Company: Microsoft
Date: 2014-08-12
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Junior

Good experience overall
Pros: Worked on an awesome team that cared about employee morale. Annual team building trips, lots of opportunities if you asked for them. The healthcare was AMAZING! I know it's not as great anymore, but still pretty good. Nice cafeterias, free drinks, nice buildings.
Cons: Work hours were pretty insane. During peak season it was 80-90 hours a week for 3-4 months. It slowed down to 40 in the non-peak season. Not great if you have a family. Review system is tough. Even if everyone on your team is performing well and doing their job well, SOMEONE still has to fill that bottom rank bucket. My advice would be to stay on top of your manager during your 1:1s. Ask them at least monthly how they would rate your performance at that time, what you can do to improve, what extra projects you can take that will allow you to shine on your team. Give your manager reasons to fight for you come June when they stack rank. Also, take on projects that give you good visibility amongst all management, including your skip level manager. If they don't know who you are, that is going to hurt you.