You probably use Google’s search engine just about every day. Most people using Android do, along with a great many who aren’t using Android. So many people use Google Search so often that the company built an empire on the search engine, selling advertisements that promised to reach billions of eyes billions of times. A short fifteen years or so ago, back in 2000, Krishna Bharat convinced a friend to join a burgeoning search company called Google. That friend was Amitabh Kumar “Amit” Singhal. Singhal went on to help design one of the most influential technologies in the shaping of the modern internet. If not for Singhal and his contributions to Google Search and future products, we may very well be telling confused loved ones to “look it up” rather than simply “Google it”.
As of this writing, Singhal is a senior vice president, software engineer, Google fellow and the head of Google’s core ranking team. As of February 26, Singhal announced Wednesday on his Google+ channel, he will shift his primary roles to father, husband and philanthropist. In a post entitled, “The Journey Continues…”, Singhal says, “As I entered the fifteenth year of working at Google, I’ve been asking myself the question, “what would you want to do for the next fifteen?” The answer has overwhelmingly been: give back to others.” He goes on to say that this is a great time in his life to make the change and take the opportunity to give back to others, as well as to spend more time with his wife and his son, who is poised to leave for college soon.
Singhal says he has left Search in very capable hands, being a handpicked set of leaders who already manage most day to day operations of the Search department. He also said of his time at Google, “It fills me with pride to see what we have built in the last fifteen years. Search has transformed people’s lives; over a billion people rely on us. Our mission of empowering people with information and the impact it has had on this world cannot be overstated.” Under the leadership team that Singhal has left behind, Search and other operations should continue without a hitch. He ends the post with a quote from Chief Si’ahl; “Take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints!”