Exactly. I found that they couldn't even give me a job description. They just told me some hand waving statement like "we have a number of open positions in s

Exactly. I found that they couldn't even give me a job description. They just told me some hand waving statement like "we have a number of open positions in several engineering departments and we look at your qualifications and match you to one." In addition you interview with a bunch of sometimes friendly, yet sometimes extremely condescending engineers. Some of the engineers I interviewed with were very respectful and corteous, while others acted as if I were wasting their time. In general, I got the impression that Google is full of huge egos and that I should feel lucky if I had the opportunity to work there. No other company would act like this toward potential employees. In any case, another disadvantage to working at Google is that they are getting involved in so many businesses, almost any side project is likely to become their property. The company I work at now is great because as long as I don't compete with their vertical, I can start any business I want on the side.