Company: Microsoft
Date: 2019-04-16
Overall rating: 5/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

Great work atmosphere at Cambridge location
Pros: Colleagues are very friendly and sharp, competent people: many are recent graduates of local colleges and graduate programs. There is a great work atmosphere cultivated by leadership that has been with this department since it was acquired from Nokia years ago. There are opportunities to make a name for yourself and expand your skill set with challenging projects, but also tolerance for us older folks who need to prioritize a work-life balance at some point in their career. (And perhaps for that reason, this group has a better gender ratio and more parents than most companies or other divisions of Microsoft.) Open to occasional remote work.
Cons: Many colleagues who have been with the department a while are now at a senior level and have a hard time advancing further within the company. (There are only so many opportunities for management or high-level independent contributor positions, and even fewer are at the Boston office specifically.) It's a testament to the atmosphere of the team and the quality of the projects that these folks stick around. Not a problem if you are planning to come in at entry level and OK with potentially switching companies after a few years.