Unparalleled - If you have a chance to work there, take it - Group Manager Microsoft Employee Review

4.0
Jul 23, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Smart people Big goals Tremendous opportunity to grow Products have huge impact on the market and on people's lives Great compensation package Opportunity to learn in one of the most successful companies ever

Cons

Many employees have been there so long that they may have lost some context about the real world. In Office, for example, they were unwilling to incorporate mobile devices as a 1st experience until way too late - despite multiple voices calling for it. And you can see a similar delay with Office apps for IOS. This self-centeredness also extends to management. When someone is doing well, that person is golden. When someone isn't doing well, there's no safety net. It's extremely Ayn Randian. I was there nearly 20 years - I started as an individual contributor contractor, and worked my way up to group manager (managing managers). I believed in the review system and the company for at least 15 of those years - complainers just couldn't hack it, I thought. But I honestly realize now that there is a blind spot with regard to human performance. People can still be great performers and contributors even after they've failed to deliver in a particular circumstance. Perhaps Satya will impact that for the better.

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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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