Guido van Rossum started working on python in the late 80s while employed by a computer science research center in Europe, then continued working on it while employed by a computer science research in the United States. He didn't start working at Google (working 50% on python) until 2005.
How many employers at universities have any idea about what their employees are doing beyond 'something with computers' or 'something with microbes' ? (exaggeration - but not a whole lot, in academia by definition most people are not in a position to understand what others are doing because what they are doing is supposed to be cutting edge)
Guido van Rossum started working on python in the late 80s while employed by a computer science research center in Europe, then continued working on it while employed by a computer science research in the United States. He didn't start working at Google (working 50% on python) until 2005.