Pros: High salary, cool technology, genius co-workers, good work/life balance, and great work conditions (my own office, 2-3 monitors, multiple top-of-the-line development machines, etc.). Health benefits are AWESOME*! *for the next 2 years

Cons: Work/life balance is highly variable from one team to the next. Seattle is really expensive, so the starting salary is deceptively low if you hope to ever own a home here. A lot of co-workers are really caught up in having money and owning things (lots of BMW's, Porsches, etc.) which might not be your thing.

Pros: Great benefits. Lots of learning and career growth opportunities. Top-notch workspaces, tools, and support. Very experienced and skilled colleagues.

Cons: No passion for innovation and pushing the boundaries. The bottom line (money) always takes top priority when it comes to direction and decision making.

Pros: Microsoft values intelligence and initiative. If you have a good idea and are willing to work to make it happen, you can. I have worked at Microsoft for nearly 13 years and, while the "good old days" had some great things (more money, fewer layers of management), the company has gradually improved in most ways. People are more respectful of each other. The company is more diverse. There is a greater variety of jobs and opportunities to pursue. As a post-adolescent company, Microsoft increasingly values work/life balance. You are expected to work hard but don't need to kill yourself unless you really want to. The other thing that I think is cool about Microsoft is that the company generally doesn't give up. 15 years ago, Microsoft was a PC software company. Then management decided that Microsoft needed to be an enterprise software company too. Nobody gave Microsoft much of a chance to be a serious enterprise software company. Today, most big companies use Microsoft software. Similarly, today most don't give Microsoft much of a chance of being a successful "internet" company (vague definition, I know). But Microsoft will keep at it and will eventually succeed. No, we won't "kill" Google. That's not the point. But Microsoft and its employees are tenacious, and that's a great quality for a company and its employees.

Cons: Social interaction throughout the day is minimal. Most developers sit in their offices and code and don't get a lot of daily interaction with others on the team. Some days, this leaves you feeling very isolated.