Microsoft

Great company to work for, with reasonable pay, good benefits, and a social package. There are great incentives for the long term, such as stocks. Lot's of opportunities if you can relocate to the US.

It really depends a lot on the team. The remarks below relate to my last team in London.

The team I worked for was very chaotic, with no long-term vision or planning. The product managers' engagement was minimal, with very little concern for design or architecture considerations. There were contradictory goals for different teams working on the same product, and little regard for testing or quality.

There was no teamwork culture whatsoever. This resulted from the remuneration and incentive rules and the management style. People were pressed for individual success and scorecards, and few people cared about product design, maintainability, extendibility, or product quality.

There was an illusion of work-life balance. Despite claiming the company cared for it, there was huge pressure for feature work. When you take into account the lack of design, teamwork, and poor testing, this was paid for with the private long hours developers needed to spend at the office to compensate.

I am truly sorry to say all this, as I think this is a great company to work for. Nonetheless, a lot depends on the manager, their individual goals or aspirations, and the work culture they promote. It's simply down to the team you end up with. I wasn't lucky with my last team, I guess.

Simply, consider the above.