Microsoft Principal Software Development Engineer reviews

3.8

72% would recommend to a friend

(406 total reviews)
avatar

Satya Nadella

80% approve of CEO

70% positive business outlook

Principal Software Development Engineer employees have rated Microsoft with 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 406 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Principal Software Development Engineer professionals have a good working experience there. Microsoft is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Principal Software Development Engineer professionals compared to other employers within the Informationstechnologie industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

406 reviews
4.0
Sep 11, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Microsoft is a great company. Free drinks and cheap food at a great cafeteria. Unlimited resources, pretty much any kind of project you want to work on and a lot of mobility within the company. Opportunities all over the world. The new management really gets what needs to happen and it feels like the company is going in the right direction. There are some great people at Microsoft.

Cons

Organization tends to be unstable. You never know when you will end up on a new team with a new manager. Managers have unlimited power and virtually no accountability. They can make you a star or run you out of the company with virtually no challenge to their reasoning or facts. Great if your manager likes you. Terrible if not. Sadly not all managers are good.

3.0
Sep 5, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great benefits. Work/life balance. There is a variety of teams & projects to work on.

Cons

Variable quality of teams. Large organizations move very slowly. Total lack of agility. Over-staffed in some areas - people are there to make sure they've got jobs, not to make new products. Work at principal level starts to become more about fixing the org, rather then interesting technical or product issues.

4.0
Sep 4, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- excellent top management + very compelling and promising strategy - Flexible working arrangements. Expectations are high, but (depending on the organization) you have a lot of flexibility when and where to work - Good pay and benefits. Stock awards are lucrative (yearly award - vests 10% every 6 months) if you are ready for / capable of long term employment - Long haul travel can in many cases be done in business class

Cons

- Redmond / US centric. Core product work is mostly done in Redmond. - Very cumbersome and time consuming purchasing process. Hurts day to day job execution

Viewing 364 - 366 of 406 Reviews

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