Matt Cutts and Craig Silverstein image by werty under CreativeCommons

One of the first people Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin hired was developer Craig Silverson. Now, Silverstein is moving on…. to educational video upstart Khan Academy. Silverstein is said to know search engine details before Google. The Verge writes:

Despite his importance, Silverstein stayed largely behind the scenes during his time at Google. Now that he’s departed, however, he’s become part of the company’s founding myth. To AllThingsD, for example, he’s the embodiment of “Good Google,” the part of the company that revels in changing the world through new technology. Amusingly, even the first result on Google for Silverstein harks back to the company’s early days: it’sSilverstein’s home page from his time at Stanford, bearing a list of publications coauthored with Sergey Brin.

Via The Verge

The Los Angeles Times reports:

“Craig’s been with Google since the early days. He was instrumental in the development of search and made numerous contributions to Google over the years. We wish him all the best at the Khan Academy and know that he will do great things to help them promote education around the world.”

Shantanu Sinha, the president and COO of Khan Academy, also emailed a statement on the group’s latest hire, saying:

“We are thrilled to have Craig Silverstein join our team. His deep technical knowledge and organization-building experience will be extremely valuable to us as we grow as an organization. We are excited that talented individuals like Craig believe so passionately in our mission and are willing to join us in our quest of providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere.”

Via The L.A. Times

Kara Swisher at AllThingsD writes:

Silverstein, who was actually Google’s No. 3 employee — that would be after its pair of founders, Page and Sergey Brin — has had a variety of technology jobs at the company over the years since it was founded in 1998.

But his first — helping them build the famed and lucrative search engine itself — was perhaps his most important. An experienced techie, Silverstein worked with Brin and Page on Google, from their dorm rooms as Ph.D. students at Stanford University, to their garage days, to the giant and diversified behemoth it is today, with tens of thousands of employees.

Currently, he has been working on a variety of projects, including mentoring engineers.

Having spent a some time with him over the years, I can tell you that he’s a lovely and adorkable guy, whose infectious enthusiasm and joy of tech has always embodied what I always refer to as “Good Google” (as opposed to, well, you know).

Note: Swisher also posts a letter that Silverstein wrote to Google staff regarding his departure.

Via AllThingsD

Here’s a video of Silverstein speaking at UNC Chapel Hill about Google

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