Worse, you have to "apply for promotion" if you want to get promoted, and the decision is made by a remote committee of people who don't even know anything about what you did first hand - you have to beat your chest like an ape, and get endorsements from people a level or two up from where you are (which can be a big problem outside Mountain View, since there are fewer such people there). The whole process is utterly demeaning and demoralizing, especially if you're from cultures where beating one's chest is frowned upon (such as e.g. Russian).

You routinely see people do ridiculously awesome work and then get turned down for promo. You also routinely see people promoted who just sat in the meetings with the right people and took the credit for "launching" stuff. Major part of the reason why I left.