Company: Microsoft
Date: 2012-09-12
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

Good company, your experience will vary greatly depending on the group you are in
Pros: Causal work environment, lots of talented, smart, passionate people, opportunity to make an impact in the world through your work, and good health benefit (although that is changing 2013).
Cons: In some groups, leadership (directors and above) are so focused on the politics and self advancement that things are not always done for the good of the company. On some teams, the "perception" of what you do matters way more than the actual accomplishment you achieved.
The performance review system and its forced distribution model are partly to blame, but I think there are just a lot of poor managers, especially at the Director and Senior Director level - lots of Microsoft lifers who don't have outside experiences and perspectives.