Company: Microsoft
Date: 2015-09-15
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Confirmed

Great... but only if *you* are great
Pros: If you work really hard and make the right people like you, you might be one of the lucky few who get selected for BENCH/HiPo/Lab365, which is the fast-track to promotions, bonuses, and raises.  Even if you don't, compensation is still pretty good.
Cons: Working with other departments (e.g. Windows, Office, Exchange, etc.) is an absolute nightmare.  Most cross-department coordination engineering meetings tend to end in rage, tears, or near-bloodshed.

BENCH/HiPo/Lab365 status is the only way for compensation to be truly competitive with other top-tier companies like Google and Facebook.