Great atmosphere, excellent growth opportunities
Pros
The people, definitely biggest pro here. Great attitudes and very skilled developers, with also understanding the clients business needs. So it's not all "deep-end C# programming". Career Advisor system is great, personal growth is supported if you are active and take ownership of your own development (CA gives good tips though, if you are not certain what learning paths to take). Internal trainings and certifications are good, and MS Certifications are supported with training vouchers and free exams. Studying relies heavily on self-study, but global Yammer groups are great help on certification. Good training hours budget per year, and chargeability targets are quite achievable if you have good skillset that keeps you booked into projects. Even on bench time you can continuously learn. Opportunity to network within Avanade and Accenture (Microsoft, too!) as well, as they work side by side in many projects. Responsibility is given if you ask for it, ie. project/service delivery management or lead developer roles are often available if you want to step up. Also yearly budget of about 800 to 1200 EUR depending on career stage is given to spend on new technology/gadget/increased work-life balance. It's taxable, so only thing you pay is taxes. I use it to buy gadgets or pay for family expenses - therefore directly benefiting the family's budget and wellbeing.
Cons
Base pay is not the most competitive in this business - but if you have the skills and know how this corporate ladder works, you can use the system to get promotion faster. Global policies can be sometimes a bit stiff, and some things are beyond the control of you or your direct supervisor: for example downgrading a performance rating if the area/country doesn't have the budget to promote all potential candidates. There has been a good trend to increase the transparency and fairness in this area, so hopefully that trend continues. Also the Avanade brand could be better known, feels like the full potential is not utilized yet.
