Eleven years, 12,000 Yahoos, and one great ride

Posted May 30th, 2007 at 1:06 pm by Zod Nazem, Chief Technology Officer

 21 Comments / Filed in: Trends & News, Working at Yahoo!

After spending the last 26 years in this fast-paced technology industry, I’ve finally decided it’s time to slow down. I’ll be retiring in early June. After joining tiny little start-ups like Oracle and then Yahoo!, I never imagined things would take off the way they have. And looking back on my eleven years here at Yahoo!, I’m amazed at all that this company has accomplished. Yahoo! has played such a significant role in building the Internet into what it is today and I’m incredibly proud to have been a part of such a talented team.

As I began contemplating retirement, there were a few milestones that I (along with the executive leadership team) wanted to accomplish prior to my departure. We wanted to realign the company and, subsequently, the Technology Group, successfully launch our new search monetization system (a.k.a. Panama), and build a solid technology leadership team to help take this company to the next level. It was very important to me to drive all the way to my last day here at Yahoo! without distractions of an announcement like this. So we chose to make the announcement and my end date as close as possible.

With all this in place now, I know I’m leaving a strong, dedicated, and focused organization that is ready to define the next wave of the Internet revolution. I’m confident that our tech leadership, together with the help of Jerry Yang (who will be acting as the interim executive sponsor of the Technology Group until we identify my permanent replacement) and David Filo, will continue to push the bar on innovation and create services that hundreds of millions of people will use around the world every day.

There is no question that the thing I’ll miss most about Yahoo! is the team and the people that I got to work with every day. The engineering team at Yahoo! is truly world-class and has so much to be proud of. We have engineering leaders here who pioneered things like personalization, developers who created/contribute to open source projects like PHP, scientists who wrote books on search and information retrieval, and hackers who created close to 1,000 applications in the past year alone. With this kind of talent and drive, there’s no telling what this team can accomplish in the years to come.

Yahoo! is not the kind of company you can just retire from and forget about. It’s more than just using the products everyday or having your kids proud to tell their friends where Dad worked. It’s about being part of something much larger than yourself and being on that ride with an incredibly passionate team.

One of the hardest things about deciding when to leave is the knowledge that Yahoo! is perpetually preparing to share the next big thing with the world. I will miss being on the inside as those unveilings are readied, but I will be watching with great anticipation from the sidelines and rooting for Yahoo! every step of the way.

Zod Nazem
Chief Technology Office & Head of the Technology Group

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21 Comments Add your own

Elias | May 30th, 2007 at 2:32 pm

Congratulations on finishing those rides…
Will you be sharing your knowledge and experience, or work on consulting?
Good luck!

G. Chai | May 30th, 2007 at 2:38 pm

Yahoo! has been resting for too long on technology laurels of the last decade. While Yahoo! launched several applications this decade, none screams significant technology advances (that other technology companies envy/fear). Mr. Nazem, your departure is good news for Yahoo!…and its users.

Youssef Squali | May 30th, 2007 at 3:14 pm

I’m curious as to why you would not want to stick around for another 6 months to see Panama through (with its scheduled roll out around the world)?
Best of luck

TheAnand | May 30th, 2007 at 3:16 pm

I can understand how you are feeling, its like leaving the place….not quite willingly..but yet you have to leave…something difficult to explain…i had this exact same feeling when I left Airtel, a telecom giant here…your second last paragraph is just spot on…an incredible team, passionate and great to work with..something to be proud of….

Good Luck with your future….and god bless.

michael parekh | May 30th, 2007 at 3:56 pm

It has been an amazing, turbo-charged decade, Zod. You and Yahoo! have a lot to be proud of… Wish you the very best ahead.

Alan Roebke | May 30th, 2007 at 6:48 pm

I thank God he is going!!!!!!! If one has ever tried to work with Ads by Yahoo????? It’s a total and complete Nightmare!!!!!!! They don’t seem to know Google invented the internet Ad wheel, all they have to do is mirror it,,,, not recreate Sand to make glass!!!!! http://www.Truepolicy.com Alan Roebke (rebkey)

tracy jones | May 30th, 2007 at 8:16 pm

Zod,

Thank you for the amazing leadership over the years and for always having a smile to share. You will be missed more than you will ever know. Best wishes for your retirement.

Tracy

Prem | May 30th, 2007 at 10:44 pm

Zod! Thanks for all your good work. You were/are greatly admired, and will be greatly missed. All the best in all your future endeavors.

