Taro Logo

Great company to work for, for a long time. Product units vary greatly in culture. Choose wisely

Principal Software Development Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Microsoft for 20 years
October 27, 2014
Redmond, Washington
5.0
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEO
Pros

Diverse, a lot of opportunities, a lot of good talent to learn from, good opportunities for career growth as an individual contributor and as a manager.

Cons

Microsoft still has work to do to fully embrace the new cloud-first world. Its extensive legacy is a relative guarantee of revenue, but is also a huge deadweight that hinders innovation.

It is not as sexy to work in as it once had been, so it may not be attracting the top-most talent anymore.

Compensation is less than some of the competition.

The entire technological stack is proprietary, which means that technical skills you learn will not be immediately applicable in Open Source shops without some adaptation.

Advice to Management

Learns more from new leaders of the areas we're entering. The new CEO, however, already seems to be turning the company in that direction.

Was this helpful?

Microsoft Interview Experiences