Microsoft

It's obviously an established and well-rounded company with plenty of smart people to work with and learn from.

The company focuses very hard on career development and tries to help you maximize your productivity.

A lot of people complain about one thing or another, but the bottom line is that they take good care of you in numerous ways.

There is a very high bureaucracy tax. There are many re-orgs to sidetrack entire teams, and individual obstacles (crazy frameworks for everything) are all over the place.

You have to be half-politician to have a successful career here, and the review process can be either lucrative or maddeningly arbitrary and painful (depending on many factors out of your control).

It's a great place for people who want to drink the Kool-Aid and settle and be comfortable, and it can be frustrating for others.

The new review system limits mobility within the company and cross-pollination. Since a review score is fairly arbitrary and ambiguous (and fit to a ruthless curve), it doesn't necessarily give an accurate representation of individual accomplishments or potential.

When VPs (of numerous orgs) use this to set internal hiring policies (e.g., nobody gets hired without a 1 or 2), it effectively prevents over half the company from moving around to all the highly advertised fun and exciting opportunities within the company.