Microsoft

New base salaries around 100k. New SDET focus on coding. Opportunity to write our own tools. Finally, a team that pushes for work/life balance. New manager is awesome and further shows that within Microsoft, you can have great and horrible experiences depending on who you report to. Some of the top engineers in the world work here.

Was stuck with a manager for several years that stagnated my growth.

Commonsense dies the further you go up the management chain.

2-4th tier managers do not think about the bottom line and manage information up.

We're too Top Down and stifle IC innovation.

Too much email and at all hours.

Too little in-person communication.

A lot of push on opinions without open-mindedness to change or alternative options. "What my manager says, I do."

Stop front-loading work items to ICs to a maximum capacity of 50-60 hours a week, Monday-Friday, and allow them to innovate on their own. They are the most intimate with their product and understand the customer and opportunities far better than the Directors of 160 people and two dozen products.

Move leads to ICs, and have the managers handle all of the 1:1s, reviews, etc., so that it's VP => Director => Manager => IC. Each manager should have 30-ish people and their sole job is to manage people. Leads shouldn't manage people, and they are most often promoted to lead because they were the most technically successful IC of their group, which doesn't imply they are good managers or leads.