Pros
Reasonable pay and benefits although below other Big Tech and there are supportive communities if you find your tribe; I can't think of too many pros but I worked in progressive business and scale ups in the past so my bar is quite high.
Cons
In a gist: good company, s**t jobs; narrow swim lanes may not be for everyone, career progression is slow; internal mobility is very tough (not very many opportunities and internal competition is very high); promotion salary increases are only 5% of base or a little bit more albeit your bonus and stock range might go up depending on which level you are moving up to; in spite of not having official targets for low performance, employees are stack ranked when compensation and annual rewards decisions are made; the company may have 'care' as one of its managerial standards but I have seen it being ruthless when it comes to job eliminations and making cuts in different areas of the business. It's Finance that pulls all the strings here. Overall, Microsoft may be better than other large corporate employers but it is a 'machine' and you are a tiny cog in a massive wheel. Microsoft may be flying high on the wave of AI right now but employees are not seeing the benefit in terms of their comp for the hard work they are putting in. If you come from a large traditional corporate employer, you will like it here but if you come from a progressive start up - you may be disappointed. Reorgs are frequent and, in some areas of the business, you may end up having a new manager every year or two.