Company: Microsoft
Date: 2016-01-24
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current

Can't recommend unless your only goal is money
Pros: Very competitive pay plus lots of incentives for staying longer.  They are liberal with giving out stock but it usually takes several years to vest, meaning if you leave you lose it.
Cons: Like all big companies your bosses primary concern will always be trying to look good to his or her boss rather than trying to make a decision based on their own judgement.  Unfortunately this means they are guessing at what will get them ahead rather than focusing on a good product; so they are only looking upward for leadership rather than downward for feedback.

Now add in six to ten levels of sycophantic guesswork and the result is a bafflingly frustrating experience for an employee and a mediocre product as a result.

Work/life balance is a joke as your boss will definitely say things like, "Don't work too much" or "take care of your health" then make a random change of direction and give you 80 hours of work that week without compromise.