I applied through a recruiter. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA) in Dec 2013
Interview
A recruiter contacted me. I responded and didn't hear back for two weeks. I emailed the recruiter again and she finally responded with apologies. I chatted with her on the phone and sent her an updated resume. The next step was a phone screen with a designer. After that was a design exercise. They give you three problems to choose from and ask that you complete it in a few hours. I completed the exercise, which by the way took much longer than a few hours if you want to complete it with any amount of quality and thought, and sent it in.
The original recruiter passed me off to another recruiter. They asked me to come to the campus for the final round of interviews. I presented both my portfolio and the exercise to a panel of designers/researchers for an hour and then met with each of them in 1:1 interviews for the rest of the day, breaking briefly for lunch at the cafeteria. During lunch, a designer gave me a brief tour of the campus. Each 1:1 interview included a design exercise and a set list of questions (to prevent overlap). At times, the interviewer focused more on getting through the list of questions than on connecting with me as a human being. The interviewers did not know each other. I did enjoy the exercises and though I may never know how I did on them, it did help create more engaging interaction between me and the interviewer.
In the weeks and months following, I checked back in several times without getting an answer. The holidays were partly to blame. When the recruiter finally called me to tell me they weren't moving forward, I asked for feedback on why. She said she couldn't share that with me. Google then sent me several follow-up emails asking for MY feedback on their interview process. Considering the amount of data they already have on me and the amount of work and time I put into the process, I was deeply offended that they didn't at least give me information on how to improve not just as a candidate but as a designer. It truly demonstrated for me the pitfalls of working for a large company that looks at people as numbers, loses them in the masses, and demands everything without giving anything in return.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Example exercise: design an alarm clock with only three buttons.
Out of all the large tech companies I was applying for, Google was probably the one I was most interested in. It was overall an underwhelming experience. From the get go, there was a lack of organization in the initial recruiting efforts and some basic mistakes were made by the recruitment team in coordination. Once things got on their way I was screened by hiring managers and then scheduled for a phone interview with a senior designer. The conversation included your typical design questions and on-the-spot analysis, but somehow felt far less genuine or personal than any other interview I encountered, and left me with a bitter taste in my mouth about the bureaucratic nature of the company some employees speak of. I was glad I didn't need to waste any extra time with more steps interviewing.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Google in Jul 2014
Interview
Was referred by a friend. Had a phone screen, and multiple recruiters reached out after that over a few weeks. Finally, I had another phone screen, and was told to work on a sample design problem. Submitted the design problem, and was asked to come to the MV campus for a full day interview. The day started with me giving an hour-long presentation on the design problem and my portfolio. I then spoke with 9 employees at one-on-one interviews. Lunch was with an employee to answer questions, and was not an interview. Overall it was a good experience: people I spoke to were interesting and engaged, and my recruiter was friendly and helpful. Complaints were that it seemed to take Google a long time to get their process together - originally 5 recruiters were contacting me all at once, seemingly at different Google locations/teams. Also, there was little ability to apply for a particular role, with applications becoming "general" once accepted.