Company: Microsoft
Date: 2012-12-24
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Senior

Diverse products to work on, senior talent to learn from, always seeking to improve.
Pros: Tired on working on the operating system in the Windows Division? You can get a job at Bing on Search technologies or Kinect working on human computer interaction or databases in SQL, all without changing your company. Microsoft's diversity of products makes it a dream for computer science grads. 
Plenty of senior talent makes for great mentorship opportunities for new engineers. The depth and expertise of developers at Microsoft is obvious as evidenced by the recent appearance of Google and Facebook in Seattle to grab this tech talent. 
Not afraid to make big bets, Microsoft should never be counted out, whether it is investing in a gaming console for the living room or making the Surface or delivering the next generation smart phone OS in a short period of time. The same diversity of products I mentioned earlier puts it in the unique position in the industry to create integrated experiences that only it can create in short periods of time. 
We may not get free lunch everyday but where it counts, our benefits rock. Did I mention the health care benefits at the company are the best in the industry (yes, despite the changes in 2013)? Sorry Google and Facebook.
Cons: We're not exactly the leaders in the consumer segment right now and what's worse is that we are probably a generation behind in tablets and smart phones, when we really had no reason to be. It's going to be an uphill battle against iOS and Android.
Microsoft is still learning how to release products at a fast cadence, something that is critical to being competitive in the industry today. Some groups at Microsoft are not as fast paced as you might like - ask when you interview.