Company: Microsoft
Date: 2011-03-22
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current

Overall very good, however I see that things are sliding
Pros: * Work Life Balance is a keystone for management to base decisions on (family comes first)
* Able to work from home when needed
* Company paid bus service (private bus service avaialble to full time employees to get you into work)
* Relocation package is (when I was hired) gold star:  full pack and move without having to pay a dime.
* Engineering process is truly an all hands exercise driven by everybody on the team who has feedback.
Cons: * Health care is now on par with other companies rather than being a gold plated standard (you better be single and healthy, or starting in 2013 you will pay out of pocket)
* Midyear review process is meh...twice now I've gotten conflicting feedback, and End of year reviews in my product team is decided prior to any employee feedback.
* Constant battle of having to "herd cats" with upper managment, and controlling their expectations versus what your product actually does
* Unfortunately Puget Sound area is a higher cost of living when compared elsewhere, and unfortunately housing is hideously expensive.