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Lots of opportunity, very competitive, broken review process

Senior Software Development Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Microsoft for less than 1 year
September 24, 2011
Redmond, Washington
3.0
No CEO Opinion
Pros

Chance to build stuff used by millions of people around the world.

Very profitable company.

Very little downside in the stock price.

One of a very few companies that has opportunities across a wide range of "geek cred" projects (e.g., compilers, kernels, VMs, database systems, dev tools, machine learning, games, etc.).

Pay is very competitive, particularly after you've been there 5+ years in a high (sr or principal band), and you have 5 years of stock grants vesting every year.

Cons

A very subjective review system.

Lots of process – some necessary, but some is burdensome.

A very competitive environment; you need to bring your A-game, or you'll get passed by.

You have to "manage your career" to get ahead: choose the right teams, right projects, ensure your personal visibility is high, and your personal "brand" is positive.

Advice to Management

Scrap the review system. I'm a high performer, and the review system is completely subjective and unfair. Hence, I'm looking for a new job.

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