Pros

The products you work on will be used by millions of people. Employees of Microsoft are very bright and the culture is welcoming.

Cons

As a developer I wasn't too keen on the software development model they have. The PM/test/dev model works okay but in my experience there was too much wasted time trying to communicate between the three roles. I feel like more work would get done if there were less meetings and interruptions throughout the day.

Advice to Senior Management

Leaders seem to be well informed and smart enough to make good decisions business wise. Management wise, I think most employees felt that there were better places to work with more freedom and less procedure. I understand that it's necessary in a big company but bureaucracy doesn't feel good for software development .

Pros

Great benefits.
Lots of different products to work on.

Cons

Zero strategy beyond the windows / office gravy train.
Promotions occur based on how long you've been friends with your manager.
Engineers run the business units, and typically, engineers that embody the not-invented-here syndrome. Even though we have bought every successful piece of technology in our portfolio.
The focus on "platform strategy" eliminates any attention to user experience.

Advice to Senior Management

Get your heads out of your ass. The windows/office gravy train will end. Perhaps it takes another 10 years, but you have nothing to that will generate 20billion in revenue by then.

Pros

Great place to work if you want to progress your career in high-tech. You get to work with really smart people.

Cons

Work hours could be long sometimes. Lots of internal competition.

Advice to Senior Management

Provide better communications of company direction, vision and strategy.

Pros

- Lot of smart people are working there
- Nice benefits (medical insurance, Pro Club, parking, etc.)
- Corporate matching of gift in money and time
- Great place to build your resume if you leave before the 5 yrs mark

Cons

- Ego driven management that rewards smart jerks
- To survive, people need to spend more time doing their own promotion than actually work
- Company lives in perpetual denial of its mistakes
- MS is its own world and new employees have a big learning curve

Advice to Senior Management

The management is in denial that something is not working, that employees are not happy, that users are mostly not satisfied, that competitors can sometimes be better etc. So my advice: Stop listening your ego, instead, open your ears and your eyes.
And you're smart, so do something about it.

note: some Business Units, and few leaders are better than the others...

Pros

Microsoft is a great company to work for, until you get to a level where politics become too common place and you find yourself having to go through artifical exercises of self promotion in order to maintain visibility.

Cons

MIddle management is relatiely weak throughout.

Advice to Senior Management

It's probably time to get some fresh blood at the helm.

Pros

Microsoft takes good care of its interns. Competitive compensation, including relocation, help with rent during your internship, a variety of intern-only field trips, and your choice of commuting benefits: car rental, bike plan (MS pays most of the $$ for a new bike), public bus pass, and wi-fi enables Microsoft commuter buses.

Job satisfaction will depend on which team you are embedded with.

Cons

On some teams, the expectation is that interns won't make a real contribution; and that your internship is just a public relations sales pitch to potential future employees.

The company culture is quite quirky; it seems that many employees aren't genuinely or wholeheartedly invested in Microsoft or the project their working on....evangelize Windows Mobile to your co-workers during the day, and play on the iPhone after work. Perhaps it's just about a nice paycheck and excellent benefits package.

Advice to Senior Management

I found the mid-level managers to be quite competent; though sometimes there is a good-ol'-boy mentality to reward those who've been at Microsoft for awhile (rather than reward competence). Steve Ballmer can be embarrassing.

Pros

Excellent benefits- transport, healthcare, work from home, cafeteria
Training- numerous great training sessions on messaging, positioning and options to expand

Cons

Slow product cycles do not keep up with Industry- 2-3 year product cycle means that the pace of innovation and progression is very slow
Laggards and awareness of broader indusrty is low- Sometime you feel that they don't pay attention to important trends in the industry that will bite them in the long term.

Advice to Senior Management

Balmer needs to go and introduce a CEO who can manage this behemoth- the only other suggestion would be split the company into atleast 3 pieces- Windows, Office & Entertainment and Devices.

Pros

Microsoft varies immensely from division to division. The core divisions (like Windows, Office, etc) each hire thousands of engineers. You will spend all your time working on some tiny aspect of one big, great product. If you are cool with that, and cool with the idea that ten years from now you'll be doing very similar work for just a little more money than what you now make, Microsoft can be great for you. It is a comfortable big company with good pay. You'll have decent work-life balance most of the time (again that can vary from group to group).

Cons

As an SDE at Microsoft, above average smarts are not really going to take you anywhere. You might end up in a group doing something cool and cutting edge, but your career trajectory and compensation are going to be the same as folks in some mediocre group elsewhere in the company. That can kill motivation over time. Microsoft has become too big and unlike the 90s it is no longer the most preferred tech employer. They no longer get the "best and the brightest". They hire way more SDETs and PMs than they need.

Advice to Senior Management

The senior management almost exclusively consists of people who have been at the company for twenty years. While most of you are great, you still need to get senior executives from outside Microsoft who can bring in a new perspective and provide better leadership in emerging areas like the online space.

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!

Pros

Resource and investment for doing big things. Smart people work there. Diversity of opportunities within one company. Great benefits and a strong diverse culture.

Cons

The process for making decision is bogged down in long planning cycles and insufficient time to see organizational change actually happen. The focus on promotion and performance is focused on communications style and not results. There is spoken concern for the employee, but little representation in the employee satisfaction driven by those who are promoted.

Advice to Senior Management

Management needs to focus on understanding what is going on by listening to employees. most biz review processes are headlines that make the speaker look good and do not impart the understanding needed to make strategic decision. Unlike when i joined, mgmt is not interested in their businesses any more and focused more on what is happening above them, so they can get promoted. In addition, the review process, the lay-offs and most any other part of the msft process for managing employees, makes employees fear for their jobs. this needs to change. Finally, next time you choose to lay-off people, make it matter. 5% was not enough to impact bottom line, trickling it out of 12 months only deepened the negative impact on all employees morale and their trust of the company.