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A very good place, if you can find a good team

Senior Software Engineer
Current Employee
Has worked at Microsoft for 9 years
June 15, 2019
Redmond, Washington
5.0
RecommendsPositive OutlookApproves of CEO
Pros

Good work/life balance.

Relaxed atmosphere in the office.

Pretty good campus. Convenient location and commute options.

Easy to switch teams, and lots of different projects to choose from.

Very open-source friendly internally these days.

Can be very flexible on schedule and even remote work, depending on the subdivision. There's no corporate-wide anti-remote policy, like in some places, and no informal bias overall, but some teams are much more open to it than others. Ask, and you shall receive.

"Stability" is the key word permeating everything. If you like that, this is the place to be. If you'd rather take significant risks for great rewards, you'll probably best look elsewhere.

Cons

Management higher up tends to chase their written commitments too much, beyond common sense.

Career advancement is generally slower than in other similar companies.

Less of an ecosystem bubble than it used to be, but still a bit of a bubble, especially in Windows. If you are in the wrong spot for too long, it's easy to end up being an expert with a skillset nobody really needs outside the company.

Advice to Management

Don't spend so much time on product metrics, and don't try to break everything into numbers in general. That's not all there is to it. You're missing the forest because you're too busy counting the trees in it. The company is much better than it used to be, but it lacks bold vision beyond the vague "cloud".

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