Not same Microsoft I joined - Software Development Engineer II Microsoft Employee Review

2.0
Oct 13, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Benefits, benefits, benefits... Enough said. Also, if you are smart, you can stretch what you work on for weeks and nobody will notice (that's also a con, as you will eventually become lazy)

Cons

Process is at times unbearable. Advancement in career is largely dependent on 'who-you-know' game, and if you came in lower level it is very hard to advance. Changing job inside company is very hard -- you have to go through interview loop as any other external candidate, but you also have to tell your current manager about it _before_ your interview is even scheduled. Technically, manager cannot prevent you from interviewing after 18 months in position, but it really brings you to uncomfortable position -- with scarcity of internal positions nowdays, there will be tens of people interviewing for one position, so there is good chance that you are not going to get it. While managers pay lip-sync to the line that they are there to support your career, you frequently become pariah in your group after you tried once to leave.

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5.0
Jun 27, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good work life balance, culture and career growth

Cons

less compatitive salary compare to other big company

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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