Very good employer - Software Engineer II Microsoft Employee Review

5.0
23 Sept 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Location-wise this is a very good employer in terms of the overall package (benefits + salary). Highly competitive salary in the field and a large set of bonuses provided (cell phone, xbox game pass, budget for sport+wfh+health via Perks+, very flexible in terms of wfh, 10 sick days, sw discounts, stock bonuses) Working with great smart people, most teams are pretty good; I met no toxic managers nor teams. Very inclusive company. A lot of flexibility in terms of approach to work, albeit there are a lot of pointless processes, unimportant meetings, architectural talks where nobody pays attention, etc. Interesting projects, many opportunities for self-realization.

Cons

A lot of pointless processes, meetings, talks; people discussing architecture and implementation approach and then still not following the agreement. There is a lot of work constantly, hence most people only pay attention to their projects and is difficult to make other teams to provide vital services, endpoints, etc. (If you need something, you will most likely end up doing it yourself.) A bit chaotic management, sometimes lack of communication between teams. Multiple teams sometimes end up working on the same component, realizing only after such component is done, at which point it is too late to make it a library. Some people might also feel unfair about promotions, though this is roughly the same across all FAANG companies. Most of times it is easier to get hired as a higher level engineer than being promoted. Not that promotions would have any significant effect on the salary anyway (the increase is usually around 5-10% per level.)

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
27 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good work life balance, culture and career growth

Cons

less compatitive salary compare to other big company

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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