Google's valuation is absolutely bizzare. The only reason I can see for it is "hype". I mean, their main revenue stream is ad revenue -- does Google earn significant income from any other sources?

Meanwhile, don't feel bad about not working there. Before IPO time, they did lots of ads yet were notoriously picky. For computer engineers, a PhD was the preferred degree (I couldn't get in: I have a Masters degree, "in Science!").

After IPO time, their recruiters have been super busy vacuuming up engineering talent. To get in, you have to pass a number of phone screens and a coding test (I've submitted myself to this grind a couple times), and then endure a full exhausting day of indepth, very comprehensive, very technical interviews (oh, you'll do this after you sign a NDA that says you can't even admit you interviewed at Google). The whole interviewing process is ridiculously draining and demoralizing, especially if you slip up on answering any of the gaggle of Googlers who stymie you at the interview.

If a prospective employee is lucky enough to actually please the "I'm smarter than thou" PhD's who did the interviewing, new employees then turn their lives over to the GooglePlex. Yes, you'll ride those famous black Bauers buses out to Mountain View and back, on a daily basis (2+ hours each day, if you're in San Francisco). You'll have the famous cafeteria (if you don't watch yourself, it's easy to gain a lot of weight, as I've known Googlers to do) and their kitchens & coolers stocked with non-stop sodas from around the world. You'll have dry cleaning and maybe a bit of time to do fitness also. I say "a bit of time" because engineers get thrown so much overwhelming work to do that there probably won't be enough time to get around to working on whatever your "20% project" is. Basically, employees give up their whole life for teh Google.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the stock is indeed worth over $600 a share but most of the initial employees (and any investors in golden handcuffs) are just about (or now?) fully vested, which means they can jettison at any time after that and start dumping shares.

Google is a classic binge & purge Valley company, still binging (and my guess is that it's on the threshold of purging). No thanks. I'm very thankful and happy to have the non-Google life I have.

When looking for something myself a few years ago, I noticed they even wanted Ivy League grads for Admin Assistants, interesting to see they've backed off on that... :p