks at Facebook, a person familiar with the
company's plans told eWEEK that D'Angelo was simply burnt out and needed to
take time off.
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D'Angelo was responsible for "new product design and
architecture," as well as leading the site's infrastructure to ensure
expansion and scalability, according to his biography on the company's Web
site.
But Facebook has experienced rocketlike growth, which often leads to an
increase in bureaucracy. In the thick of this as a C-level executive, D'Angelo
was feeling that pressure.
As a technologist, and formerly one of the top 24 finalists in the
international Topcoder Collegiate Challenge, D'Angelo's interests are more in
step with engineering and programming than helping to manage a rapidly growing
company.
To be sure, Facebook's executives have a lot more pressure and demands since
the company launched four years ago, particularly with the increase in
competition for socially generated online advertising.
If D'Angelo wasn't ready to help CEO and
high-school buddy Mark Zuckerberg and Sandberg in the company's war room as
they strategize about how to beat Google, MySpace and a host of others in
making money from social ads, the decision to leave was a wise one.
One less C-level executive means one less manager to consult in strategic
decisions, and a vice president of engineering will align more consistently
with Facebook's current technological tier of vice presidents.
The source also said D'Angelo did not say he was leaving to join another
company. Moreover, he is not expected to return to Facebook when he is done
taking his time off. At 23, D'Angelo's future remains wide open. Where will he
end up?
Indeed, the departure turns a growing trend of executive reversals a bit on
its ear. In the last six months, several Google executives, seeking new
challenges or perhaps tired of an increasingly bureaucratic environment, left
the company to join Facebook.
These include Sandberg, Gideon Yu, Ethan Beard and, most recently, Elliot Schrage, who is joining Facebook this
week as vice president of global communications and public affairs.
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