Company: Microsoft
Date: 2017-09-22
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current

Cons outweigh pros for a healthy job satisfaction.
Pros: 1) The company is full of really smart and talented people. 
2) Some orgs within MS are better to deal with than others. 
3) Satya Nadella seems fantastic and pioneering as the CEO. 
4) Benefits are great.
Cons: 1) There are a lot of bad managers (especially any orgs related to Windows/Bing Apps) and peer politics at workplace (most orgs). 
2) Unreasonable layoffs and frequent reorgs in core engineering jobs. One org infamously laid off all new hires with < 1 year of MS experience. RIF's not based on performance is a moral dampener. 
3) Review system is really bad. You should be reviewed for the primary job that you are hired to do, which includes quality, timely delivery, team building, good work ethics. But here,  you need to show what they call as "impact", which is doing any unrelated project or talk or brown-bag, that makes you visible to the higher-ups. If you are not capable of doing this one thing, then no matter how qualified you are at your job, skills and experience, you will stay at the same level for years! Even though the "ratings" are removed, it's the same old stack-ranking review system with a fancy new name.