Great benefits at a good company, with a fair salary. - Senior Software Engineer Microsoft Employee Review

4.0
Nov 24, 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Microsoft has the best health benefits on the planet. In the 10+ years I was a blue badge, I think I only saw 1 medical bill that wasn't 100% covered by Microsoft's plan. In fact, Microsoft probably has the best benefits package in the industry outside of Google (comprehensive medical / dental / vision / prescription drug plans, paternity & maternity leave, 5 weeks of vacation / year after 12+ years of service, company store, company library, Prime card, Pro Club / gym membership, Connector bus / metro pass, free beverages, and many other benefits). Also, despite it's size, Microsoft is a fairly agile company. The decisions that senior management makes usually are rational. And there are very few companies that as much state of the art technology as Microsoft does.

Cons

Unfortunately, Microsoft is a really big company and the corporate bureaucracy is most acutely felt during review time. Review goals are often made irrelevant by changing requirements during the course of the year and the review process is lumbering and is often times burdensome. Your career advancement & opportunities are often determined more the by subjective opinions of ill informed managers, than by merit & objective facts. If you have a good relationship w/ a good manager, you'll probably go far in your career. If you have mediocre manager or one that you have a strained relationship with, you should switch groups or leave the company, ASAP. It's easier to advance your career outside of Microsoft than inside of it. The stock based compensation (options, grants & ESPP) isn't anywhere near what it was during the 1990s and the base salary hasn't made up the difference.

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5.0
Jun 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Very good flexibility with remote work Very good pay level at initial joining years Excellent team dynamics and coachable engineers

Cons

Very less hike post 4-5 years into the role Very good teams but as a senior has responsibility over shadow all junior work

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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