hey evan! it happened to me on my last project there, we were under executive pressure to ship and spent our last 6 months working 80 hours a week.
as for why you feel that this describes a different company, I think there are two reaons: 1) when I was there, (for others: I left in 2006) I felt that the pace of new distinct pockets of work culture was increasing. youtube and android really put an elbow in the curve since they were separate and more successful than the acquisitions that google brought completely in-house. 2) maybe your managers recognize that long hours equals burn out.
as for why you feel that this describes a different company, I think there are two reaons: 1) when I was there, (for others: I left in 2006) I felt that the pace of new distinct pockets of work culture was increasing. youtube and android really put an elbow in the curve since they were separate and more successful than the acquisitions that google brought completely in-house. 2) maybe your managers recognize that long hours equals burn out.