Microsoft

The group I worked in was pretty laid back, except for the couple of months or so at the end of every product cycle where we had to work over 40 hours. You also have a lot of autonomy on how to do things. My supervisor generally let me do things at my own pace. On the other hand, there were a lot of opportunities for on-the-job training, where people would come in for workshop-kind of things. Quality varies though.

Working in Mountain View, CA doesn't give you many chances to try other groups (this is not the company's fault).

There seem to be lots of political fights between groups, though. There was also little communication between the leadership and the groups, or between the different groups.

Windows is a total mess right now. You guys need to rip the whole thing out and start something without all the bugginess.