Pros

Systems level work done is very good. Liked working on them. That is perhaps only reason why i woudl consider moving back if i ever do.

Cons

Too big. Kind of skills needed for success here are people skills rather than technical skills. Also there is no job security.

Advice to Senior Management

Put Ballmer back into sales and make someone who understands technology and is passionate about it as CEO.

Pros

Great benefits with lot of talented and technical people from all over the world. Very diversified.

Cons

Management seems to be full of managers and leads at all functional levels either technical or non-technical.

Advice to Senior Management

Managers need to be better trained to guide and advise the staff.

Pros

Super medical benefits
Chance to move to different group after a couple of years. If you work in Redmond this benefit is very very attractive.
Lot of smart people
You will get your own private office room (you need to wait 1-3 years sometimes). I was lucky to my own office after 6 months and having that privacy was great for focus.

Cons

Bad manager can ruin you. In my case, my manager in the second group was over-demanding and it made life difficult.
Bureaucracy can be a damper, depending on your group.

Advice to Senior Management

Move fast and be bold like Google. Come up with inspired products like Apple.

Pros

It is Microsoft so if the game you work on tanks you will more than likely just move to another team.

Good benefits.

A few good people remain.

Cons

Having worked there as long as I did seeing the transformation of the company change from "we'll take on the world" to "the world must come to us" is the indicator of a company on the decline.

Management is more concerned about their next move up the food chain and their P&L than your career or life.

They hire people for their name rather than their competency.

There is very little transparency regarding upper management decisions and strategy.

They closed down a profitable game studio, mostly because it wasn't an Xbox title.

Advice to Senior Management

Get your shi*t together.

Fire Ballmer, even Wall Street doesn't buy his bullsh*t.

Pros

Excellent benefits
Higher than average compensation
Opportunities for professional growth
Some teams work on cool technologies
Relatively stable company

Cons

Your career limits are based on who you impress with your performance. You have to do the things that management cares about even when they're bad for the company
Your credibility is determined more based on who you know rather than what you've accomplished
Long work hours are expected
Seattle weather sucks

Advice to Senior Management

Success depends on execution not just strategy. Top management needs to be more involved in execution.
Being overly centralized in Redmond (with 40,000 employees in the area) creates a distorted reality. Listen to employees from all over the world and take their input seriously.

Pros

Pros:

Well known company
Customers want to know what you have to say and are genuinely interested
The size of the company and the breadth of its products allow for continual growth

Cons

Cons:

Pressure
The size of the company prevents agility
Success can depend on your knowledge of the internal organization

Advice to Senior Management

More vision
Curves create politics

Pros

good opportunity to learn how operating system works, how to write test cases, how to communicate with each other efficiently.

Cons

Microsoft as a big company gives each employee a small fixed work to do. So it is hard to learn much with single title.

Advice to Senior Management

Managers are very nice and they respect people. Usually they will listen to different ideas and then find out a optimal way to work.

Pros

Medical benefits are the best in the industry.

Cons

Career growth limited if you are not in Mountain View and Lack of creative problem solving. Politically charged environment.

Advice to Senior Management

Transparency - people are smart enough to know when they are being told a good story. The benefits of a good debate can improve organization and products.

Pros

Lots of cool technologies. Many leading products are developed at MS. Some teams value innovation, security and quality, but not all.

Cons

Crowded place, can get easily lost there. Incompetent managers. Review system sucks big time.
The work place can get very unfriendly because every because everybody fights for good reviews

Advice to Senior Management

Try to understand people better. Don't just copy other companies, foster innovation inside the company as well. The review system is crap

Pros

it is a nice stable work environment. do your job earn your pay. if you're an average performer, no one really bugs you if you get your work done.

Cons

day in and day out, stability can get a bit hackneyed. a paycheck is nice, but sometimes the stiffling culture is a little too bill gates centric.

Advice to Senior Management

you can really motivate us by adding some cheer. good pay is just "hygine". i'll give you 110 percent if you just treat me with some respect.