Sure (to orientations). Here's how a pre-COVID SWE orientation at Google (for folks in professional jobs in Mountain View, not data center contractors in The Dalles): there is a dedicated lobby and theater with multiple people staffing the area welcoming you in. You're handed a laptop, configure your credentials, log in, access benefits, etc, then sit down for a couple motivating videos/speeches and some details on your benefits. At this point you're ready to go to your team's work area (many details could be different outside the mothership).

The second time around it was even more polished than the first time, but contained much less useful information and more cheerleading, so I left once I had my axe and saw that it was sharp.

Same experience more or less exactly at Amazon hq in Seattle. The sheer number of people onboarding every week in that room was kind of stunning.

Every SWE role I've had in the last decade had a 1-day orientation (plus additional training after)

in Germany, they could do a background check

if you used cannabis and got caught, you'll have a police record for up to 5 years

when applying expect it not to be in your favour

Fair enough, I was curious about that point too (but maybe they were working for govcloud, which probably has more onerous background checking).

Every single job I've had in California for the past 30 years (from academic software engineer to computer scientist to industry software engineer) has clearly stated that they do not drug test before I signed any paper. In fact, my manager at Lawrence Berkeley Lab (RIP) was specifically sent there after he refused to take a drug test at a more serious DOE lab, "so he could fit in with all the other hippies and druggies".

I can't speak to any of the other roles, although in my time in the food service industry there wasn't any testing either.

No, they can't do that, anymore, except for very specific jobs, e.g. working with children.