Microsoft

Microsoft has it all. Name a technology and someone at Microsoft is working on it.

Several things that Microsoft has done have been hugely successful, most obviously Windows and Office. Those revenue streams have helped the company create a broad foundation in other areas, including the successful Xbox business, cloud computing, and a real strength in the enterprise that no other software company can match.

Nowadays, it feels like Microsoft might be getting its mojo back, which is a really good thing.

Overall, very solid benefits packages. And as far as culture goes, Microsoft's annual giving campaign and matching gifts programs make it clear that giving back to the community and world is a company priority. The company matches not only cash donations but also dollars per hour of volunteer time too.

Microsoft has a bad reputation, deserved perhaps in some ways but definitely not in others. That's mostly from a business/product/consumer perspective.

If it is important for you to work on something that is cool and has buzz, you could try getting in at Xbox, although they do have a reputation for burning people out.

Politics has, at several points during my employment there (over a decade), definitely played a major role in rewards and review scores being distributed in a very arbitrary way. But HR has iterated on their rewards system yet again, trying to clear that kind of favoritism out in exchange for something more motivating.

Stop naming things with modifiers. Give them shorter, more unique names. Zune was a good shot. Windows 8 Mail does not cut it. The uninspiring Windows Phone brand, despite being a superiorly usable operating system, just fails to even crack the consciousness of the media. At least they put to death the abomination that was the Windows Live brand. Seriously. Change the "fracking" Windows Phone name to something cool, and you can make an impression. "Windows Phone" doesn't make an impression.