Compensation is above market level, with good benefits.
Working with many smart people.
Working on big projects that impact millions.
Multiple teams touching many Microsoft products.
Most people have offices (1-2), but this is changing.
Relocation opportunities.
Too many major reorgs and project changes. It's rare to work on the same project for more than a year or so.
It's a pity to see hard work thrown in the garbage can.
The company as a whole is still looking for direction.
Too much internal competition between individuals and teams (at all levels). There's lots of internal politics and groupthink.
Poor work-life balance (mostly in more senior roles), partly due to work with the West Coast.
Working in the Microsoft "walled garden" (.NET/C#/SQL/Office/etc).
Very difficult to move to the management track.
Listen to your employees directly. MS polls and HR roundtables don't seem to work.
One no-fly interview. Then, 4+ rounds of face-to-face, full-round (one hour each) interviews where they ask you questions pertaining to core CS concepts. There's a bit of programming on data structures and algorithms. Then, there may be domain-spec
I applied online for a job out of state. I was offered an interview, but they would not fly me out to their offices. I would have had to front that all myself.
I applied via the employee referral process. After a phone call with the Dev Lead, I managed to fly to Redmond. It was a three-round interview loop in one day, and on the second day, I received an offer.
One no-fly interview. Then, 4+ rounds of face-to-face, full-round (one hour each) interviews where they ask you questions pertaining to core CS concepts. There's a bit of programming on data structures and algorithms. Then, there may be domain-spec
I applied online for a job out of state. I was offered an interview, but they would not fly me out to their offices. I would have had to front that all myself.
I applied via the employee referral process. After a phone call with the Dev Lead, I managed to fly to Redmond. It was a three-round interview loop in one day, and on the second day, I received an offer.