Great - Program Manager Microsoft Employee Review

5.0
4 Dec 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flexibility (including a decent amount of time so you could work on a Hackathon, although that depends on the team), opportunities to move to other teams (I heard that's not as available right now), great benefits (above many other tech companies), free drinks (Ha!), Hackathons are fun, good salary (although other big tech might be a little higher), flexible vacations (now it's just open without hours, but it depends on the team how flexible that truly is), very flexible on hybrid/remote (although full remote really should be carefully considered, depending on the team, because it could lead to a layoff or something similar), tuition reimbursement (I recommend you take advantage of this and go for a Masters or PHD), onboarding is very organized and cohesive, they know how to scale impact through vendors (so employees can accomplish more), their tools are the most productive (and they all work together, because Microsoft makes them all), and they might have the best book policy (so it's easier to author books and build your reputation more... than it is at other big tech companies).

Cons

Salary is a little lower often than other big tech companies, as well as bonuses and shares/stock. It's still good, but often other big tech can be higher (Google, Meta, maybe Amazon or Oracle, depending on the role, etc.). Similarly, promotions are sometimes a little harder to get, and you can't get a promo by transfer to another team (very rare). the review process is a little too time consuming (comparatively, but it's close). Although the Hackathons are nice, it's not really built into the culture much year round (so it might take some effort to do anything effective through that, in finding the right team, etc.). They don't have free food (which is a minimal factor; some big tech do), but their free drinks are nice, and there are plenty of catered events and meetings.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
5 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Very good flexibility with remote work Very good pay level at initial joining years Excellent team dynamics and coachable engineers

Cons

Very less hike post 4-5 years into the role Very good teams but as a senior has responsibility over shadow all junior work

4.0
28 Jan 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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