I'd like to be able to consider it but I'm not in their candidate pool (around forty, no regular job for a few years, non-tech schooling, travel, no high tech work for years before that).
I am not in their candidate pool, either by your standards. Quickly approaching forty, dropped out of 'society' for 5+ years, non-high tech work during that period, no Ivy League degree. And, yet, despite the fact that I have made -exceptionally- clear that I have no interest in working at their company, they will not stop recruiting me.
I think you should go for it and put in that application. It's way more likely that they want you to work there than that you want to work for them.
This is terrible advice. Going through Google HR's meat grinder you have a small probability to get in. The process is quite random and it takes a lot of time and energies from you.
Don't gamble on 1/10. Most likely, you'll feel like crap for nothing. And don't listen to the 1/10ers, they often rationalize and are fooled by selection bias.
they often rationalize and are fooled by selection bias.
Assuming you are talking about me, that's crazy. I have asked, literally, a handful of times that they never contact me again.
It might be selection bias, but it's not rationalization and it's not fooling me. It's annoying the crap out me. I hope they go bother someone who is interested in working there.
I am not in their candidate pool, either by your standards. Quickly approaching forty, dropped out of 'society' for 5+ years, non-high tech work during that period, no Ivy League degree. And, yet, despite the fact that I have made -exceptionally- clear that I have no interest in working at their company, they will not stop recruiting me.
I think you should go for it and put in that application. It's way more likely that they want you to work there than that you want to work for them.