Company: Microsoft
Date: 2015-01-05
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former

Bureaucratic & political but getting better
Pros: Because Microsoft is in so many different businesses there is a wide array of career options and opportunities.   The company is becoming more focused under Satya Nadella, and he is also making some key changes to improve the culture.
Cons: Many layers of management.  In my experience (9 years) the management is generally weak when it comes to focusing on the output of the team and employee development.  Managers seem to pay more attention to pleasing their superiors. 

The other major drawback is the culture of competition between individuals, a legacy of the old review system.  That stack ranking/forced curve system is gone, but culture does not change as quickly as one would hope.