Basically, they just suck less than most other big tech companies. That's all. And that's a pretty low bar in my opinion. 1) They have tens of thousands of pro

Basically, they just suck less than most other big tech companies. That's all. And that's a pretty low bar in my opinion. 1) They have tens of thousands of programmers. They're not all The Best of The Best at this point. Sure, the average is high, but there's plenty of dopes and assholes too. 2) It's a big company and their productivity is pretty low. They have more programmers and money than almost all startups combined, yet their output of amazing products is quite small. 3) There's bureaucratic bullshit. Sure, less than the average, but far more than a small company. You have to work roughly business hours, sit in a cube, report regularly to a boss, have meetings, etc. 4) Their technology stack may be cool, but you really have no choice. You have to use the tools they chose 10 years ago if you want to release anything. Java, C++, and Perforce? No thanks. 5) Their projects are failures unless they're huge. There's not much room for controversial projects or anything that starts off small. YouTube or Twitter couldn't have happened inside Google.