'Outside the bubble' issues maybe?
From what I've seen, the biggest tech companies (Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc.) tend to be very insular. People I know who work at Microsoft say that the average employee just isn't going to get a much better employment deal elsewhere. As a result, people stay a long time...and why not? Microsoft pays the entire cost of employee health insurance, and takes care of just about every employee need. Ulku Rowe came from Chase (i.e. from The Outside.) It would be interesting to see how much of this was discrimination (highly possible) and how much was "she's not a lifelong Googler, she couldn't possibly be qualified." (equally possible.) It's kind of like what happens with law firms and fancy consulting firms...they just don't hire outsiders unless there's some critical skill need. They want to grow everyone up from a fresh young grad and don't want to have to unteach "bad habits" candidates may have picked up from other candidates.
Given Google's track record of hiring extremely vocal, opinionated Ph. D's for basically every position, I wouldn't be shocked if discovery in this case revealed more than a few messages about exactly why she wasn't qualified and what 3 jobs they were going to offer her instead. The evidence her lawyers uncover is potentially very interesting reading.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
