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The painfully slow death of a toxic culture

Senior Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Microsoft for 4 years
January 30, 2020
Redmond, Washington
1.0
Doesn't RecommendPositive OutlookApproves of CEO
Pros
  1. Great flexibility with your schedule.
  2. If you work in the Redmond location, there are great commute options.
  3. Senior leadership is working actively to change the culture, not just lip service, but holding managers accountable.
  4. The company is on a growth tear (just look at the stock price since Satya Nadella became CEO).
  5. The benefits are amazing and getting even better.
Cons

There is a layer of management that has been here for 15+ years and is entrenched in a 'good old boys' culture. If you tow the line and kiss the ring, you will be fine. Your good ideas are theirs, and your bad ones are yours.

Your career fate is tied to your manager. Promotion, growth, and rewards are impacted by your impact on the business and equally on your ability to kiss the ring. Make sure you have a manager that supports you or quickly find another manager.

My advice is: don't take any role that doesn't have high visibility. Avoid any role that involves the regular running of the business. That is thankless work.

If culture and inclusion are important to you, avoid Microsoft for now. If this doesn't matter, welcome on board.

Advice to Management

Culture. Change is coming but too slow. Hard work is more rewarding in an inclusive environment. Kudos to those who have put in 15+ years to build the company. With that, this is no reason to view the new guard as a disruption, but as an asset to the growth of your stock price.

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