Company: Microsoft
Date: 2012-07-20
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

Competitive stack-ranking, and limited career growth outside of Redmond
Pros: Benefits are great for now, company is respected as hiring top talent so looks good on a resume/CV, and top performers as compared to peers receive good pay increases and career opportunities in general.
Cons: Culture has become internally competitive, confidence is rewarded over self-criticism (a msft core value, no longer widely evident), matrixed org is complex and decision ownership is unclear but consensus is still somehow expected, 'stack ranking' is perceived as a popularity contest vs. supported by outcomes and data, simplification efforts happen in silos creating even more complexity and duplication, and there is little tolerance for the complex and thoughtful planning needed for org-wide systemic solutions.