Google Software Developer reviews

It's now a large company, with the downsides of that. It's growing and experiencing a certain amount of growing pains. Unfortunately, some people seem not to recognize that what works when a company is just a few hundred or a thousand employees doesn't necessarily work when the company grows to the size Google currently is.

The side-effect of everyone being good (and everyone else knowing it) is that there is a lot of pressure to not disappoint anyone. The side-effect of less management is that feedback is hard to get and good performance and hard work can go unnoticed and unappreciated. A focus on technical expertise means that there is less focus on soft skills. Many managers are not good enough at managing people even though they are very good with the technical side of things. Culture encourages one to give up the rest of his/her life for their job. Despite the initial utopian feel and propaganda, it's just a really rich company with a lot of smart people. It still IS a company and has the same stupid politics, competitiveness, and issues you find everywhere else.