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Overall great place to work

Software Development Engineer II
Former Employee
Worked at Microsoft for 6 years
August 29, 2014
Redmond, Washington
4.0
RecommendsNeutral OutlookNo CEO Opinion
Pros

Great benefits and great pay. If you want top pay for your level of work, this is definitely the place.

Challenging work, smart people, team-oriented culture, flexible work hours, and an overall friendly work environment.

Cons

It's very easy to get into a "great engineers don't always make great managers" situation. Often, an IC gets assigned or promoted to a management role, not at will but as an "expectation" of their level. This generally results in the team being under-managed or worse.

The company promotes a team-oriented culture and a "no rock star" approach, but the review process speaks otherwise.

Flexible work hours can be a double-edged sword. You should not expect every week to be exactly 40 work hours. (Although managers are generally cool with taking "rain checks," so you can work a 60-hour week, then skip Friday for the next three weeks.)

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