Company: Microsoft
Date: 2013-05-15
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

The best and the worst
Pros: Availability of resources, from technical training, to ergonomic furniture and everything in between. Ample free parking (kind of running short in various buildings in Redmond) and free coffee and pop. Good pay.  Medical benefits used to be good prior to 2013, but not anymore.
Cons: Probably the world's worst employee rating and review system. You can't just be happy with your job and do that really well -- they want you to move up the chain or they'll cut you out. It is a dictatorial company, where information and instructions always goes downstream to the subordinates, but any improvement ideas never make it up the chain and are usually terminated at your immediate manager level.  Microsoft management in general have very fragile egos (probably due to their nerdy nature) and will only promote those who kiss up to them (by promote I mean give them good rating at review time). Medical benefit is no longer a magnate to bring engineers to Microsoft as it kind of sucks for people who are not in perfect shape.  Microsoft lays off large number of people and entire groups occasionally and the last large layoff was really targeted at the older employees (40-45 plus) probably due to insurance cost savings, so don't consider a Microsoft job as a safe job by any means.  Management never want to hear real concerns. They shut you down at your team level and don't allow true feelings find their way up the chain.