Let's be honest, 99% of Google employees are not working on hard problems like self-driving cars, they're just finding new things to slap ads on. You might need to be impressive in a very narrow way to get in, but the work isn't going to be that challenging.
While that's most likely true, they all go through a fairly grueling interview process where their theoretical knowledge is really tested. It sounds a bit iffy to make someone with a decorated career or an advanced degree go through that, promise them the world, and have them answering support questions for Google+.
