Great engineering company for developers, but avoid senior management - Senior Software Development Engineer Microsoft Employee Review

3.0
15 Sept 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Microsoft is a magnet for some really talented developers, regardless of the criticism that is leveled at its product quality or lack of innovation. They do truly value quality coding and provide an excellent set of resources that will help a reasonably competent developer shine. The skills that are learnt at Microsoft are applicable outside of Microsoft and will actually raise your profile. On most major product groups, you have a tremendous opportunity to contribute to the development team in the form of improvements to the process, tools or even improvements to the product design. Finally, there's a strong emphasis on maintaining a healthy work-life balance so flexible hours are tolerated and you won't be criticised for coming in at 11am and leaving at 8pm as long as you're not blocking the rest of the team.

Cons

Microsoft senior management is one of the poorest in the industry although there's been more accountability recently with some high level firings. Decision making at the senior level is still poor and has contributed to the lack of innovation. There's simply way too many levels of management in most product teams and this impedes most communication and internal improvements. The most effective teams at Microsoft tend to be smaller groups that work independently of major products and are run by a competent product unit manager willing to isolate the team from the upper echelons. And the compensation and review process, although not as bad as that in most other large companies, is still a frequently criticised and haphazard process. Most promotions tend to be on the basis of politics and need rather than genuine effort.

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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