About Us

Glassdoor is your free inside look at Microsoft reviews and ratings — including employee satisfaction and approval rating for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. All reviews posted anonymously by Microsoft employees.

Search

for

in

Microsoft – “Used to be an excellent place to work, now with layoffs it's just like any other.

Oct 24, 2009

3.0

Microsoft Software Development Engineer in Redmond, WA:   (Current Employee)

Pros

a. Very knowledgeable people.
b. Access to technology.
c. Excellent benefits.
d. Seattle region is beautiful all year round.
e. Good diversity.

Cons

a. Review system is ridiculous, only the managers' good friends are recognized.
b. There are lots of politics at the middle management level, so many times the project that you've worked hard to complete might be cancelled just because one mid-manager did not like the other mid-manager.
c. So many layers of management, it's bewildering.
d. So many cost-cutting measurements, but
d.1 Marketing Managers go to Paris with their espouses for a week with all expenses paid by the company.
d.2 1 billion (with a B) dollars were spent in bonuses with the top management, even with their horrible results.
e. There's no way for someone to grow a career unless you go to management.
f. There's a reorg every 6 months where everything changes, including your manager. So you need to re-work your relationship with the manager, who already has his/her group of friends to protect.
g. And last but not least: the specter of another layoff always looming at the horizon.

Advice to Senior Management

1. Flatten the structure, put those mid-managers to work!
2. Change the review system so peer opinion is valued more than manager's opinion.
3. Please say once and for all if we'll have more layoffs.
4. Resign! You did not make the cut in 10 years, didn't work until now and it will not work in the future!

Comments (0)

Post your anonymous review or sign in to comment on this review
Microsoft Overview (MSFT )
Web
www.microsoft.com
Industries
Size
5000+ Employees, $60B+ Revenue
HQ
Redmond, WA
Competitors


Flag this {0} as inappropriate

Would you like us to review something? Please describe the problem with this {0} and we will look into it.

Flag this {1} Cancel

Advanced Search Reset

What

Where

How

or Cancel