Microsoft Software Development Engineer II reviews

4.1

99% would recommend to a friend

(384 total reviews)
avatar

Satya Nadella

84% approve of CEO

93% positive business outlook

Software Development Engineer II employees have rated Microsoft with 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 384 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Software Development Engineer II professionals have an excellent working experience there. Microsoft is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Software Development Engineer II professionals compared to other employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

384 reviews
5.0
Aug 30, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fantastic benefits and perks (gym pass, the Connector bus, Prime card, etc. etc) Excellent process that encourages intra-company moves Can work on world-changing software. Or not. Your choice, really. Can rotate and try multiple roles within reason. Excellent internal training programs Coworkers

Cons

Upward mobility is very slow unless one is in the 95th %ile of peer group Grading/review curve is the bane of employee morale more often than not Mistakes (wrong group, wrong project, wrong manager) take a long time to erase from your internal career 'memory' Test/dev/PM silos end up costing agility and create turf Innovation, while it exists in bundles, is somewhat haphazard and it feels like the company is constantly chasing taillights in many areas. Need a new/hardcore visionary to drive our consumer software/services vision

4.0
Aug 28, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You get to work on things that everyone in the world including your friends and family use. If you are working hard and are excited about your project and customers you will be rewarded. Just like Google's 20% time if you are getting your work done you are encouraged to find "relevant" extra work that you get to choose and are rewarded greatly if you do.

Cons

Compared to Google it appears that Microsoft is too focused on making money. Microsoft management does not seem to inform employees of their long term vision and why a change in direction occurred and more importantly why they choose that direction as opposed to some of the other possibilities.

4.0
Jul 23, 2010
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

MS is a good place to work. The benefits are great, and the pay is mostly fair. Job security is as good as it gets. Millions of people will use your products. Despite it's rep as a maker of stodgy old box software, MS continues to innovate in *many* areas. There are truly brilliant people in every product group.

Cons

Trying to make things happen at MS is like trying to drive a slalom course in an 18-wheeler. The bureaucracy can be stifling at times. Not everyone is a rocket scientist. Mediocre people sometimes rise to positions of significant authority through extreme conformity.

Viewing 358 - 360 of 384 Reviews

Glassdoor has 68,514 Microsoft reviews submitted anonymously by Microsoft employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Microsoft is right for you.