The startup I work for (Apture) was just bought out by Google. On one hand, I'm excited. I have heard nothing but good things about how they treat their staff, especially engineers. On the other hand, there's no way to go from working for a company with 12 people to a company of 60,000 people and not be a bit overwhelmed.
Can someone hear give me an idea of what to expect? Are there any habits I may have to break? How does the Google Experience tend to be different for "acquired" engineers versus "hired" engineers?
Seriously. For most people at an acquisition, this is the end of the road. They get a couple of weeks or months and then they're gone.
Go look at what happened with Skud. She didn't fit their idea of an engineer, so she got a "fixed term", no bonus, and in July that was it. She was out.
http://infotrope.net/2011/07/21/a-note-to-google-recruiters/
Also, look up what happened with AppJet/EtherPad and Wave. Some of it is right here on HN:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2320172