Company: Microsoft
Date: 2009-01-30
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current

A fading giant
Pros: Building up resume; Working on products which are used by millions of customers; Some respect and honor from its legacy; Job security; Benifits;
Cons: Slow career advancement; With stock becomes valueless, compensation package is not very competative among top tier companies; Long term prosperity of the company is in question after huge missteps from senior leadership team: in all those years, MS is focusing 100% on finding the next multi-billion dollar business after Windows and Office. It is willing to spend enormous resources on some stupid ideas like smart watch instead of trying them out and fail fast in light way. With its effort spreading so widely, the core business is losing attention and we are seeing big troubles in Windows Vista and Window Mobile. The most questionable strategy is betting the whole company on search to chase Google's tail. It's not clear whether this is for the company's good or for Bill and Steve's personal ego. After 5 years and tens of billions of dollar, the Live search is still miserable. Now it's not clear that Live search would even be able to catch up before the core business dry up. The search game becomes a billionaire's gamble by risking this once great company.