OK place to work - Would *not* recommend to a new grad unless you get a great group - Software Development Engineer Microsoft Employee Review

3.0
10 May 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good pay, Stable job, Lots of technical resources, MSR has tons of cool stuff going on (but you need a phd to join)

Cons

Slow-moving (though some groups are getting faster), Hard for young, passionate people to make a true impact - stifles your desire to want to keep trying to change things, Stuck in MSFT tech stack (.NET), Bad resume brand if you ever want to go to a smaller company, Too many PMs often slow things down instead of help, Can develop a bad mentality as dev since focusing on testing is "not your job", Benefits aren't as good as companies in the Bay area, Management/teams are very hit and miss, Culture just isn't that exciting- lot's of 10+year vets (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), but it doesn't seem like many people are eager to shake things up. Many teams don't seem all that necessary (their cost:output doesnt warrant existence), or don't have clear goals (think internal tool teams, etc) As a young person, I think it's probably better to end up at a place like Microsoft later in your career.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

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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