Company: Microsoft
Date: 2015-05-26
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

Changing, but a long way to go
Pros: Name and legacy will get you noticed - it's still one of the most profitable companies around so people pay attention. You get to open doors and get invited to events to speak because of where you work.

Benefits and Pay are still top notch compared to a lot of other companies.  It may not be Facebook or Google, but it's competitive.

There are almost way too many resources - if you're looking for information or need a product/service, someone can get it for you as long as you can justify it.  

Recruiting is top-notch. Bar-none probably the best system of interviewing - it's a great experience for the interviewee and interviewer - which means people tend to be a good fit (at least for the 6 months that your job is the same).

Innovation and excitement in some pockets - there are some really cool things happening with Hololens.  Small pockets of innovation within incubation teams are very inspiring.  

It really is a giving culture.  People volunteer, give money and promote social causes as part of their DNA.  It's not just for PR.
Cons: Constant change is not handled well.  Satya's arrival has prompted more innovation and bolder, better moves, but you're still talking about a 100K full-time work force.  Any change rolls through at a glacial pace.  Some teams are agile, but the majority can't pivot fast enough (and who can blame them?).  There are a lot of people who have been there 10+ years and no matter what, that encourages a settling in mentality that isn't really a fit for how the CEO thinks about the company.  

Collaboration is still pretty new - so people say they want to because it's the new "in" thing to do, but that doesn't mean they actually know how.  

Top level leaders, CEO and directs are mostly great and day to day coworkers are smart and motivated.  Middle management is a mess (and abundant) so it's hard to translate the company vision uniformly across teams.  If you're stuck in a backward facing, reactive org, you'll be frustrated. 

It's still a pretty political place.  History, size and constant change will make it really hard to stand out.  You need both smarts, savvy and connections and good luck to you if you don't have all three.  

You need to be in Redmond to go far.  Period.