Company: Microsoft
Date: 2008-08-23
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current

Stay away if you are not adept at managing perceptions and managing up
Pros: For college hires, MSFT is (still) a good brand to have on your resume and a great place to gain some experience.  There are only a handful of software companies that deliver products to hundreds of millions of users worldwide.  We also have a variety of products and technologies so there are opportunities to work on other problem spaces and wear different hats if you get bored.

For industry hires, stability is the word of the day.  The company has weathered its growing pains, matured from lessons learn and have consistently produced strong numbers year after year.  Those with families will appreciate the very good benefits package and solid work life balance.  You're unlikely to suffer from burnouts or strategic fluctuations as long as you pick the right group.
Cons: Much has been said about our performance review and stack-ranking system.  MSFT is not unlike other for-profit corporation after all.  If you are not adept at managing perceptions and managing your manager - stay away.    

Mid level folks will find career advancement opportunities limited.  There's an entrenched middle management in almost every division and they're not going anywhere soon.  As you go higher up, promotions is about who you know and who knows you.

This is a matured company now.  The passion from the 90's growth days are long gone.