Company: Microsoft
Date: 2014-09-09
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Junior

Abusive, hypercompetitive atmosphere
Pros: Nice pay, many amenities on campus, and it looks great on your resume. These are things I experienced both as an intern and FTE.
Cons: Especially at the entry level, your job is to please everyone above you in the hierarchy, more than working. Criteria for success and expectations are often vague, so you must make sure everyone knows what you are doing and feels good about it (and about you). You have very little ownership over what you do, and trying to appease both management and peers who gatekeep the codebase quickly becomes impossible. Microsoft culture also values aggressiveness and criticism: these are seen as strengths of the company. If you don't like being negative towards others or react badly when presented with consistent aggressive behavior, you will not fit in.