Taro Logo

A mixed bag

Senior Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET)
Former Employee
Worked at Microsoft for less than 1 year
December 7, 2014
Redmond, Washington
3.0
RecommendsNegative OutlookApproves of CEO
Pros
  1. You are working at a world-class company. Good on resume.
  2. Lot of opportunities for career growth.
  3. Comparatively stable job and good benefits.
  4. You can be an individual contributor forever.
Cons
  1. Your focus becomes too narrow, and you get insulated from the world, thereby becoming obsolete in the real world.
  2. Too much politics.
  3. Microsoft gets the work of 10 people from 6 people. It is a coal mine and will suck your life out of you.
  4. If you get a jerk as your lead, you are stuck with him/her, and that is the end of your career at Microsoft.
Advice to Management
  1. The review process sucks. It is a "who is more popular" contest rather than a real review of one's contribution or the amount of work one puts in.

  2. Promoting "go getter cocky" people is bad. Such people have no people skills, and people under them suffer as the newly minted lead/manager wants to show how great he/she is. Develop some policies about what kind of people should be promoted.

  3. Get rid of most of the leads and managers. They are useless and making the life of real workers miserable. Then promote properly trained people to be leads/managers.

Was this helpful?

Microsoft Interview Experiences