Microsoft

• A great compensation package: very competitive salary, stocks, health insurance, bonuses, vacation days, etc.
• Personal (1-2 people) offices (if you like that).
• Stressful, but you can keep proper work-life balance if you can manage it effectively.

The work progress is very slow, and most of the day is spent over emails and meetings.

Very little interaction with your manager and your team.

Email-based communication turns people very formal and cold to each other in personal interactions.

Degrading attitude to contractors: Peers that work beside you, doing the same job, but getting a very cold treatment (e.g., aren't invited to trips).

Let the developers focus more on the products and the code.