(Eight years at Google here.) It's changed a lot over the years and has certainly disappointed me many times, which any xoogler can also tell you. But every time I've considered leaving I've been unable to imagine some other work that gives me the same combination of high freedom and good compensation.
I've also seen the occasional person pull a michaelochurch. I've been lucky in that my random fun hacks have been seen as valuable work for the company. I could imagine things not working out under different circumstances (there's a large wing of the company working on boring Java apps that I don't think I'd enjoy). With that said, everything has a risk factor to it and the number of michaelochurches seems pretty low to me.
I think there are some things Google is very good at (giving you powerful toys) and others it's very bad at (launching products where UX matters, for example; maybe Marissa's departure will help there), so perhaps it also can depend on what sort of person you are.
(All the above and most of the other comments are engineer perspectives. Other non-technical positions, like reviewing ads for bad words, are reportedly much more variable on the awful spectrum.)
Reports (eg "In the Plex") have said she reviewed every UI change, above a fairly low bar. For instance, multiple meetings about exactly which shade of blue to use for various controls.
Some people say she brought a valuable discipline and consistency to Google products and held back the worst "designed by engineers" proposals. Other people say she slowed down launches, relied too much on non-scalable personal gut feel, and was arbitrary. I don't know. But if someone previously so central to UI launches leaves, things will at least be different.
I've also seen the occasional person pull a michaelochurch. I've been lucky in that my random fun hacks have been seen as valuable work for the company. I could imagine things not working out under different circumstances (there's a large wing of the company working on boring Java apps that I don't think I'd enjoy). With that said, everything has a risk factor to it and the number of michaelochurches seems pretty low to me.
I think there are some things Google is very good at (giving you powerful toys) and others it's very bad at (launching products where UX matters, for example; maybe Marissa's departure will help there), so perhaps it also can depend on what sort of person you are.
(All the above and most of the other comments are engineer perspectives. Other non-technical positions, like reviewing ads for bad words, are reportedly much more variable on the awful spectrum.)