Company: Microsoft
Date: 2015-11-14
Overall rating: 5/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Senior

Best Place To Work
Pros: I've worked at Microsoft and in the IT organization for over a decade. Microsoft is truly an amazing place.
* Extremely smart people
* Truly innovative
* Amazing benefits 
* Your work is truly valued
* If your organization and management believe in your long-term potential and your ability to grow and lead, there are leadership development programs (HiPo/High Potential Program, Key Talent, etc.)
* Ability to experience various products, services, organizations etc.
* Things are positively changing under the leadership of Satya Nadella. There is a positive buzz internally, the industry and investors are responding positively. Our stock prices have shot up. We are truly embracing change and newer/innovative products (Hololens, Surface Book etc.) are being released. 
* Under Satya's leadership and new review model, Employees are measured on business impact (reduces unnecessary politics and brown-nosing, and focus is on impact/results), how they leverage the work of others and build on top of others work (reduces duplication of work across teams/organizations, and increases collaboration), and how employees have helped others to be successful (focus changes from individual success to team success).
* Microsoft has done away with the older performance review system (1 - Outstanding ... all the way to 5 - Very poor/no impact). This was a forced curve, meaning people managers had to find employees to fit in each category leading to some unfavorable behavior and culture. The newer model no longer rates employees on the 1-5 scale, and there is no "calibration" exercise (forced curve). However, as a manager one still has to 'differentiate' employees based on impact. 
* Satya meets with his directs and product group leaders/engineering leaders weekly/several times a month. He also has frequent employee all-hands where he talks to employees, and everyone in the company has a chance to ask him questions directly. He is well connected with his leadership team, knows what is happening at the top across the company, and he is well connected with employees at the grass-root level. True leader and positively leading the company in the right direction
Cons: * Microsoft truly has some amazing products and technologies but we don't always do a good job of telling the story about our products. Our competitors often make a huge deal of features and functionalities that Microsoft products have had in years. Even as a FTE and 10+ years at the company (true blue Microsoftie), I often come across things in our products I didn't know existed. We can do better in that area. To give credit where due though, under the leadership of our (relatively) new EVP Marketing - Chris Capossella, there are truly impactful, meaningful and inspiring advertisements, and marketing strategies that reflect the power and potential of Microsoft products, better than how we have done in the past.
* While Benefits are better than many other companies, it used to be better a few years ago. Medical was "free" and Microsoft took care of all the medical expenses. With the changes a few years ago, preventive care is 'free' but employees have a co-pay for all other medical expenses.
* Compared to similar tech companies like Facebook and Google, we don't have "Free Food" although "Free Soda/Juices" are available in every building.
* Sometimes things may not seem very transparent across management layers and working across teams may sometimes seem complicated. But with the newer One Microsoft philosophy and way of working under Satya's leadership, there is way less politics and way more collaboration, and partnership. 
* Moving across organizations is relatively challenging (eg. moving from IT to Engineering/Product Group); also cross-org movement after a certain level (Level 65) is challenging. If you want to experience different orgs, move while still a L63 or 64. 
* Likewise L65 and above is a shark-tank.