Microsoft

Interesting work, bleeding-edge technologies, and The Studio building create a great campus. It feels like a very nice, modern college campus. It's great to have free drinks, even for vendors and guests. The selection of drinks is large, and they are readily available. There is a great model shop.

Other contractors are great to work with.

There is no time limit on how long you can work as a vendor. I've met some vendors who have been there for six years straight. Being a vendor can increase your chances of being hired on as a permanent employee.

As a vendor, you are not treated as a full-time employee. Sometimes you are treated coldly. As one vendor pointed out, "You are a screwdriver in the drawer; they take you out when you are needed and put back in the drawer when done." Compared to other companies, as a vendor (Microsoft's definition of contractor), you are treated a little more like a lower cast.

As a vendor, you can be given very minimal space for an office. One vendor had his office under a stairwell for a year.

When I was at Microsoft in 2012, most of the mechanicals were permanent employees from HP, especially in management. One HP manager had an extreme bias for the HP way of doing things and was obviously biased toward former HP employees.

The manager I was under in the first contract was fair and tried to treat his vendors with as much respect as he could. He had converted from a vendor to a permanent employee.

Management, you should try to change the way you treat your vendors. When I was there, they were the workhorses of your technologies. Treat them with respect.