I joined a little over a year ago. Although they do still have the policy about "you're going to be a developer and we'll tell you what to develop when you get

I joined a little over a year ago. Although they do still have the policy about "you're going to be a developer and we'll tell you what to develop when you get here", there is a small window where you can negotiate that. However, that window is after you get the offer, so I suspect a lot of people either don't get to that point or by then are too shell-shocked to argue. When I got my offer, I was also told as interview feedback that I didn't do amazing on my coding but they saw potential there once I got up to speed - my last job had really let my talents languish. I was offered a position on a back-end infrastructure team in Mountain View. At that point, I had a call with the director of that group to discuss what my role would be as well as a lunch meeting with three people from the team to sell me on it. I told the recruiter that I appreciated the offer and I would consider it, but there was another team that I was really excited about working for (and with responsibilities that I had some previous experience with) and if they could make that happen I would definitely join. Fortunately, that team had open headcount and wanted me, so I got to take the job I wanted after all. I'm not saying this will necessarily work for everyone, but given that I don't think I was an A-1 candidate they didn't push back very hard once I asked. I think it's hard enough for them to find candidates they want that once they take you they'll loosen up a bit, but before the interview starts they're less inclined to go through the headache of making sure the specific job you want is waiting for you. I have no opinion on whether that's a good way to handle it.