I've been out for 7 years now (ended about the same time this guy started). I actually had some experience working at Dawson's bug finding startup a bit at the end, which was an interesting experience, but not what I was interested in, so I went to EPFL to work on Scala for my post doc. I can sympathize with the author's struggles!
I'm only halfway through this, but everything is true, especially about research agendas and insider academic sub-communities.
While you are at google, you might consider continuing to engage with the academic community to a limited extent. Onward! is very different with a new/improved community that is interested in bridging gaps between PL/HCI/systems and isn't so concerned about the publishing rat race.
I'm only halfway through this, but everything is true, especially about research agendas and insider academic sub-communities.