A good place to work but things take a long time to get done - Principal Architect Microsoft Employee Review

5.0
Jun 11, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

It is hard to find anyplace else that gives you the freedom to get the job done than at Microsoft. There is very little micromanagement. The groups that I have been in focus on execution and getting stuff done versus the process around how you got it done. By and large you have access to great resources and minds to accomplish big things.

Cons

Creeping in of Bureaucracy. With the arrival of the Walmart / GE execs they are bringing more scorecards and process (six sigma) which theaten the execution focus at Microsoft. This is good to some extent but there are instances where some managers go overboard and before long you are forgetting that you are trying to get a job done vs. complete a process and fill out a scorecard. There are also the development methodologies dujour -- but I suppose that exists everywhere. It is also hard to get things done if you don't know people. There is a resistance to change at Microsoft so if you introduce new ideas or way of doing something it can take much longer than you woudl like to move forward.

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5.0
Jun 7, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Interesting and varied work. Seasonality to the job allows for rest period

Cons

Less stability than there used to be makes people afraid to take risks

4.0
Jan 28, 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

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".

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