Microsoft

• Mostly stable company.
• Some cool projects to work on.
• You get to work on products that are used globally.
• Decent healthcare.
• Stock price is decent right now.

They believe that raising leads and managers from the ranks will always work. The result is managers and leads who don't know how to manage a diverse set of employees and instead simply look to forward their career. Managers can be caustic and will happily play favorites.

Pay is below comparable companies.

Work-life balance is given lip service but never actually improved.

While working remote, people are often impossible to get a hold of unless you nag, nag, nag. Your management will yell at you for not being creative enough about how you nag people if you tell your management you're blocked by someone else.

Be ready to be combative with management. They won't always help you, argue for you, or be understanding. Some leads will be good; many will not.

Train good managers who actually care about the success of their employees. Come down HARD on people playing favorites. Train management to handle feedback in a positive way. An IC giving feedback & concerns to a manager shouldn't be met with condescending, dismissive, and off-putting responses. I felt crushed on a regular basis, putting my life into my work and getting dumped on with zero recognition of my efforts. Asking to talk about feedback and being told, "We're not going to talk specifics. Accept the feedback and move on" is unacceptable.