still creating inside startups after 21 years of service - Client Architect, Hosting/Outsourcing Microsoft Employee Review

5.0
Feb 22, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I'm more of a technical background, initially not at all in software or computing, and linked to activities around architecture; at least 5 times, during my tenure at Microsoft, mostly at the France subsidiary, I've had the oppty to create new programs, new features, new activities, and get rewarded for some of them. Failures also happened to my activities, but management always helpful to coach, sometimes with damage control, showing great understanding, empathy and, ultimately, ad-hoc redirection for my energy.

Cons

It happens to being validated to implement a new idea, create a team to leverage skills, and a project workflow to execute actions while building; sometimes, it becomes a "too small", or "no longer relevant", even "too far from FY goals" review, sometimes "too late" and you get hit by a bad annual review. Your self-esteem is also hit, but if you're "fault-tolerant" with yourself, as management is for at least 1 or 2 times (esp if budget engaged has low ROI), you can reconstruct easily after a while, and stay inside the Company.

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5.0
Jun 18, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

free drinks cool people make money

Cons

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4.0
Jan 28, 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

1. If you love tech, this is a great place. No doubt you'll talk tech (mostly the MSFT stack) from enterprise to consumer - from PCs to phones to Xboxes - from datacenter to desktop. 2. What were GREAT benefits are now VERY GOOD (took a small step down) but still probably better than you'll find at 99% of large corporations. If you've got family - the value of the benefits is even higher. 401k match is nice. 3. Even with it's struggles MSFT is still a cash printing machine. This means if you can keep your nose clean and do reasonable work, you can have a stable job, pay your bills, feed your family, and not worry (too much) about layoffs. The stock you own likely won't tank, but probably won't go up much either. You'll get a bonus each year and some stock. It's a decent life if you aren't looking to light the world on fire.

Cons

Brand on Your Resume: After many years of losing market share and struggling to be at the front end of innovation and the fact that there's 90,000 employees, don't think MSFT is necessarily going to be attractive on your resume to more agile and smaller companies. Managing Your Career: Make you say this out loud so it registers - 90,000 employees work there. Double that for vendors. It is VERY hard to "stand out" and move up in the company. Don't expect your manager to be much of an advocate or enabler to help you meet your career goals - they are basically trying to survive the stack rank every year too. Not familiar with the stack rank? Check out the 2012 Vanity Fair article called "Microsoft's Lost Decade".

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