Pros: I worked at a startup that was acquired by Microsoft. The people on the team I worked with and the teams I interacted with were very knowledgeable, well-qualified, encouraging, and helpful. The managers provided useful feedback and appreciated any extra work that was put in. It was my first job out of college, and I was there for a little over a year. Overall, it was a very good experience.

Cons: Too many contractors and temp employees.

Pros: 1. Good benefits. 2. Very brilliant people, mostly in the lower part of the ladder. 3. Opportunity to move around to other teams (can be better).

Cons: Many of the SDET leads lack technical knowledge, and they seem more focused on political fights to protect their jobs. Based on feedback from SDET friends, their leads more tend to use job security to intimidate the poorer SDETs. As an SDE, I feel much better being respected by my lead and previous leads. So: 1) If you are a good developer, don't go for SDET positions, unless you really need a job. 2) If you hope to apply for a green card, stay away from Microsoft, as they laid off people and cannot begin the process in one or more years. 3) If you want to keep yourself marketable, don't come. You'll be lost in all the weird Windows technologies, which are hard to adjust to and will drain your energy with their slowness. 4) If you believe you are good at playing the people game, Microsoft is heaven for you.

Pros: The choices. Pick a field. Microsoft is probably involved in it, and you can be a part of our work to become the leader or, if we are already the best in the field, to improve the state of the art. Money is not an obstacle. The lower ranks can bring significant change to products. The development process. There are some downsides to the systems and bureaucracy at MS, but after being in the business for 30 years, they are trying their best to improve and bring consistency to the way software is written. Having worked for companies that do not care about a product other than getting it out the door, this is a huge win.

Cons: The location. To live in a city with nightlife (or _any_ entertainment), you must suffer an hour-long commute each way in heavy traffic. The speed of the company as a whole. Don't get me wrong - individual product units can be very agile and work cross-team (hundreds of employees), but to really mobilize across entire organizations takes multiple releases. This can sometimes mean that the customer has to wait, which is frustrating for anyone who has come from a small-company background. The lack of attrition. I don't know anyone who has been fired from Microsoft. I have not met many people who deserve it, but when you do find them, you really question the management of the company.