Company: Microsoft
Date: 2014-04-11
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Senior

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Pros: There are a lot of great things about Microsoft. There are so many great,  intelligent, innovative, talented and fun people who work there. They are diverse and I respect that. I loved being on the cutting edge of technology. It was great having all the new Microsoft technology right there for us to use. The company has good benefits too. They do their best to make the work environment comfortable and provide a lot of alternative places to sit and work. They have a healthy attitude toward letting employees work at home with very flexible hours. I worked here for several years and I saw many changes over that time - some good, some not so good. Overall, I enjoyed most of my time at Microsoft.
Cons: Loosen the purse strings! If you develop software, you have it made. Microsoft pays the developers very well which I understand but the rest of the company isn't always better than average pay. It totally depends on the group your in (not the job you do). Compensation is not fairly provided. I hope with moving to a new review model it will improve. Microsoft likes to cry poor even though there is billions in savings. They have lost a lot of good talent due to compensation. The bar is never high enough. Each time you accomplish your goals (and do them well) they keep raising the bar. The work load is crazy and if you don't learn to have boundaries you will have no personal life. Even if you can, work life balance is skewed here. People work nights and weekends consistently. These are salaried positions - no overtime and taking comp time is near impossible because you are always so busy. Most deadlines are insane - it doesn't allow you to produce the quality of work you would like. There is a lot of compromise because of it. Some people are great at communicating some aren't. It is competitive and people throw co-workers under the bus to make themselves look better with an aim on the reviews. My hope is this will change with the new review model.