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Okay place to gain experience, not so much to make a career

Software Development Engineer
Former Employee
Worked at Microsoft for 9 years
August 12, 2013
Redmond, Washington
3.0
Doesn't RecommendNegative OutlookDoesn't Approve of CEO
Pros

College hires or junior employees will probably have 5 to 10 good years at Microsoft. If you're not on the "management track" or senior level by then, it will serve you best to move on to new things. By that time, the experience gained will help you to be more successful elsewhere.

The most important thing you can learn here is how to make enterprise software scalable and best practices in engineering.

Cons

In many orgs, team dynamics are just bad. Too much bloat in process and personnel. The culture is highly dependent on email, even within teams sitting together in the same building. Many teams struggle to implement lean/agile effectively. About two-thirds of Program Managers seem to be clueless and do not have any real accountability.

The middle management culture is risk-averse and has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. The worst part is many of those middle managers float around the company, transferring from group to group without passion or fresh ideas.

Because of that churn, in most orgs, there will be morale-killing and sometimes pointless re-orgs a couple times each year. Depending on your manager, you may periodically have some anxiety about Microsoft's notoriously Darwinian performance review system.

Advice to Management

Too many rigid and artificial HR processes.

Work on the company culture, which is too political, outdated, and doesn't fit well with agile development processes.

Reform the program manager discipline.

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