-The company is too large, and there is too much inertia associated with heavyweight processes, and legacy maintainace. This makes the company slow to react and change directions.
-There is a huge amount of competition at MS. The few who shine brightest are rewarded well, but career advancement for the rest is a problem, even though in most other companies they would be stars.
-Moving within the company involves a tough interview process
-While there is grass-roots support for agile processes, management is clinging on to heavyweight processes for dear life
-The company as a whole is viewed negatively from the outside. This gets frustrating.
-Innovation is talked about a lot but rarely seen or actually encouraged.
-You have to wonder sometimes how certain senior executives have managed to hold on to their jobs after bungling it so many times.
-The review system inherently rewards individual stars rather than team players.
-Compensation is fairly average