Company: Microsoft
Date: 2010-05-10
Overall rating: 5/5
Employment status: current

Awesome workplace, but a large company
Pros: You really can't ask for more, in some sense.  If you're a strong engineer with decent soft skills, you'll quickly rise to the right level in the company.  Many people don't make it past a certain level because they undervalue (or refuse to value) soft skills -- "if I'm hardcore enough of an engineer, I should be a VP."  But if you have solid technical chops and also can work well with others, you'll do well.

The benefits and pay really can't be beat, at least for people with a strong growth potential.  However, the pay is predictable and less lottery-like;  you should join a startup if you're hoping to make millions regardless of your skill level.  At Microsoft, it's way too late to "make millions," but a solid engineer should expect to make very good money.
Cons: It's a big company.  One of the largest in software.  So it has some traditional big-company drawbacks.  Like slow decision-making.  Like re-orgs.  Like a mixed bag of people in some organizations.