Microsoft is a great place to work but no longer the greatest. - Systems Engineer Microsoft Employee Review

3.0
May 2, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

World class benefits unmatched by any other employer; one of the richest and most active internal technical communities; resources available on the intranet rivals what is publicly available on the Internet at large; every organization's budget includes "Morale" for off-site events, social gatherings, and fun; access to company store where software costs 10% of list price; employee only discounts and deals offered by Microsoft customers and partners; free membership to the Pro Club in Puget Sound; Fully paid relocation including reimbursement of real estate commission, packing of your house, shipment of automobiles, and spending money; on campus towel stocked locker rooms and gourmet cafeteria

Cons

Advertised compensation being better than 2/3 of the industry means that salary is not very competitive with other technical companies in the area; Not-invented-here syndrome wastes productivity on creating technology that already exists; Some groups thrive on bureaucracy and preservation of job security at the expense of agility and efficiency; No on-site day care; choice of funds for 401(k) is limited and underperforming; average length of time for pay grade promotion is 3 years; too much project management; outsourced internal services look great on paper but leave much to be desired by those forced to use it; no free food

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
Jun 7, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Interesting and varied work. Seasonality to the job allows for rest period

Cons

Less stability than there used to be makes people afraid to take risks

4.0
Jan 28, 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. If you love tech, this is a great place. No doubt you'll talk tech (mostly the MSFT stack) from enterprise to consumer - from PCs to phones to Xboxes - from datacenter to desktop. 2. What were GREAT benefits are now VERY GOOD (took a small step down) but still probably better than you'll find at 99% of large corporations. If you've got family - the value of the benefits is even higher. 401k match is nice. 3. Even with it's struggles MSFT is still a cash printing machine. This means if you can keep your nose clean and do reasonable work, you can have a stable job, pay your bills, feed your family, and not worry (too much) about layoffs. The stock you own likely won't tank, but probably won't go up much either. You'll get a bonus each year and some stock. It's a decent life if you aren't looking to light the world on fire.

Cons

Brand on Your Resume: After many years of losing market share and struggling to be at the front end of innovation and the fact that there's 90,000 employees, don't think MSFT is necessarily going to be attractive on your resume to more agile and smaller companies. Managing Your Career: Make you say this out loud so it registers - 90,000 employees work there. Double that for vendors. It is VERY hard to "stand out" and move up in the company. Don't expect your manager to be much of an advocate or enabler to help you meet your career goals - they are basically trying to survive the stack rank every year too. Not familiar with the stack rank? Check out the 2012 Vanity Fair article called "Microsoft's Lost Decade".

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