The '5+ years experience' line is there to filter out people who come in with alphabet soup after their names, but have no practical work experience.

I will say this; applying for jobs you don't think you have a chance of getting is actually a good idea. Gets you used to the process, especially the interview phase. You'll find that most folks aren't original with their questions, and experience is experience.

Exactly. The last two jobs I've had, I applied to very apprehensively. They seemed like I was biting off more than I could chew, but they were positions that interested me a lot, and I was willing to learn.

When I started working there, I realized it was taking more time learning the organization's structure and procedures than it was to learn the newer/more technically challenging aspects of my job.

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I'll apply and see what happens. Could you PM me their contact details? Thanks.

I have a phone interview with Google next Wednesday for a Internal Technology Residency Program position. It sounds like I'd be able to get my hands in all kinds of stuff as I'd do rotations on different teams.

It's a 45 minute technical interview and I've heard Google's are pretty tough from some of the guys I work with. Guess I better start brushing up. Subnetting, embarrassingly enough, is still the thing that trips me up all the time. Do you have any tips or tricks for that? I am dyscalculic so numbers tend to escape me and I can't do any math in my head.

Google interviews do indeed suck.
Depending on who you get you can get some pretty weird brain teasers or just really open ended questions.

I've got a friend who recently interviewed for a systems engineering job at google and his first question was:
"So, explain TCP to me."

Which they expect you to do in 15-30 minute long format.

Also keep in mind, the first person you interview with at google probably isn't a person involved with your hiring. You have to get through a couple layers before you start talking to people that make decisions. We're talking multiple days of interviews for a regular position...I'm not sure how that may differ for a residency.

I've got a couple other friends that have interviewed with them 4 or 5 times and can't break in.
They're definitely one of the toughest places to get into because of such high demand...they can afford to be picky and they are.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

FYI:

http://www.businessinsider.com/15-googl ... id-2010-11

Well, my phone interview went even better than I thought apparently. I got invited back for a second round of interviews in person at their headquarters.

Best of luck!