Is working at Microsoft a good career move? In a word YES! - Principal Group Program Manager Microsoft Employee Review

5.0
23 Apr 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Working at Microsoft is awesome. If you are into technology, having the ability to influence the direction of future products is a huge source of personal satisfaction. More than that, working with the brightest people in the industry makes the creative process really rewarding. For people with great interperonal skills, the opportunities to change the world are boundless. Finally, the way that employee development and satisfaction is being managed makes it possible for everyone to get the most out of their job, if that's what they want. Other elements are also awesome such as the campuses around the world - they're beautiful, and the food in the company cafeterias is better than most chain restaraunts (way better). Oh, and finally - when you do a good job, you get geat financial benefits.

Cons

Let's see... downsides. For people who I've known who come to the company and then leave, there is a lot of "luck of the draw" in the hiring process. If you hire into a group that is not well managed (it happens), you can find yourself in a high pressure, long hour job with no end in sight. The best advice I have hiring into Microsoft is to be careful in the way you interview your next employer. Since there are so many jobs available across many diverse groups, be sure to not land a role only with the thinking "get your foot in the door. Nobody benefits when a new hire burns out and leaves in the first year.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
4 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

great to work with collaborative team

Cons

large company so there's a lot of overlap between team strengths

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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