Pros: Very good benefit package: medical insurance is great, membership in the sport club, Microsoft transportation, etc. Training classes are frequently given by book authors and other famous people.

Cons: There always should be a certain percentage of "bad" performers. I was leaving the company a month before the review. My manager suggested (probably it was advice from the GM) that I take a vacation, otherwise, they would not be able to pay me a bonus. So I did. Instead, they gave me the worst performance review possible, which assumed no bonus at all. I found it difficult to switch to another group as a developer from a developer in test. Too many managers who are Microsoft-bred. Most of them worked only at Microsoft in North America.

Pros: Great environment. Almost any job, position, role, or technology you want to work on – Microsoft has a product for you to work on. I love my job!

Cons: It's a huge company, too many people, a lot of competition and bureaucracy. Sometimes the testing phases can get repetitive and long.

Pros: Free soda, lots of encouragement, engaging projects, many company events that were loads of fun, two monitors per desk. The Surface launch was an especially awesome surprise for us all.

Cons: The company is poorly perceived, especially by the media. It's second tier to other major tech companies like Oracle, Google, Facebook, Accenture, Cisco, Sun, and Linux, and so on and so forth.