Company: Microsoft
Date: 2011-08-09
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current

Good place to work for engineers, not marketers
Pros: Smart people (with usually good collaboration and teamwork)
Solid financial foundation (good in these uncertain times)
Solid brand name for your resume 
Access to training and professional growth
Decent compensation
Cons: Microsoft is a R&D company at its heart -- marketing is not a core competency for the company.  Early stage marketers can certainly benefit from the learning and exposure but for midlevel marketing professionals aspiring to lead or have solid control ... it is a tough place to work.  Constant politics and limited promotion opportunities are a major facet of current situation.  Performance expectations are brutal and supported by a very opaque, half science / half art system for performance reviews.