Similar experience here. Having internal references seems to be very useful, not just for skipping the phone interview but for getting through the hiring committee. My start day is exactly one month after my interview, but even then that is because I put it back a week.

Does anybody get hired for SWE positions at Google _without_ an internal referral? When I was interviewing there 6 or so years ago I was under the impression that you, in practice, had to have an insider vouch for you.

The only internal reference I had was a distant acquaintance who - as they said themselves - just submitted one that basically read "don't know them much but they don't seem to be a jerk".

So you can absolutely get hired in engineering without internal references. (I'm also on a hiring committee myself.)

When I got hired back in 2004 that was pretty much the bar (helped that I knew how to fix servers I suspect too)!! :)

I was hired last year without a reference. I just submitted a resume to the careers page.

Sure, but my Fortune 500 employer takes 2-3 weeks to do that on average. Longer only if the new hire needs longer to unwind from prior commitments.