Nikita Shamgunov told The Bell about working at Microsoft and Facebook, talking with Gates and the MemSQL database

Photo: RBC

The Bell published an interview with Nikita Shamgunov yesterday. They called him one of the best programmers in Russia, and even if not to be categorical, he is really cool. Since childhood, he studied mathematics and computer science, took third place at the World Championships on sports programming, worked at Microsoft and Facebook, and then created his MemSQL database, which is used by Uber, Samsung, Comcast and many others.

We selected the most interesting quotes from the interview.

Why sports programming in Russia is more popular than in the USA

The reason is that in Russia there are fewer opportunities for realizing a very talented person in computer science or mathematics. Here [in the USA] you can build robots, you can be engaged in artificial intelligence. You can go in the summer in Silicon Valley to work on Google, Facebook, Dropbox, Strike, Uber. You can study in the laboratory at your university or do your startup. And all these things can also be done in Russia. But you need to be much harder to achieve different results.
')

About the talent of Russian programmers and their desire to leave

It seems to me, starting from the Soviet Union, there was a big emphasis on mathematics, physics, and then later computer science. This is the focus of our universities on computer science, which began in the 80–90s, has only been developed since that time. The Olympiads contribute, but even before the computer Olympiads there were olympiads in physics, mathematics, biology, and the Russian language.

I want [programmers] to be happy. And they had a good and happy life. I do not want to influence their big decision, to leave or stay.

A happy life is possible in Russia, in America, in Germany, in Australia, in India or in China. Talented people always succeed somehow. And in any environment there are always opportunities.

How did you get into Microsoft?

My boss moved to Microsoft. And as soon as this happened, I told him: “And how do I move to Microsoft?” I have always been interested in databases, from the time I worked part-time at the undergraduate degree. And then my former boss said: well, easily, we will recommend you here in SQL Server.

And when I passed the interview, they sent me a job offer. Compensation was there 20 times more than I earned in St. Petersburg at that moment. [Microsoft and Google] built their offices so that people like me, when I was 22-23 years old, can not leave the office at all, everything is there. Coffee, beer, food is delicious. You do not need to wear a shirt, you can wear a T-shirt and slippers.

Why are there more male programmers than women

Often, from early childhood, we, the parents (I have two children), talk differently about their boy children and their girl children.

The girl went to the dance, and we say: how cool, how beautiful she is dancing. And we tell the boys how great it is to solve problems or how great it is swimming or lifting weights, or performing at competitions. And such things accumulate from year to year.

We try very hard to have approximately the same number of men and women in the company. But, nevertheless, our team - this is called the executive-team - consists of all men.

Jobs on Facebook vs own company

When I joined Facebook, I was already obsessed with entrepreneurship. At that moment, I realized that I didn’t want to be an engineer all my life, despite the fact that I really like writing code.

The amount of risk, time and effort that you need to spend to build something that stands firmly on your feet, far exceeds the amount of money you earn if you join a company such as Facebook at the right time. On the other hand, if you win, you have financial independence.

We first arrived at Y Combinator and began working on the product in the evenings. But then we left. And it was difficult, because you are leaving a lot of money [leaving, Nikita refused to share Facebook shares for $ 2 million].

Facebook development vs Facebook consumption

In Facebook at the time when I was there, it seemed that every person is very strong right. Facebook has invested heavily in tools. That is, engineers are as productive as their tools are good. And Facebook has built a lot of tools for programmers.

I do not have Facebook on the phone, there is no notification. I think in 20 years we will look at the situation with phones, [as on history] with cigarettes. I noticed that when I turned off the app, my life improved. I am more productive, more focused, better spend time at our meetings. Because there is no phone in front of me.

First investments and clients

That season, Yuri Milner gave each startup in the accelerator, in my opinion, $ 170 thousand. And since we stood out from the rest of startups, he gave us twice as much - an additional 200 thousand.

A large number of startups were writing mobile apps or websites. And we wrote the infrastructure. Infrastructure startups in Y Combinator were very few. And in the whole history, in fact, they were few.

After 9 months, in my opinion, we already had the first contract. We were paid $ 50,000 for it. We lost this contract because the technologies were not ready. A year later, we signed a contract with Zynga.

About Leonid Volkov, Navalny and politics

I love him very much as a friend [Leonid]. We meet periodically. And he tells me political stories. And this is very interesting, this world in which I do not understand very well.

I always want to learn and understand how people make decisions, understand the way of thinking and the logic of people, like Navalny and Volkov, as well as the logic of people that Putin and the team, understand [why], went to the Crimea.

I do not like corruption. I believe corruption affects economic development. And as a person, I believe in economic development. I believe that the faster the economy develops, the better for the country and for the population. I see a lot of corruption now. Just talking with friends in Russia. I like Lenya. But I have never seen or talked with Navalny.

About the meeting with Bill Gates

I really like Bill Gates. First, he is very, very smart. Secondly, he is such a big nerd in life. Until now, he is completely immersed in technology and still looks at the world with such a little naive, open eyes. And thirdly, he built the largest company in the world, and he is absolutely not comparable with any businessman. Fourth, he did not go to the dark side.

He does not buy islands in Hawaii. Not like Larry Ellison, for example. And fifth, he is very heavily investing the money he earned in the things that the world needs.

I met him once in the toilet. In my opinion, I said: Bill, if we, for example, eliminate malaria, we will improve the life of a certain percentage of the population, but if global warming does happen, if we pass this line, then we will all be very bad. So why do you spend your energy on these things, and not global warming?