Google Senior Software Engineer reviews

Massive pressure to perform to the level of your peers, to the level of legendary figures who have gone before, and to the levels required to keep the dollar generating machinery running. Also, Management, communication and other people skills are not favored in Engineering. The results are predictably enough that technically competent engineers who demonstrate good results, get management responsibilities that they fit in between technical work. Those that have the people skills don't get these promotions. I have not personally suffered from this so this analysis is not sour grapes. I have seen women who are already doing the project management role out of necessity as well as their own technical load, get passed over for promotion even though the projects they are on succeed, because they can't point to high personal metrics due to their unrecognized management load.

We're stuck in cubicles. (Before Google, I worked at Microsoft, and at MSFT everyone gets their own office, or at least, every engineer...) The stock price is variable, so if you join and the stock's at 700, and then the stock goes down to 500, you may end up resenting the people who just got hired and have an option strike price $200 lower than you.