Company: Microsoft
Date: 2008-06-16
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

The sand shifts too much to get anything done, but hey, it's nice white sand on a sunny beach.
Pros: Several things remain absolutely constant at Microsoft.  You get to work every day with smart, often funny people who really want to do the right thing.  The MS benefit package is second to none, by a very wide margin.  Despite our often hard-core reputation, work-life balance is standard these days, you just have to decide what your balance is.   Dedicated parents are as successful as married-to-their-desk uber geeks.  Diversity is valued and our staff is well balanced.
Cons: Somewhere between startup and global giant MS hit some snags.  The company and its environment have had a hard time scaling to what it means to be a blue chip company.  No longer be run by techie cowboys winging it through every challenge the company still values that spirit.  As a result they spurn anything that smacks of standard operating proceedure, rules, etc..  Sounds good until you need to do any of the multitude of things that a global enterprise needs to run smoothly.  Or, god forbid, stick to a budget.  Growing pains have taken their toll on morale as the same "new" ideas and projects are generated over and over, soak up millions, languish and die.  As a result, the "message" to employees is confused and inconsistent.  Salaries are below industry average (no matter what they tell you), the expectations are high, and the newly minted red tape is incredibly annoying.  Place on that the onslaught of never-ending pointless re-orgs, and your chance of actually getting anything accomplished are long at best.  It's a well-appointed habitrail wheel and the caffeine is free.  Just don't be attached to the a outcome.