Great place to work! - Software Engineering Manager Microsoft Employee Review

5.0
Jun 20, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

* Microsoft perks - free software and in some instances, discount hardware. * The HMO is massive. * You get rewarded on impact not activity. * There's a financial reward that comes up every year, which includes a salary increase, a bonus and an addition to your stock option. * Your colleagues are always willing to help you ramp-up. If you're unclear about anything, just ask. Someone will answer. * You get to work on projects that impact the lives of people the world over. * The employee work evaluation structure (called Connect) is designed to near perfection. It ensures that ICs (individual contributors) and managers can accurately assess their impact without falling into the needless rabbit hole of he-said-she-said. * In terms of diversity and inclusion, Microsoft is the only big tech company to put their money where their mouth is. They came to Africa and setup the Africa Development Center which recruits indigenous engineering talents. So, this isn't Google / Amazon / Meta that hires a couple of black and brown folks just so they can look good on CNN. * You're free to apply to and move to other teams (even in other countries) if you want to, without much hassle. * Satya is a great CEO with a solid, grounded vision.

Cons

* It's a very large company with larger than life products, so learning stuff will take some time (although, you will be given all the time you need for this). * Imposter syndrome can set in if you're not careful. * The number of activities thrown at you can sometimes feel overwhelming.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
Jul 23, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Pretty good pay and unlimited PTO

Cons

Increasingly deadline driven to a fault

4.0
Jan 28, 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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