Factual corrections and an opinion (Score 1)

Google isn't just in the SF area. The last time you checked must have been more than 3 years ago. In fact, we have an engineering office in Kirkland WA, right by Redmond. Google currently also has engineering offices in NYC, Santa Monica, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Boulder, Cambridge [MA], Irvine, Phoenix, London, Dublin, Bangalore, Sydney, Tokyo, Trondheim, Zuerich, Montreal, and some other places; I can't keep track. I've worked out of both Mountain View and Trondheim; if you want to try out other offices, it's trivial to arrange a temporary stay anywhere, although you will have to get yourself there if there's no business reason for it.

I don't feel that I'm pressured, subtly or otherwise, to work long hours at Google. I have a life, many hobbies, etc. I do sometimes work long hours, but it's because I want to. I like my job, my project is exciting, and I like getting things done. I know lots of folks who have families and head home sixish to have dinner with them [and don't come back until morning]. As long as you're getting a reasonable amount of stuff done, your time is your own. And I do mean reasonable--I've never been asked to do so much that I'd be forced to work long hours. I have on occasion volunteered to do something too big, not realizing how hard it would be, but that came from me, not from outside.

Regarding tiny little Google's stability: we're not so tiny any more. That's got plusses and minuses, of course, but it does mean that we're not going under in the next few years. We've got over 8000 employees now [from what I recall of our last public statement]. We have a nice cash reserve that could support the company for years if we stopped making any money whatsoever tomorrow. I'm not saying the company is invulnerable; no company is. But the original poster is young, in a great time to take risks. Heck, Google might not even be risky enough for him/her at this point.

I work at Google, but I don't speak for it in any official capacity whatsoever.