Pros: I was fortunate to get hired on to a project with a great team for a great project. There were lots of nice little perks like free snacks, in addition to company-wide free drinks, social events with food and beer, and occasionally meals were provided. Free parking is also a plus, even if it can be tough to find a spot on Microsoft Campus. The job itself was a great experience for me, and I was allowed to be self-driven. After learning the ropes, I generally worked on my own, but if I needed help or didn't have the solution to a problem, everyone on the team was more than happy to help. Overall, it was a very positive environment. I especially enjoyed being able to work directly with people in the production and design teams, which made it easier when trying to understand the intended functionality of the product.

Cons: I was a contractor, which meant that I had far less job security and a rather sad excuse for benefits. No vacation pay, no sick pay, and the health benefits were a joke. I may have had a better impression of the overall experience if I hadn't been quite unceremoniously booted out the door with no two weeks' notice. Normally, Microsoft has a general policy for contractors to work a certain amount of time before needing to take a six-month hiatus before being allowed to return to the company. The contractors on this project, however, became assimilated into a greater part of the studio through some unclear and confusing policy which, we were told, meant indefinite employment for "at least 3 years" and plenty of job opportunities to advance their careers and even become FTEs with Microsoft. Instead, this turned out to be a bunch of bloated nonsense. After realizing that their budget was overblown, several people were quickly let go with no prior warnings.

Pros: I was paid very well for the skillset I had at the time. Microsoft is very big, and every team is different, so if you don't fit in with one team, try another. The hours were flexible, and I was able to avoid most traffic because of this.

Cons: I was a contractor, so I didn't get the perks that the FTE's got. The job that I had, UI tester, was very stressful for me. This particular job and this particular team weren't a fit for me. The room that my team was in was very small and narrow. The team has since moved to another building, though.

Pros: Great work environment and culture. Beautiful campus. Very talented workforce and great opportunities to work with some of the best in the industry.

Cons: They tend to contract maybe about 75% of their workforce (or more), which means that you can be laid off at any time and you may be looking for new work every year or so.