Google seems to be improving - they finally realize that they need to be slightly more open-minded in terms of candidate selection than before to avoid missing some real talent which becomes more rare than before. They hand you over from one recruiter to another, one does the initial talking, then another one talks more specifically about position and location, then another one takes care of the interview. They do interview on-side in Mountain View, California. The place is nice to visit, although I would not personally move there. I find Google interview quite different from others and it clearly demonstrate the goals and priorities of the company. I am not judging if they are right or wrong but it is different. Most of the technology companies want good engineers who know how to use their brains to solve the problems and the tools and technologies to implement these solutions. Google is mostly (and solely - during the interview) concentrating on the first point. They do not seem to care if you have many years of proven experience in relevant domains. You will be asked to solve some problems that require the CS knowledge at the university level at least. Personally I find this practice questionable. While it is good for pure research engineers, it gives somewhat partial view on some candidates. But looks like Google is trying to stick to their method of selecting the candidates.