Tons of smart people. Arguably the most interesting problems in computer science are being tackled on a daily basis -- certainly at an unparalleled scale.
Different product areas have different cultures, so it's hard to generalize about the company as a whole, but I don't think any other company offers as good a combination of interesting projects, great benefits and compensation, smart co-workers, and good culture.
It is worth noting that your experience can vary a lot depending on your product area and manager.
The company has gone a bit overboard in adding multiple levels of management in recent years, and the organization feels more top-down than in the past, but neither aspect is too severe. Be prepared for a long commute if you want to live anywhere affordable or interesting. There is an astonishing lack of diversity in political viewpoints; if your heroes are not Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Paul Krugman, then don't even think about engaging in a political discussion with your peers (in person or on any internal mailing lists).
Break down the silos among different projects and different product areas.
It started with an email from a Google recruiter. She was very responsive and helpful in preparing me for the interview. On the day of the interview, she shared her previous interview experiences and offered some sample questions that had been given
I was contacted by a recruiter through my LinkedIn profile. The recruiter had a particular team in mind for me. It turned out I knew some people who already worked there, and they highly recommended me, so I was able to bypass a phone screen. I was
In the end, I did not get the offer, but interviewing with Google has been very interesting. The interviews for the software engineer position consisted mostly entirely of algorithm and coding questions, with a little bit of design. The algorithmic
It started with an email from a Google recruiter. She was very responsive and helpful in preparing me for the interview. On the day of the interview, she shared her previous interview experiences and offered some sample questions that had been given
I was contacted by a recruiter through my LinkedIn profile. The recruiter had a particular team in mind for me. It turned out I knew some people who already worked there, and they highly recommended me, so I was able to bypass a phone screen. I was
In the end, I did not get the offer, but interviewing with Google has been very interesting. The interviews for the software engineer position consisted mostly entirely of algorithm and coding questions, with a little bit of design. The algorithmic