I worked at Google as a SWE for several years and hated it: I was paid less than at my previous job for doing less ethical work, it was hella less flexible than any of my previous jobs, the amount of bureaucracy and internal politics was above anything I could imagine, the amount of gaslighting from VPs and up (e.g. at TGIF) was staggering, and it all came with a mild cult vibe.
I guess the most disappointing part for me was Google's culture, or at least what it's become. I was surrounded by coworkers with a tenure of 10-15 years hired straight from college who had no idea about life outside of campus and google3. Those poor folks got brainwashed by HR into believing that most non-work related conversations or, god forbid, a joke will undoubtedly be offending to someone. Honestly, I think I'd rather work with jerks than in such a sterile, dull environment.
On the bright side, the tech was pretty good. I wouldn't call it great, but they have everything you'd ever need. The code quality was above average despite over-engineering. The praised culture of openness is long gone but you can still somewhat feel its scent. The email-centric approach to communication was 100x better than anything else I'd seen. And there's a chance you can get on a team that actually does some good (but those are typically at DeepMind, Verily etc.)
If there's no better option, I'd say to give it a try. After all, it's just a job.
I guess the most disappointing part for me was Google's culture, or at least what it's become. I was surrounded by coworkers with a tenure of 10-15 years hired straight from college who had no idea about life outside of campus and google3. Those poor folks got brainwashed by HR into believing that most non-work related conversations or, god forbid, a joke will undoubtedly be offending to someone. Honestly, I think I'd rather work with jerks than in such a sterile, dull environment.
On the bright side, the tech was pretty good. I wouldn't call it great, but they have everything you'd ever need. The code quality was above average despite over-engineering. The praised culture of openness is long gone but you can still somewhat feel its scent. The email-centric approach to communication was 100x better than anything else I'd seen. And there's a chance you can get on a team that actually does some good (but those are typically at DeepMind, Verily etc.)
If there's no better option, I'd say to give it a try. After all, it's just a job.