Company: Microsoft
Date: 2015-07-08
Overall rating: 1/5
Employment status: current

The "New" Microsoft under Satya
Pros: The benefits with the exception of the health insurance are good.  The health insurance in the worst in the industry from what used to be the best.  Salary is decent
Cons: Health Insurance:  This benefit went from having zero premiums, zero co-pay and zero deductible to having a $3700 deductible for a family plan and then after paying 20%.  Then to make matters worst they have added a very complicated and administrative intensive HSA to manage all of this.  Your wife will not have access as it is tied to your corp account so you will have to manage it if you are used to your wife managing these types of things

Expectations:  The unspoken expectation is that you change jobs every 3 years or you are viewed as being dead weight.   It is exhausting.  So if you find a job you love and you are really really good at, you simply have to leave.  Could this be the reasons our products keep getting worse?  Because the people who know them have to leave whether they want to or not?

Stack Ranking:  Do not believe the hype.  This still exists.  They just call it something else and it is more secretive

Review System:  Instead of 2 reviews per year there are a minimum of 4  But they are called Connects now.  You only get compensation for one. So they made something that was already a hassle and made it a double hassle.  Everything you do has to have an immediate business impact.  So if you have a long term strategy or even short term, say a year, nothing you do towards achieving that goal counts because it does not have immediate "business impact".   This all started under Satya

Middle Managers:  When Satya came onboard there was all this talk of getting rid of layers of middle management so the real ideas could get to the people who needed to hear them.  This never happened.  Every layoff or RIF, Middle Mgrs. were not impacted and well known technical resources were let go.  This is a  company that values non-technical business school managers more than technical people.  Very different than when I started and the reverse was true

Promotions:   You do not get promoted to a new job.  You only get promoted within your current job.  Being promoted is actually a negative within MS.  For example,  If your job level ranges from 50-52 (fictitious levels).   Say you got promoted mid year from a 50 to a 51.  You think great I am doing a good job! Then come review time you get a mediocre review.  Why you ask?  I am doing the same work I was before, same job.  Management will tell you that now you are being reviewed and compared against others at level 51 so more is expected of you.  Promotions can be used as a way to phase you out.  If they want you gone they can promote you to level 52 so now you either have to transfer or end up with poor reviews at the higher level.  I have known people who moved to jobs at a lower level so they had room to grow.    Most people don't want to reach the dreaded level 63 or 64 I think which is where ALOT more is expected of you.  

Outside Redmond:  If you do not live in Redmond there are very few opportunities.  Remember the move every 3 years, Do the math

Work Life Balance:  This does not exist.  You will be expected to work/check email on vacations, holidays etc.   And respond.   I will say that they are flexible about things like leaving early to go to a parent/teacher meeting and things like that.  But you will work 60+ hours per week and be connected to email 24/7.  They do lots of lip service about how this will change but in the 10 plus years I have worked year it has not.  The trick is to take the popular vacations Christmas, July 4th, then everyone else is on vacation so you might not be bothered

Company/Product Info:  If you think you will have access to new products, think again.  You will have access when the public does.  You will find out info when the public does. External customers such as TAP will know before you do.  Mary Jo Foley will know before you do.  This applies to internal changes in upper management.  A memo goes out to the press the same time you receive it.  There is no level of trust.  There is also no internal system to share your ideas for product improvement.  There sort of is, but it really goes into a black hole

Email Alias Nitemare:   Want to talk to a real person about a problem you are having with an internal tool?  Good luck.  You will have to send email to an alias and they will respond within 48 hours.   Call the Help Desk?  Our Help Desk (the majority) is in India in case you are wondering.  Want to get a question answered about Benefits?  Again send email to an alias and wait 48 hours.  

Cost Center:  Do not work for a cost center.  Make sure you work for a Product Team or revenue generating team.  If you work in a Cost Center they are always nickel and diming and it gets worse every year.  Work for a Product Team, especially one that is profitable and the champagne and caviar are flowing.  I could not believe the difference.  

There are too many temps or contingent staff.  In my opinion it is just odd.  And they have important jobs and get treated like full time employees.  Until their contract is up and they have to leave.  

Diversity:  If you are a white male look elsewhere.  This company is all about hiring females and non-white employees for the sake of diversity.  Ironically there are very few African Americans here but people of other ethnicities 

Change for the sake of change:  Each fiscal year the manager's come out with their plans.  Everyone throws their all into it, then come June it does not matter because the fiscal year starts July 1st and everything changes.  Even if managers were on the right course they MUST change for the mere sake of change or they look like dead weight.  Don't our products do that too?

Summary:  If you are a student or technical rockstar looking for a home, this is not it.  This is a large corporation with all the politics that go with it and then some more BS specific to this company alone.  There are plenty of other options out there if you are gifted our just starting out.  The health insurance when it was good used to keep people here, not anymore.  I am waiting for some stock to vest and then I am looking for other opportunities