Company: Microsoft
Date: 2012-09-07
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: former
Experience level: Confirmed

Great place to start your career but don't stay too long!
Pros: Depending on the role and division, you can get some major budget and responsibility in your work. Microsoft does hire very smart people and the lifestyle is pretty good for the most part. Very flexible with commutes and about getting your work done vs. where you're working or when you're in the office. If you do spend a lot of time, there are opportunities to get experience across industries and roles to some extent either voluntarily or involuntarily (if you get reorganized like I did every 6 months!). Because of its size, it's a good place to build your career especially early on since you have "margin" for error and lots of resources to support you in your work...
Cons: Has become a very large company and become a victim of its own success. Bureaucracy, process have eroded the agility and entrepreneurial culture quite a bit. People are not incentivized always to do what's right for Microsoft and you can learn a lot of bad habits here that will not serve you well in other quarters. Beware of constant reorganizations, incentives that focus on individual achievement over teamwork and narrowly defined roles that pigeonhole or limit your movement/marketability. Your career is maybe 20% under your control and luck will play a big role unfortunately...