Company: Microsoft
Date: 2011-09-27
Overall rating: 5/5
Employment status: current

Can't ask for a better first job
Pros: You are really coding at a bleeding edge environment.  Two years in and I am tasked with cloudifying a major service in our platform (serving tens of thousands each).  I went from college student with experience in C / C++ to being an expert in C#.  I got to design an asynchronous public API.  I have been able to take on as much work as I can handle with the support of mentors and my manager.  Seriously, when you get a good team, Microsoft can be a great place to work.
Cons: From some of my friends, the experience at Microsoft can vary.  If you get a crappy manager, your life can be a living hell.  If you are in a bad org, upper management can also hinder instead of promote evolutionary changes.