Company: Microsoft
Date: 2017-05-30
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Senior

Program Manager
Pros: Its Microsoft.  Always a top company.  Good pay and benefits.  And with so many products and regional operating centers, there is a lot of opportunity to structure a career however you want.  

Schedules are pretty flexible, but there is an unspoken rule/expectation to 'be online' to make up any time taken.  Work life balance is a Microsoft value.  And for the most part there is no problems taking time when you need it.  Plus there is a work from home availability.
Cons: There is too much management and it is top down management.  It is a constant energy suck to prove your value, why you are necessary to your job.  The need to do your day job at night is constant.  There are so many meetings and so much political games that morale is low.  If you are not a buddy with LT, you get a lot of crap thrown over the fence to you and I constantly fight to maintain my job ownership.   

People get promoted for very little (even being gone on parental leave for 6 months of the year!) and folks get promised a promo and don't get one.  And I cannot say enough to paint the appropriate picture of the review process here.  It is abysmal.  It takes hours to write and usually happens after your rewards for the year is already set.  And your rewards are not based on what you accomplished.  It is people's perspective of the value.  I have had a manager tell me I have not delivered anything in a year because my skip level doesn't see anything I deliver and isn't aware of its impact.  Yet my job is to keep things running smoothly so they don't receive any escalations.  Again, it isn't what you do in your job, it is what you did in addition to your job and how loud you showcase it.

While there are opportunities here, it is extremely time consuming to transition somewhere else.  If, stress the IF, you get an informational to discuss the job opening, it is even rarer that you get selected for the interview loop.  There is a common saying here, it is easier to leave Microsoft and come back then it is to transfer internally. 

While it is also a Pro, the benefits at MS are not what they used to be.  Pay is similar now to lots of companies.  And a lot of the pay is rolled up in your annual review, which includes a bonus and stock.  the bonus is below average and the stock only vests 1/5 a year.  So while your stock is part of your 'raise' you don't get any until 6 months to a year later.  And if you leave MS, you lose it.  So it is really a Con.  Healthcare is good but no longer free.  Employees have to pay out of pocket now based on HSAs and are taxed on employer paid portions.  It is viewed as a cost containment not a benefit anymore.    I hear from old colleagues they get better pay and benefits when leaving MS.  They felt undervalued here and when they leave they receive large bumps in pay and equivalent levels.

Overall, lots of companies compare with MS now whereas MS used to distinguish themselves with better than anyone benefits.