Daniel Waisberg | May 31st, 2007 at 12:06 am

Thank you very much for your work. As an internet user/lover/worker, I am sure that what I see today is in great part due to your effort in improving the Internet. An interesting quote from ‘The Prophet’ Khalil Gibran that I believe to be true regarding work:

“And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,
And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,
And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,
And all work is empty save when there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.”

Jon Porter | May 31st, 2007 at 10:25 am

Zod,

Congratulations on your retirement and your many accomplishments at Yahoo!. We wish you every happiness as you begin this next chapter in your life.

All our best,

The Venture Group at Smith Barney

Nino Marchetti | May 31st, 2007 at 11:23 am

Zod – though I haven’t seen you in years I did enjoy the times where we collaborated on this or that. You’ve lead your area of Yahoo very well and I wish you success in whatever your future holds.

Joe Duck | June 1st, 2007 at 1:14 am

A nice “parting” note you’ve penned here Zod. I marvel at how many great people stay the hectic course in Silicon Valley even after they can retire comfortably.

The technology group at Yahoo is awesome – I just hope the markets come to realize that soon.

Jeremy Johnstone | June 7th, 2007 at 11:00 am

Photos from his retirement party:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremyjohnstone/sets/72157600322244670/

Ray | June 9th, 2007 at 2:29 pm

As an Iranian-Canadian I am absolutely proud of you being an Iranian-American who has technically lead Yahoo for the past 11 years. Good luck in your next move, whatever it might be.
I will be more than glad to have your personal email to share some words with you. you may email me at: grfe2001@yahoo.com

Cheers
Ray

Houman & Arezou Ghavami | June 11th, 2007 at 12:08 pm

Dear Farzaad,

I can not think of anyone else in the family who needed to slow down more than yourself. I remember in several occasions your mom mentioning how hard you worked.

It is great to see you happily retiring. I have a feeling you will not be relaxing for long.

Arezou sends her best love to you and the family

Take care and hope to see you soon
Houman

Mehrzad Izad | June 18th, 2007 at 4:38 pm

Dear Farzad,
It is brilliant & constructive minds such as yourself who make this world a better place to live.
I have enjoyed Yahoo since the early days of Internet, and have always admired the people behind the site who make it all possible.
I am proud of you and all your fantastic accomplishments.
Wishing you & Yours Peace, Health & Happiness,
Mehrzad Izad

sepideh_taherzadeh | July 23rd, 2007 at 3:32 am

Tanks for taking time to read my request.
I would be most appreciative of you if you send me some information regarding farzad nazem including Email and website.
I look forward to hearing from you
Sincerely

Alireza | September 23rd, 2007 at 11:40 am

You did an excellent job at Yahoo. Wish you best.

Alireza, Simin

ehsan masoudi | December 15th, 2007 at 10:12 pm

as an iranian I am proud of you.

Reza | December 29th, 2007 at 10:39 am

Dear Farzaad,
As an Iranian this is very exciting for me to see you this much successful. Internet industry will never forget your name.
I’m a newly software team leader in a well-known European company, Manufacturing network appliances.
I’m really really interested to ask you the key elements of a successful team leader in term of caddying people in a way that turns to a progress for the whole team, The company and myself.
I do believe you are the one who really know what is going on in software teams. I mean the cons and pros of a team like this. If you write to me, I appreciate your time otherwise I appreciate your time anyway… :)
Dear Farzaad, if you give me a clue, I’ll get through it.

Thanks and merry crismas.
Enjoy alot.

Henry Daneshvar | December 12th, 2008 at 10:44 am

Hello Zad,

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my message. Being a countryman, I was quite pleased to see your significant accomplishments.

Our company Delta Computer Consulting; http://www.deltacci.com; services and capabilities in the IT recruiting and staff augmentation arena. We would welcome any opportunity to be of service to Yahoo and you in the future. Some of the more salient points about our company are:

Company has been in business for 20+ years
Focused solely on IT
Recruiters and staff(well over 300+)are IT Professionals with hands on IT experience
Client base representing large complex organizations
Full spectrum of IT skills and competencies

I would like to follow up in a week or so to talk further about how we might be of service now or in the future. If Yahoo has an approved vendor list, maybe we could talk about how we could become a key service provider in our area of expertise.

I would appreciate a call or email from you in the new year! Thanks again for your time

Henry Daneshvar
h.daneshvar@deltacci.com
562 843-6270