Company: Microsoft
Date: 2013-11-06
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Senior

Great people; poor management; appalling review process
Pros: There is a tremendous buzz at Microsoft; all of the people are smart and driven to succeed. If Microsoft aren't first in pretty much anything the question is always "what do we need to do to be number 1?".

This behaviour is endemic and really underpins the culture of the entire organisation. 

I worked in the consulting organisation (MCS) and experienced a real variety of projects across a number of customer organisations. Delivering projects when you knew that your team were real experts and that they had the backup of the product development team was incredibly reassuring and this allowed MCS to bid for projects that other technology delivery organisations would shy away from.

Getting in to MCS is not easy; the bar is very high and the interview process lengthy. Expect a telephone interview which, if successful, would be followed by an all day interview which would consist of 3 interviews (peer/competency, hiring manager and HR) plus a role play/programming exercise.

Microsoft has a great benefits package including free broadband and mobile 'phone. One the things that I particularly liked was the free bowl of fruit in the kitchen every day.
Cons: The challenge with working at Microsoft is the challenge with being visible ALL OF THE TIME. Unless your manager and their immediate peers are intimately aware of your achievements then you will be punished during the review process. The drawbacks of this process are well documented within glassdoor but any system that holds the employee review meeting AFTER the grade has been decided is, in my view, seriously flawed.

If you are unlucky enough to be on a long-term project that can seriously impact you; and if that project is on customer site then you can really be in trouble. Also, if you are not valued by your manager then you can get you in trouble as well!!!!

There is also a blame culture emerging in MCS which, if isn't eradicated, will make it not a nice place to work.

With regard to salary, MCS is OK; you don't work there for the money; you work there to get an exposure to the culture and the experience. Microsoft make it very easy for you to work from anywhere at any time and there is a growing expectation that that is exactly what you do. Some managers send email out of hours and then complain when you haven't responded in what they consider a timely manner.