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Microsoft Overview
Work Here? Start responding to reviewsRedmond, WA
10000+ employees
1975
Company - Public (MSFT)
Information Technology
$10+ billion (USD) per year
Google, Amazon, Apple
Our drive to change the world unites us!
Microsoft is the ideal place for people who have passion for their work and the desire to make an impact—in their careers, in the community and on the world. Microsoft is a unique company; and not just ... Read more
Microsoft is the ideal place for people who have passion for their work and the desire to make an impact—in their careers, in the community and on the world. Microsoft is a unique company; and not just ... Read more
Mission: Come to Microsoft to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
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Microsoft Reviews
Microsoft15777
Helpful (1173)
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"Thoughts after 10 years...."
StarStarStarStarStar- Work/Life Balance
- Culture & Values
- Career Opportunities
- Comp & Benefits
I have been working at Microsoft full-time (More than 10 years)
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".Advice to Management
I'll type it here - but I don't they are listening...
1. Help proven talent move laterally in the company for new opportunities.
2. Kill/evolve the stack rank. Here's basically how it's viewed:. 30% of the company gets 1s and 2s - and they are happy. 50% get 3s and that basically feels like getting a "C" in school. This sucks for talented people when a multitude of UNCONTROLLABLE conditions keep you from getting into 1 or 2 range. The 20% getting anything below a 3 are walking dead. In summary, 70% of the company walk away from the review cycle feeling like crap. This is no good.
After 10 years, I'm leaving - it's just a matter of time until I find the right opportunity. I need to find a company spends 90% of it's time building technology experiences, as opposed to 90% of its time building PowerPoints. And I expect to refuse the exit interview - because if you really cared what I thought, you wouldn't ask me after I decided to leave.Microsoft 2013-01-28 18:20 PST
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Microsoft Interviews
Experience
Experience
65%
22%
12%
Getting an Interview
Getting an Interview
36%
23%
16%
14
3
3
2
Difficulty
3.2
AverageHelpful (273)
Accepted OfferPositive ExperienceDifficult InterviewMicrosoft 2016-03-26 18:42 PDTApplication
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Microsoft (Redmond, WA).
Interview
5 to 6 interviews single day 1 hour each. Coding-based. You have to code on the whiteboard. Prepare data structures, algorithms, writing code. The first 3-4 decide if the hiring manager is going to interview you. Out of the first 3-4, you need to try to nail them all.
Company Updates
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Meet the man behind Bing Predicts and see how machine learning is forecasting the future: http://glassdoor.com/slink.htm?key=vIMWe
How machine learning forecasts the future for careers at Bing - JobsBlog: Life at MicrosoftAt first, it sounded like a disaster. Walter Sun, whose job was to make sure Bing gave users the most up-to-the-minute information about current events, was seeing a big spike in the number of people searching for facts about some type of plane incident on the Hudson River.
![Microsoft Logo]()
Microsoft’s designers approach their products from their own unique angles. Learn how designers from across the company get to revolutionize the user experience. http://glassdoor.com/slink.htm?key=vIWkn
Meet four people who are designing the future of MicrosoftBehind the idea for any new piece of technology is a question: How do designers at the front end translate hunks of metal, plastic, wires, pixels and bits into a new human experience?
Microsoft Awards & Accolades
- Global Randstad Award, Randstad, 2015
- Fortune 500, Fortune, 2015
Microsoft Locations
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