Taro Logo

Chronic culture, leadership, and strategy problems, and the outlook is unclear

Senior Quality Lead
Former Employee
Worked at Microsoft for 4 years
September 18, 2014
Redmond, Washington
2.0
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

Despite year-over-year reductions, benefits are good, particularly for families. They also have a few nice perks, though not as much as Google or Facebook. You can learn a lot here when you are starting out.

Cons

Hypocrisy, competition, and back-stabbing are ingrained in the culture. If you are a smart, straight shooter who focuses on results and has great relationships with co-workers (as the "company values" recommend), that is not enough. You must play the political game, particularly if you go into management.

If you don't play politics, your best option is to stay out of management and quickly find a politically-savvy manager who appreciates, rewards, and fights for you. If you are lucky enough to find such a manager, you'll be put on the fast track. If not, you may have to watch your career stagnate, falling far behind peers who contribute less than half as much as you do.

Advice to Management

Culture flows from the top. Really listen to your employees to identify bad managers who play favorites and reward those who kiss up to them at the expense of real contributors.

Rid the company of their evil!

Increase transparency and drive accountability, starting with termination decisions. Stop lying and saying that terrible managers/employees who got fired left for "personal reasons" or decided to "pursue other opportunities".

Was this helpful?

Microsoft Interview Experiences