Man Over Machine: the Next Phase of the Web
Mark Hurd, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, said in June 2009 that more data will be generated in the next four years than in the entire history of the planet. He wasn’t kidding! In the summer of 2010, 24 hours of video was being uploaded to YouTube every minute, 50 million tweets were being sent out into the ether, and 1 billion content shares were taking place on Facebook every day. Human beings can famously only process between five and nine distinct things in their brains at any given time. So, how can we cope with this deluge of data and expect to synthesize it into information, knowledge and valuable insights?
After spending several years at Google working on solving this class of problems using machines and computational techniques, Deep Nishar realized that the solution might be closer to home. Human beings, when faced with complex decisions, tend to reach out to their ‘networks’ — friends, family, and experts. Applying the same paradigm to the online world, social and professional networks coupled with computational power, seems to be one way in which we can not only cope with but also take advantage of this data deluge, deriving valuable insights that inform us and help us make better decisions.
Deep Nishar is the vice president of product at LinkedIn, a position he took in December 2008. Prior to LinkedIn, Nishar was a long time Google executive who helped start its mobile business and other key products.
As director of wireless products at Google, Deep Nishar developed and implemented the product strategy for Google’s mobile products worldwide. Prior to Google, Deep worked at Siebel Systems where he was a member of the founding team of the Universal Application Network (UAN) business unit which grew to a $40 million a year run rate in its first year.
Prior to Siebel, Deep founded Patkai Networks, a web services based software integration company. At Patkai, Deep built the product and engineering organizations and drove all of the business operations for the company. Additionally, Deep was an associate at The Boston Consulting Group and also held various product management, marketing, finance and engineering roles at Cummins Engine Company, where he was awarded three patents.
Deep received his bachelor's in technology with honors from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, where he was awarded the Institute Silver Medal. Deep also received a master of science in electrical engineering from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a master's in business administration from Harvard Business School, where he graduated with highest honors as a Baker Scholar.
