Pros: They "talk the talk" for lots of good things – fair salary reviews and bonus reviews, transparency in decision-making, equitable reward and promotion chances, etc. So they clearly know that all these things are things that people want. They also pay pretty well, and the bonus/share scheme is good at the Senior+ levels in particular.

Cons: They don't really "walk the walk" for a lot of the things they talk about. They espouse a great culture where all decisions are transparent, but then the really important decisions are made in Redmond by the very top team. Little input from the people on the ground makes it way up there, so the decisions feel arbitrary.

Pros: High salary compared to industry standards on hire (note: this does not apply after a few years at the company).

Cons: You will consistently feel like you are being ground under the heel of a massive corporation, and your managers cannot do anything as decisions from on high screw you over. An incredibly irresponsible employer who cares only about making money for themselves, not about making the world better. Nobody seems to know how promotions work. Your purpose is to make money for shareholders. This will be rammed down your throat. That means you'll often be encouraged to cut corners you don't feel comfortable cutting. Read your contract carefully. By signing it, you're waiving a lot of your rights under UK law (until you explicitly contact HR to have them re-instated). Pay rises will be consistently lower than inflation, meaning that you'll likely find after a few years that new hires make more than you do. They're currently all in on AI, and if you don't believe in the technology, that's a problem for your career growth. You get told, 'We don't have budget for that' a lot, even if it's just expensing £20 for travel to a location for business, which isn't really believable when they are allegedly one of the biggest companies in the world. This also applies to promotions and pay rises, where you'll often be told, 'You deserve more, but we don't have budget' (or words to that effect). It's a large tech company. That comes with the same level of 'laying off large sections of the company' and 'everybody gets an effective pay decrease except upper management who get a large bonus this year,' and so on, that is becoming more standard in the industry.

Pros: Great culture, cutting-edge technology, and good compensation.

Cons: Huge company, can be very slow, with more politics than needed.