Microsoft enables those who want to work hard. - User Experience Lead Microsoft Employee Review

5.0
24 Apr 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Autonomy and independence. I really love the people, all extremely smart. MS cares about their employees, and it shows. The amount of resources available to you are tremendous. When there were complaints, MS made huge changes. I also love the pacific northwest. I appreciate the generosity of the company as well, the 'giving campaign' is huge. People give a lot back.

Cons

Base salary is a little low. The User Experience discipline is still figuring out how their career paths are. Also, the commute is tough, which isn't Microsoft's fault, more about the surrounding city and local governments I guess. Sometimes the company feels "too large", but breaking the divisions up I think has been quite healthy.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
3 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Hybrid working time which is highly flexible.

Cons

It is actually hard to reach other teams without formal collaboration because everyone is busy

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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