Pros
It is a place that will truly challenge you and there are some great people who are trying to make a true difference. I leave knowing that what I worked on had true impact on others personally and professionally. I was lucky to have the mentors and champions I did.
Cons
It is a sink or swim environment. Wonderful perks but they are there to keep you at work longer. People don't leave jobs, they leave managers. Google has a long way to go when it comes to training their managers effectively and actually making sure they represent the initiatives Google is in the news for such as Psychological Safety and Unconscious Bias. I went from amazing managers and sponsors to the worst manager ever. Just because a manager takes a course doesn't mean they have adopted the lessons taught. I suffer from a disability that is episodic and goes into remission at times. At the end of my time with Google, despite needs for accommodations due to my disability, my manager declined a request to work in a quieter and more private work space. HR took their time. In addition, I was only allowed to work from home on Fridays. I was also penalized on my performance review for not being able to work in a more visible work space. This is important to note. I went from a high performing employee for 4+ years and then got sick and within 3-4months was rated as a Needs Improvement by my manager who had only managed me for 3 months and the one before 5 months. At Google, your MANAGER has the final say on your performance review. Despite high ratings from everyone else, HR stands firm about letting the managers rating be the overall rating and override all other reviewers. Google needs to understand that not all people work or learn the same way. Don't expect reasonable accommodations to be honored here. They took 6 weeks to respond to my drs note for a medically necessary accommodation. This is NOT a space if you have any type of disability especially cognitive or mental ones. There is a whole internal email disability group which provides a community for many of us who are struggle from our disability and not our jobs. However, no one from HR has bothered to address the true struggles that people with disabilities are facing.