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Learn good software engineering practices, and then rethink your career

Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET)
Former Employee
Worked at Microsoft for 4 years
November 19, 2012
Redmond, Washington
1.0
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo CEO Opinion
Pros

You will be working with some of the smartest people if you are in the right group here. You will have an opportunity to learn so much about software engineering.

Good facilities and perks.

Cons

Too big a company and too many re-orgs. It hampers an individual contributor's growth.

You will be learning Microsoft technologies a lot. These don't help if you look for opportunities outside Microsoft. You will basically be a person who knows only about Microsoft technologies and nothing about open-source technology stacks. A Microsoft engineer might not be that highly regarded in other big companies simply because of the technologies learned while in Microsoft.

Another issue is that you will be as good as your lead projects you in front of everyone else. So if your lead doesn't like you, you are screwed. This lead might not be the one who interviewed you and hired you because of a re-org. So basically, it is something like you interviewed for team A, but when you join, because of re-orgs, you end up working for team B and a totally different person who you did not meet during the interview time.

Another thing is SDET careers are not good at all. Anyone who joins as SDET is just wasting their career here.

Advice to Management

Less re-orgs, please. Review the management.

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