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NOT what it use to be - Senior Program Manager Microsoft Employee Review

    1. 1.0
      Feb 29, 2012
      Senior Program Manager
      Current Employee
      Redmond, WA
      Recommend
      CEO Approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Benefits are amazing Free bus service to work Lots of freebees

      Cons

      The most uncollaborative work environment on the planet - the only way to move forward is to stab your neighbor in the back. The culture here actually encourages self-promotion and to tear down others. Ironically they spend millions on programs to appear as if this is not the case - then reviews come, and its Social Darwinism in its pure form - the only thing I have not seen first hand, is for a VP to eat their young. I cannot wait to get out of here - and I am actually doing well in terms of reviews and bonus - but life is too short to move a career forward at this expense level. I suspect those who love this enviroment have not been here long enough to realize that for them to move forward - they will need to leave a wake of bodies in their path - which is not for everyone.

      8

    Other Employee Reviews

      1. 5.0
        Nov 29, 2023
        Research Intern
        Former Intern, less than 1 year
        Redmond, WA
        Recommend
        CEO Approval
        Business Outlook

        Pros

        - Rich resources for developing a research project

        Cons

        - At 2022, the internship was conducted in remote mode, which reduced the chances of talking to colleagues and exchanging ideas

        1. 4.0
          Jan 28, 2013
          Anonymous Employee
          Current Employee, more than 10 years
          Redmond, WA
          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".

          2260

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