Company: Microsoft
Date: 2013-02-12
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Senior

Once great.
Pros: Free Mountain Dew. Cheap software. Huge bonuses for salaried employees if they are stack-ranked into the right box. An ever-changing review system that's like Sudoku, except that the numbers don't have to add-up.  There are offices in the same building as Neiman Marcus and Louis Vuitton...so, I guess that's a pro if you sold your stock before Vista came out.
Cons: Regular RIFs (Reduction in Force) that are labeled "re-organization."  RIF-ed positions subsequently become contract positions if they do not disappear altogether.  Employees regularly refer to the company as the Titanic: too big a ship to turn around.  The place lost it's ability to get things done quickly and is instead just a big, red-tape-y, uninspiring bore. It is NOT the place it was when BillG was there, despite SteveB's enthusiasm for kicking @$$.  The stock is as stagnant as the innovating.