Are we at Peak Google?
Working for Google today is a lot like working for the Microsoft of ~15 years ago.<p>Employees are well paid, benefits are good, it's comfortable.  The quality of the hires are still pretty good, but definitely not what they were 5 years ago.  The engineering culture is still strong and permeates the entire organization, but the company is so large that less and less flexibility is allowed in each team's process.  Thus, engineers (especially those at the lowest levels, like right out of school) aren't exposed to as much interesting work; many will find in 2-3 years that they have career opportunities at Google and companies of similar size but few opportunities at more interesting companies that are looking for someone with a few years experience with newer technologies.  Technologies that Google doesn't use.  Processes that Googlers don't know because they work in the confines of a huge corporation.<p>Still not a bad place to be 'cause Google pays well and they're comfortable.  But then the best and brightest stop coming to Google.  And then the company slowly dies a painful death toward irrelevancy that takes decades.<p>I think the comparison to Microsoft is spot on.  The exact timeframe remains to be seen.