Company: Microsoft
Date: 2010-08-18
Overall rating: 5/5
Employment status: current

Working as a Premier Field Engineer is very satisfying.
Pros: Microsoft provides excellent benefits for their employees. Add that to an average salary and their overall compensation is very good. While I'm sure my experience with work/life balance has a lot to do with my specific role, Microsoft has provided the best work/life balance I've had in any job by far. I have access to good hardware and cutting-edge software that help make my day-to-day work more enjoyable.
Cons: There's a stigma about Microsoft as a company, perhaps because of past transgressions, and that's hard to get past when I associate with others or look at comments on articles about Microsoft. I think a lot of those opinions are outdated. I think it's a risk at any big company, though; big companies are big targets, and the bigger they are, the more likely they are to tick someone off somewhere.