Microsoft

At Microsoft, you get to work on cutting-edge technologies, and compensation is more than satisfactory. Maintaining a work-life balance is completely possible. Time off is ample, and health benefits are among the best offered in the industry, even with recent changes due to spiraling costs. What you do can affect literally millions of people, and you have the opportunity to bring about change for the better.

If you are aiming to become a multimillionaire fast, Microsoft is not the place to work.

(On the other hand, if you've actually matured into a multi-dimensional person, you realize that you can have a fulfilling life and career at the same time, and Microsoft is one of the better places to do that).

The constant second-guessing by the industry wears you down. Work politics can make your life hard, but the feeling is that it's going to be much better, and much more different, with Satya.

Know your engineers.