"Many of them emerge talking about bureaucracy, politics, 'big company attitude', projects that got killed, and how things 'aren't like they used to be.'".
There's a great book called "Watership Down". In it, a band of ragtag rabbits whose home was destroyed come across a warren where all rabbits are well-fed and seemingly happy, and yet, something is wrong, every so often one of them disappears. Except no one talks about it, because that would mean admitting that they live on a rabbit farm.
A lot of this is relative. If you are used to a 30 person company, yes, there's more politics. Compared to where I came from (a 300,000 person company), Google is much, much better. (And if you think the politics are bad in companies, its nothing compared to the politics in a university's I/T department. Why? Perhaps because there's less at stake...)
I've worked for a university (MIT), a startup (VA Linux), a big company (IBM), and compared to my past employers, I've easily found Google to be the best for me. Others may find the environment at a 30 person, 300 person, or 300,000 person company more congenial. A lot of it is personal preference...
There's a great book called "Watership Down". In it, a band of ragtag rabbits whose home was destroyed come across a warren where all rabbits are well-fed and seemingly happy, and yet, something is wrong, every so often one of them disappears. Except no one talks about it, because that would mean admitting that they live on a rabbit farm.
Draw your own conclusion.