Company: Microsoft
Date: 2012-03-26
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: former

Great benefits, unrealistic work loads
Pros: Smart, interesting people. Campus has lots of amenities (walking/jogging paths, recreation opportunities, good food at reasonable prices in the cafeterias, espresso stands in most buildings). Great place for young, energetic people to start a career.
Cons: Most groups put an unrealistic work load on employees. There is usually a lot of pressure to work long hours and produce more, more, more. I was actually in a group that required a minimum of 50 hours per week from each employee. That's a lot of time if you have a family or life outside of work. I burned out and I wasn't the only one. I've seen several people have breakdowns or develop physical symptoms from the pressure. I finally decided I couldn't take it any more and left before my health could be further compromised. Good thing they offer excellent medical benefits -- if only the employees had time to make it to a doctor's appointment.