wilykat

FWIW when I became a manager, my lead (who reports to Jack) told me that I needed to be a role model for my team and that I would need to take more vacation.

Many people panic on their first interview and fail, and if you show any potential they'll let you interview again. I bombed my first one and they told me that I'd be eligible to interview again in 18 months and I should call them then, and they actually called me in 12 months and set up another interview.

Don't worry about the courage, just apply. If you fail... well, many many people (and many many Googlers) also failed their first Google interview, it's not much of a reflection on you.

Granted that I've been in the industry a while, but although I did get asked for my GPA, it wasn't until after I was about to receive the offer letter and they were checking references. My guess is that it's just a spot on the form that they still have to fill out.

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.

absolutely agree with skj. The pay is decent+, the perks are very good, but the most impressive thing has been how intelligent and competent everyone is. Going from my previous job to Google was about the same experience as going from my decent high school where I was nearly valedictorian to a top-tier university where I couldn't even keep up with honors physics - that moment of "oh, wow, I thought I was amazing but there are a ton of people here who take that level of ability for granted."

I think eventually you stop feeling impostor syndrome but it hasn't happened yet for me :)