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      Microsoft

      Engaged Employer

      Microsoft reviews

      4.0

      77% would recommend to a friend

      (53,853 total reviews)
      avatar

      Satya Nadella

      77% approve of CEO

      71% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      4.1

      Diversity & inclusion

      3.9

      Culture & values

      3.9

      Work/Life balance

      3.9

      Compensation and benefits

      3.8

      Career opportunities

      3.4

      Senior management

      Microsoft has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 53,853 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Microsoft employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Informatique industry (3.9 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      54K reviews
      5.0
      Sep 30, 2008

      Best health care on the planet

      User experience researcher
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      The health care plan for Microsoft is simply amazing. They have their own Blue Cross / Blue Shield branch with essentially unlimited coverage. A new employer would have to double my salary to justify the loss of this benefit. This is also the smartest group of people I've ever worked with. Microsoft projects don't fail for dumb reasons. They don't run out of money, lack resources, lack smart people.

      Cons

      It's a big, safe company. There's a lot of smart people here, but there's also a lot of corporate inertia. There are loser projects and personnel that are carried for years without real accountability.

      4.0
      Sep 29, 2008

      Research Intern happy with experience

      Research intern
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Great benefits, incredibly smart people, worldwide impact. You will have all the tools you need to do a great job if you have the energy and motivation. You can meet with anyone in the company if you can find time; everyone is happy to help each other out, to give feedback, to talk about career advancement. You will be paid better than at other similar companies. An internship at MSR is more structured and more productive than at IBM or Google; you will also be encouraged to publish.

      Cons

      The commutes around Redmond are horrible. There are no trains or light rail options; you must be on the road whether in your car, a bus, a carpool, on a bike or on foot. From near the 520 bridge in Seattle, the commute takes between 30 and 120 minutes. Microsoft's "hero" culture can be tough for new employees to navigate. Shyness will get you nowhere.

      4.0
      Sep 28, 2008

      Solid, but at times frustrating

      Lead software development engineer
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      As an SDE, you are given a lot of freedom at Microsoft to design your feature from a technical pespective. There isn't a lot of second guessing, and you can use the tools you prefer for the most part. Benefits are A-rate (although the $1500 limit on dental can be costly depending on your situation... but that is the only real limit). There is a huge swath of products the company works on, and it's relatively easy to move around (18 month commitment per group). Co-workers are generally top-notch... you can learn from them. Open and constructively critical culture for the most part.

      Cons

      My main issue recently has the been the rewards system. Basically, rewards are given out based on a stack rank system. A group of even 40 people must fit the curve, and every such group is basically given the exact same pool of money to start with. The result is that, perversely, you really don't want to be a strong team because it's going to be more competitive. There is no accountability for product failure in the market. Every level x SDE in the company is getting paid the same range, no matter what the status of their product. Every dev group (for example), is getting the same pool of rewards. Work expectations in terms of both time and competencies are supposed to be standardized across the firm, but it isn't even close to equal. Recently my group interviewed a bunch of devs from another group whose project was finally cancelled (a rarety!) and none of them could make our hiring bar. I'm starting to shop for the internally weakest group I can so that I can do less work for the same outcome.. it's really quite stupid.

      Viewing 53356 - 53358 of 53,853 Reviews
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      Glassdoor has 68,410 Microsoft reviews submitted anonymously by Microsoft employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Microsoft is right for you.