Look elsewhere - the good times at Msft are REALLY over - Software Development Engineer Microsoft Employee Review

3.0
Aug 29, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Honestly, any pros to working here are being phased out unless you are a non-technical business or marketing type person then you can expect to make a lot for not really producing anything. There is a culture of arrogance here, people are in denial and puff themselves up all the time because Microsoft used to be the shiznit back in the 90s. In modern times the stock has stagnated and no one gets rich anymore but employees do still get treated with reverence from older folks in the community who don't know times have changed. Employees can still expect to enjoy discounts and deals, and some people in the Seattle area will still be impressed with Microsoft name on your resume, although its increasingly more likely any legit company who knows the truth will see Microsoft name and count it against you.

Cons

If you are young, technical, a go-getter and aiming to get rich Microsoft is NOT the place for you. The company will milk products from its glory days (basically just Windows and Office) until the market forces it into irrelevance. Win8 is the elephant in the room, proven to be a spectacular failure yet we keep trying to force it down people's throats. With product pipelines like Windows Phone and surface there's simply not enough growth or opportunity for Microsoft to sustain promoting you and paying you what you're worth. Plus the culture heavily favors non-technical business-y types that do nothing but bs at meetings all day and play the game. Any raises or decent salaries will be given to those folks, not you the producer. This has got to be the worst place to be for a smart, hard working technical person - don't waste your time and devote your passion and skills to a company that will appreciate it like Google or Apple. This is a dying company - the business people are the vultures feasting on the carrion of failed products and srinking revenues. Who in their right mind would want to work here?!

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
Jul 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Discretionary Time Off and Benefits Work life balance

Cons

Ambiguity and constant change isn’t for everyone. High performance work culture, but the pay doesn’t match.

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".

2374
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All