Microsoft

Microsoft is a great place to work in terms of building your resume, getting a good salary, and incredible benefits. The benefits are unmatched in the industry, but that is changing soon. It is definitely a good place to start out, but don't stay too long.

Microsoft has become very conservative over the years. There has been a noticeable increase in risk aversion.

Management is so conservative that some people are unwilling to even take risks on their own employees, much less big bets in the marketplace. Also, it is very hard to grow professionally, which I believe is due in large part to how conservative Microsoft has become.

In addition, it is really hard to move around at Microsoft. The internal interviews are no different than external. They don't seem to care about your performance to date, just whether or not you can pass the interview loop. It's actually easier to interview externally than internally.

Take a risk. Microsoft used to take big risks, and it paid off. (Obviously, some didn't – Vista.) If you don't take risks, you won't get ahead. You'll stay in the same place. The industry sees this, which is why the stock hasn't moved in 10 years.