Company: Microsoft
Date: 2009-01-18
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: former

Nice people, good benefits.  A good place to learn software but don't stay forever.
Pros: The health benefits are great.  Being able to shut the door and concentrate on what you're working on is a big plus for many.  The atmosphere among QA/Devs in the MSTV group was always professional.  I had several different managers over the course of the 5 years I was there and I felt they were helpful in career advice / planning and gave honest reviews.  Excellent internal discussion lists allow you to chime in and discuss products / issues across the company.
Cons: Company felt like it had too many layers of managers.  People outside the company can be snide when they discover your employer is microsoft; I had more than a dozen incidents here in Silicon Valley where people got verbally hostile once they found out where I worked.     Traffic on the main highway outside the SV Campus is a nightmare at rush hour.  You'll eventually feel like you're camped out inside microsoft while your buddies on the outside are having fun making heroic stuff happen at startups.