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Interesting Problems, Bureaucratic Blocks

Software Development Engineer
Former Employee
Worked at Microsoft for 20 years
June 11, 2014
Redmond, Washington
3.0
Doesn't RecommendNeutral OutlookNo CEO Opinion
Pros

Great benefits.

Redmond campus has some great places to work.

Always a ton of interesting problems to solve.

Impact on computing, software development, and most anyone who uses a computer is hard to overstate.

Cons

Huge company, not even a company really, but a ton of smaller companies that don't always work well together.

Huge products like Windows, Office, etc., can stifle innovation that might lead to competition.

Many larger groups are run top-down, and giving feedback can be difficult, especially around arbitrary technical decisions.

Advice to Management

Allow passion to thrive at Microsoft.

Help people build products they are proud of, not just working on, but using and having their friends and family use.

Engage the end-users and not just customers (customer being the computer manufacturer).

Focus on scenarios or workflows rather than features.

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