Company: Microsoft
Date: 2009-12-28
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

Not quite what everyone thinks from outside
Pros: Before joining MSFT, I had this conception of a laid back slow moving giant. Couldn't be farther from truth. Everyone is really passionate about the work they do and try to put in their best. At the same time you have full freedom to tackle it any which way you want. Great place if you are looking for work/life balance. And just as great if you are a 60+hr/week kinda guy. 

Access to information and subject matter expertise (spanning beyond just technical subjects) is probably un-paralleled in the industry -- and so are the benefits. Due mainly to thousands of talented people over the years, this company has turned routine things such as IT management, recruiting, email communication etc. into science. Ditto with managing large software projects with end-to-end ownership.
Cons: Same problems that one would expect from the company of this size and history -- There is some chaff with the wheat, there is bureaucracy, there is politics, unhappy employees and so on.