Company: Microsoft
Date: 2008-07-24
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

Good Pay and Benefits, Stifling Politics and Process, Puzzling Senior Management Decisions
Pros: Excellent benefits in the US.  100% paid medical (no prescription cost or copay for visits), although dental and vision are not quite as good.  Great pay compared to my prior position.  Nice annual bonus and stock awards if your review is good, although it isn't going to make anyone rich.
Cons: In field customer-facing roles (such as PFE or Consulting), there can be pressure to fill engagements with a resource, even if they don't have the right skillset.  Placing a body with a customer for the sake of filling a slot doesn't help us or the customer.

MSFT claims to value work-life balance, but I rarely see this in practice.  My current manager is supportive of my personal goals, but we still have to make concessions for the customer.  I suppose this is true in any professional services line of work, but I would like to see a bit more emphasis on doing what is right for the employee and a little less emphasis on bending over backwards for the customer at every turn.  The customer is not always right.