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Constant reorg/priority shift; good people

Software Engineer
Former Employee
Worked at Microsoft for 4 years
April 21, 2022
Redmond, Washington
4.0
Doesn't RecommendPositive OutlookApproves of CEO
Pros

Plenty of talent. Good compensation, great benefits. Good performing stock. Generally good people.

Cons
  • Lots of ego.
  • Bureaucracy and red tape.
  • Reorgs happen basically twice per year. Don't bother getting to know your skip manager. Also, try not to let your team put too much effort into skip priorities, and definitely don't get suckered onto the tasks yourself – no one will care at review time.
  • Very Indian-male centric (somewhat racist, sexist, and very classist attitudes are pervasive, mostly in the younger generations).
  • Stack ranks even though they pretend not to. Pick your projects with care and fight low-visibility ones.
Advice to Management

Some care should definitely be taken to make sure inclusivity and growth mindset aren't just being used as buzzwords.

Inclusivity in hiring needs to work on racism/sexism. Maybe some kind of blind review process.

Also, performance should probably be scaled on hours worked. I'm not competing with guys who work 50-60 hours and are going to burn out in 2-3 years max. If that's the culture you want, cool. If not, fix it.

Additional Ratings

Work/Life Balance
3.0
Culture and Values
2.0
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
2.0
Career Opportunities
3.0
Compensation and Benefits
4.0
Senior Management
3.0

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