Microsoft

Honestly, any pros to working here are being phased out. Unless you are a non-technical business or marketing type person, then you can expect to make a lot for not really producing anything.

There is a culture of arrogance here; people are in denial and puff themselves up all the time because Microsoft used to be the shiznit back in the 90s. In modern times, the stock has stagnated, and no one gets rich anymore. Employees do still get treated with reverence from older folks in the community who don't know times have changed.

Employees can still expect to enjoy discounts and deals. Some people in the Seattle area will still be impressed with the Microsoft name on your resume, although it's increasingly more likely any legit company who knows the truth will see the Microsoft name and count it against you.

If you are young, technical, a go-getter, and aiming to get rich, Microsoft is NOT the place for you. The company will milk products from its glory days (basically just Windows and Office) until the market forces it into irrelevance. Win8 is the elephant in the room, proven to be a spectacular failure, yet we keep trying to force it down people's throats. With product pipelines like Windows Phone and Surface, there's simply not enough growth or opportunity for Microsoft to sustain promoting you and paying you what you're worth. Plus, the culture heavily favors non-technical, business-y types that do nothing but BS at meetings all day and play the game. Any raises or decent salaries will be given to those folks, not you, the producer. This has got to be the worst place for a smart, hard-working technical person – don't waste your time and devote your passion and skills to a company that will appreciate it, like Google or Apple. This is a dying company; the business people are the vultures feasting on the carrion of failed products and shrinking revenues. Who in their right mind would want to work here?!

Technical people are aware; you see us as mere cogs and code monkeys, and you can't wait to outsource our jobs. It's already happening. I know several people in several groups at Msft whose jobs are being outsourced to India by Satya.

All this optimism about Satya replacing Ballmer is short-lived once people realize Satya has no real vision or game plan besides "cutting costs" by outsourcing everyone's jobs to India and driving down U.S. salaries.