Company: Microsoft
Date: 2015-02-04
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

Microsoft pros and cons
Pros: Well paid, good healthcare benefits (though definitely not as good as a few years ago), technically challenging

If you work there you will learn a LOT and to stay working there you have to be adaptable and able to learn new things quickly. Your job description will be a fraction of the work that you actually do. Some teams are fabulous and management is fabulous and others are, well, NOT. You have to find the right spot for you.
Cons: Difficulty maintaining work/life balance. While your pay is high, you're often on the clock even at home (email, nighttime phone calls to other locations etc).

Depending on the team you work for, Microsoft can be very sluggish to respond to market needs. There's still a sense of fiefdoms and intransigence to new ideas. There are many long-timers there (though many were laid off recently). So, people who have less time in aren't given as much respect. It can be a very, very tough place to work when you get down to the wire and are close to a product release. Lots and lots and lots of overtime during this period.