The good and bad of Microsoft - Senior Software Development Engineer Microsoft Employee Review

4.0
3 May 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Range of opportunities: Microsoft builds just about every kind of software imaginable so you can switch every few years and work on a different product with different challenges. Smart people: The vast majority of Microsoft employees are smart, nice people. If you've worked at companies where that's not the case, you know how important this is. As an example, I hang out with my co-workers after work -- not because I have to or because I don't know anyone else, but because they're great people that I enjoy hanging out with. Reach of products: There are very few other companies where you can work on a product that will reach millions of users and potentially change the way people do work and live their life. Great benefits: The medical and dental plan at Microsoft are very comprehensive. This is especially valuable if you have a family. Stability: No worrying about whether or not Microsoft will make payroll.

Cons

Stock price: Microsoft stock doesn't increase in price very much any more so getting rich by working at Microsoft is a thing of the past. You'll earn a comfortable, stable living, but probably won't get rich. Big company: It's a big company and has many of the problems a big company has. Sometimes you feel like a small cog in the system. Sometimes there's some corporate beauracracy to deal with. Sometimes it feels like not everyone in the company is moving in the same direction. Frequent re-orgs: These are a fact of life at Microsoft. Most of time, they don't affect the people at the bottom, but re-orgs at all levels happen frequently.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
5 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Learned a lot, plenty of team work opportunities

Cons

Internship could have been longer than 4 weeks

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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