Awesome or Awful depending on what you are looking for! - Software Development Engineer Microsoft Employee Review

4.0
25 Oct 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Microsoft varies immensely from division to division. The core divisions (like Windows, Office, etc) each hire thousands of engineers. You will spend all your time working on some tiny aspect of one big, great product. If you are cool with that, and cool with the idea that ten years from now you'll be doing very similar work for just a little more money than what you now make, Microsoft can be great for you. It is a comfortable big company with good pay. You'll have decent work-life balance most of the time (again that can vary from group to group).

Cons

As an SDE at Microsoft, above average smarts are not really going to take you anywhere. You might end up in a group doing something cool and cutting edge, but your career trajectory and compensation are going to be the same as folks in some mediocre group elsewhere in the company. That can kill motivation over time. Microsoft has become too big and unlike the 90s it is no longer the most preferred tech employer. They no longer get the "best and the brightest". They hire way more SDETs and PMs than they need.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
23 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good team and good life balance

Cons

bad food and tratment .

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".

2374
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All