Company: Microsoft
Date: 2013-01-16
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Confirmed

You're career will crash due to the old school culture
Pros: 1) PAY - Decent pay if you fight for it up front, don't accept the first offer - there is always a contingent offer.
2) FITNESS - 2013 $800 reimbursement for health and fitness related memberships, equipment (i.e. bike/helmet, snowboard, ski's, boots/bindings, versa climber, weight sets, benches, racks, etc.).
Cons: 1) CULTURE - Vicious culture if not part of your organization's "club"; do not give constructive feedback (see Cons #2), HR will always back management.
2) FORCED RANKING - Forced ranking system (1 - 5); simplified - if you work in a group which has 5 people in your grade band, and all of you kick butt, one will get a score of 1 (or 1+), one a (2), one a (3), one a (4), one a (5 - you suck and are out the door); this is forced ranking, plus the ranking is done before you submit your self-assessment; you are ranked on what your perceived performance is, not actual - essentially, if you are popular with your organization's managers (i.e. part of the club), you will always have a decent to high review score.
3) WORK LOAD - Be perpared to do the actual work of two people by the end of your second year; more than two if you have breadth of abilities; this is due to systemically poor planning and forecasting approaches utilized YoY - why? rock the boat and you'll get slapped with a 4 or 5 rating.
4) WORK/LIFE BALANCE - Only in your first year if you are lucky; good ole boys club members usually have decent work/life balance; MSFT follows the sun, so working across timezones is expected, weekends and holidays for some as well.
5) HEALTH PLAN - The cadillac health plan is a thing of the past and 2013 brings a standard set of limited health plan options, with annual deductables and co-pays.  CPO leveraged Obamacare to effect a very significant employee healthcare cost reduction roadmap; high benefit to the CPO's review rating and associated financial benefits at the cost of almost 100,000 "valued" employees.