Company: Microsoft
Date: 2008-09-19
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current

Being #1 is a blessing and a curse
Pros: Pay and bonus is above average. Medical benefits are outstanding. If you're willing to relocate or travel more than 50% of the time you have greater opportunities than most to advance. There is a certain amount of opportunity that you can control locally but after that it is right place right time. You really can control your own destiny by digging in and going the extra mile and you can be rewarded for it (there is some downside to that which I'll outline below). Having dedicated customer contact and / or responsibility insulates you (mostly) from corporate restructuring - the company is sensitive to forcing a level of change that might cause service level drops or continuity issues with customer facing roles.
Cons: Raises are not the best. While you start off higher than two thirds of comparable jobs the raises that are not accompanied with promotions are less than 4% with most being in the 2 to 3% range. If you miss a single commitment even by a hair that raise could be 0%. You have to be willing to relocate or travel more than 50% of the time to have greater opportunities than most to advance. If you do dig in and go the extra mile you'll most likely be rewarded for it especially if it positively impacts the business unit as a whole but you'll have raised the bar for yourself and your peers - they'll be expected to do as much (or more) and so will you from that point forward. If you worked at a marathon-like pace you'll never be able to sustain that from year to year. You'll burn yourself out trying and ultimately alienate yourself from your peers.