Hi John! Thanks for your comments, I appreciate your perspective!

I do think degree matters to get your foot in the door. I suspect the recruiters probably look at that a lot more than the actual engineers interviewing you. And at the end of the day, a degree from Stanford probably teaches you a lot more than a degree from a cheaper university. (I wouldn't know. I went to a less-than-fancy university!)

I think the value of a degree from a good university decays quickly though. I got my degree in Computer Science 24 years ago. I don't think a single interviewer or co-workers actually cares. But the 11+ years of work experience at Microsoft and the 11+ years of work experience at Amazon mattered to get me in the door.

Once you're in a company though, I really don't think some of the things that got you in the door matter as much to your day-to-day coworkers. I remember having initial get-to-know-you 1:1s with peers and casually learning about their past, where they went to school, where they worked before google, etc, sort of socially. But if you quizzed me I don't think I could tell you today what any of my peers did before Google.

I don't claim to be an expert on Google culture. I've been here for a year and a half. But I've worked with 3 or 4 teams and they were all quite diverse. The discussions on promotions were always centered on achievements, and if any bias creeped in (which is human nature) others would call it out very quickly. Again maybe it's just a regional view but so far my experience has been very positive. I don't know that I can guarantee the right thing happens every time, but I can attest that there are processes in place to try to get the right thing to happen every time.

Of course... it's a big company, your mileage may vary!