Company: Microsoft
Date: 2013-02-11
Overall rating: 5/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

A great place to work, just abide to strong work-life balance boundaries . . .
Pros: Too many to mention, great benefits, generous salaries, casual office work wear, great extra perks, concierge, ProClub, Stay Fit benefit, fantastic focus on upgrading cafeterias and new buildings are amazing. Free sparkling water. I was always incredibly content with my "deal". Exciting releases. but Enjoy the exhilaration of doing your very best work alongside incredible peers and indulge in some pure obsession. Pride!  Oh, and access to the Library, the education benefits and just the internal training system is a giant perk to me and should be globally recognized by organizations that track such things. Kudos, Microsoft Librarians and Training Division.
Cons: STRESS. Know this going in - that you will need to put some energy in learning how to manage stress. If you can't convert it to excitement or use it healthily . . . maybe reconsider. This company hires the best of the best and they expect nothing but the best in return. You will make sacrifices. Your health might suffer if you don't buld in some exercise to burn off the cortisol.

I think the review process is a bit brutal. I'm not convinced the process is incredibly fair because the managers have to stack rank all folks in same job level, and if you ALL do a stellar job, there is a bell curve of ratings to assign. It can be very deeply disappointing and de-motivating. If all did "5" level work, there has to be a 5.0, 4.5, 4.0, 3.5, 3.0 chosen from the five. I think this is just wrong! Perhaps they have changed it by now.