Microsoft

I have gone from SDE-I to Sr. SDE, so I have observed and learned the culture/politics a lot at different stages of career maturity.

1. Competitive compensation and YoY growth
2. Transport facility (Innova) with flex timing is best in Bangalore for any IT company
3. Yearly team outings
4. Yearly MSPoll survey to provide some check against managers' monarchy

1. Mediocre work at Bangalore location.

2. Pathetic food compared to Google Bangalore office.

3. Managers form a pack (You scratch mine and I will scratch yours).

4. Some of the managers are pathetic. It's miserable to work under/with these guys.

5. Too much process and inter-team communication is terrible.

6. Over time, everyone learns to game the system by using the above as an excuse for blockages on their work instead of taking ownership and delivering.

7. Microsoft stack, which not many companies use outside.

8. Average peers with a high ego/talent ratio (except for one or two super talented devs here and there).

Weed out the mediocre managers (dragging along just to see their MSFT stocks vest) who make excuses quarter after quarter for under-delivery of projects.