SDE Internship at Microsoft - Great Experience - Software Development Engineer Intern Microsoft Employee Review

5.0
5 Jul 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

An internship at Microsoft has been a great experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone. The pay and benefits for interns is better than most other internships. Above this, however, the way in which Microsoft structures their internships is very refreshing compared to past internships I've had. Intern projects at Microsoft are incredibly well thought out and are designed so that you can complete them during the summer, make an impact, and not have to learn every intricacy of the product you are working on. As for working for Microsoft in general, everyone seems to be very happy with their jobs and I have yet to see much that would make me want to work anywhere else.

Cons

Not really a negative, but I would say that your experience here, much like at other companies, is very much dependent on your group and the people you work with. There of course have been a few stories of interns who work for groups they simply don't like. For the most part, however, the groups are all very enthusiastic and fun to work with.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
22 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The work life balance is great.

Cons

Very little pay not competitive.

4.0
28 Jan 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. If you love tech, this is a great place. No doubt you'll talk tech (mostly the MSFT stack) from enterprise to consumer - from PCs to phones to Xboxes - from datacenter to desktop. 2. What were GREAT benefits are now VERY GOOD (took a small step down) but still probably better than you'll find at 99% of large corporations. If you've got family - the value of the benefits is even higher. 401k match is nice. 3. Even with it's struggles MSFT is still a cash printing machine. This means if you can keep your nose clean and do reasonable work, you can have a stable job, pay your bills, feed your family, and not worry (too much) about layoffs. The stock you own likely won't tank, but probably won't go up much either. You'll get a bonus each year and some stock. It's a decent life if you aren't looking to light the world on fire.

Cons

Brand on Your Resume: After many years of losing market share and struggling to be at the front end of innovation and the fact that there's 90,000 employees, don't think MSFT is necessarily going to be attractive on your resume to more agile and smaller companies. Managing Your Career: Make you say this out loud so it registers - 90,000 employees work there. Double that for vendors. It is VERY hard to "stand out" and move up in the company. Don't expect your manager to be much of an advocate or enabler to help you meet your career goals - they are basically trying to survive the stack rank every year too. Not familiar with the stack rank? Check out the 2012 Vanity Fair article called "Microsoft's Lost Decade".

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