Utility with too much overhead seeks change enablers - Anonymous employee Microsoft Employee Review

4.0
Sep 11, 2008
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

A safe place to work, fair compensation package, great colleagues. MSFT is still the leading software company if we talk about enterprise customers. While others are innovative, they are far far far away from being enterprise ready or deliver world class support as MSFT does. The people who work at MSFT are still amongst the brightest minds in the industry. The amount of training employees get here (20 days a year) is unprecedented and the company is ready and willing to invest in employees. MSFT is investing into R&D a lot more than the competitors and this has to show after time.

Cons

I think MSFT has outgrown the size when the old methods work, we have to renew ourself, get rid of the huge overhead we have (10-15% of the current management could easily be dismissed) and get back to being innovative. MSFT became very similar to a Utility that everybody takes as given, so it is hard to be slim and innovative. Also the shareholders expect money and the rise of MSFT, but this is not necessarily endorsing quality work. We have to compete with companies that are cheaper and worst quality. It seems however that this is the market need, so we have to adhere to it.

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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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