Facebook Inc(NASDAQ:FB), the world's top social
networking site, has opened its first research and development centre outside
the United States in London.
Increasingly more of Facebook's population is from
outside the U.S. and setting up an engineering centre outside its home country
is recognition of this fact.
According to Tech Crunch, this development has two
sides to it. From the point of view of the London tech scene it is a positive
development as it attests to the engineering talent in the city as Facebook
follows others who have already established their presence here, such as Google
and Amazon among others.
However it also poses a challenge as tech- start-ups
in London have realised.
Big companies like Facebook and Google act as
irresistible magnets for bright young talent, who do not then join the
start-ups in the country.
It creates a challenging environment for small
companies that look to hire engineers but find that they are all drawn away by
these larger corporations.
Facebook has appointed Philip Su, one of its top-notch
engineers, in charge of the London operations. Su had led the company in its
integration with Skype. The engineers it
has working on the team include those who have been instrumental in developing
such features as App Centre, Timeline, Ticker and photo products.
Tech Crunch said, "That points to Facebook more
or less creating a mirror structure here in London, working in a number of
different areas rather than focusing necessarily only on services it might roll
out outside the U.S."
No comments:
Post a Comment