[kleiba]

I almost did. My professor would become Google's director of research and when she did she encouraged me to send a CV as I was about to finish my degree in C.S. I sent it but didn't get hired. Maybe I was just not Google material (i.e.: not good enough) but the official answer I got was that they were focussing on hiring U.S. residents at that point which I wasn't.

[Sileni]

It was also harder to hire outside of the US back then, so the latter may be more likely.