[shados]

It used to be, long ago. Lots of other places caught up and they went down.

Of course, like any very large companies, it's going to be fragmented. Some groups at Google are really that awesome. Some are awful.

It's no longer "the place to be" for the top engineers though who will frequently pick other places, though it does look good on your resume.

For the interview being harder, they give you a flier that tells you almost exactly what they're going to ask, and they expect you to prep specifically for those things, so it's a lot more of a test of will than a test of skill. If you "really want to get a job there", you just cram your head with whatever the PDF says you should know and repeat it during the interview and you should be in. It's of course not that simple for people with personal situations that prevent them from just cramming reading material, and they're somewhat famous in some circles for discrimination (especially gender based, from anecdotal evidence).