Pros: 1. People are really smart and often very hard-working; you feel very nice working with them. 2. Benefits are really nice, and the salary is also good. 3. The breadth of products that Microsoft has is extensive: Native Apps (Office), OS (Windows), SQL, Cloud services (Azure), Search engines (Bing), Dev tools (VS), Compilers and runtimes (CLR), and languages (ASP, C#, VB). In short, there is a lot to learn and perform. If you don't like something, you can move to a different team. 4. Also, you sometimes get to work with great research teams in MSR and often on cool and new stuff.

Cons: Due to the size of the company, all divisions are different. In fact, coding/engineering practices, tools, and computer languages used differ from team to team. Collaboration between teams is now being encouraged but could be better. If a project goes hot or red, then work-life balance could go for a toss; otherwise, for me, it is acceptable.

Pros: Great culture, good environment, and a good learning curve.

Cons: Too much good food :)

Pros: High salary, stock options, and work-life balance.

Cons: Not that I can think of.