Company: Microsoft
Date: 2015-01-15
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Senior

Work environment at Microsoft in software development teams
Pros: Microsoft continues to expand its portfolio of software and hardware products, providing development positions in a very wide variety of technologies and areas of interest.

Although flagship products have a very large organization size, individual working teams are  small, providing cross-discipline fraternity within the larger context.

The working environment is casual with respect to dress codes and personal communication. Work hours are flexible.

Commute options are plentiful. If you drive, there's ample parking, while Microsoft bus, or city transit covers much of the Greater Seattle area.
Cons: In general there's more work to be done than fits in an 8 hour day. For nearly 20 years, I generally worked a 10hr day 5 days a week, with another half day accumulated across evenings or weekends.

The annual review process imposes a ranking across team members which is not representative of how well they did their jobs. This can lead to deflated compensation and advancement opportunities for individuals who are doing their job well, and vice versa can advance employees who don't deserve it simply because they did better work than their team mates who were less competent. This process is slowly changing, but I have no insight as to what and when new policies will be in place.