Microsoft

The pay is reasonable, and there are some changes to excel. For top employees, there is a high potential program, which can open up many doors for other jobs within the company. If you are a technical person, there is a lot of opportunity to network and meet other bright people.

The stock is not going to go up in value, and the company is not going to grow bigger than it is. You should not expect your stock value to increase.

Many people have the false illusion that Microsoft is still on top and that they are there to stay. There are also a lot of politics and perception games being played.

It is very important that you get an emotional/technical attachment to your dev manager and the other dev managers, so that they do not try to throw you to the dogs in the closed-door performance reviews.

You have to fix this. Decisions at Microsoft usually do not have a general focus, and the architects don't do anything but waste money. You should fire these people.