Microsoft reviews

This review is for the young ENGINEERS from TOP colleges of India who decide to join Microsoft GTSC role as soon as they finish their Degrees. Microsoft hires from Campuses. they are known as MACH hires. We are a part of them. We got carried away by the brand name and the pay that they offered. One of the pro's of being a MACH is you will be treated like royalty in GTSC for the initial few months. The administration who take care of MACH are EXELLENT. But once you get pushed to different teams and you come under different administration your life is going to change. However, there are one/two teams which have good administration but the chances of getting into those teams are very rare. Even if you do get into those teams, the fact is this job does not deserve engineers. It requires the skillset of a person who can sell solutions to customers. They say that GTSC is not a call center but it is run by the authorities like a call center. We are from one of the topmost colleges in India and we came in to this role thinking it will be a journey of a lifetime. Yes it has become an unforgettaale journey for all of us. This company is full of politics and biased managers ,ego filled and lazy engineers on floor and arrogant technical advisors (However, there might be exceptions). BUT NEVER TAKE THIS AS YOUR FIRST JOB! Choose to be a developer in a startup for a lesser pay, but never take up this job! Tech support is a kind of job which requires capability of selling solutions to the customers. this job is not for people who come from TECH background. This job is considered as a golden opportunity for people who come from call center backgrounds who learn a bit of tech stuff and find their way until Microsoft. this job is not for students who come from campuses, who would have worked hard for four years. also, to mention one of the most important things, you can hardly find people with Engineering background in this company. They just know how to troubleshoot and lack technical knowledge. Talking about the growth here, almost every engineer is sluggish and they will drag you down when you decide to grow fast. Looking at the opportunity outside GTSC once you get here is almost nil. You will be supporting a Microsoft product and you WILL NOT have any other job opportunity. Even if you do, the pay will be bad and will be unwilling to quit and you will be forced to stay here. Also, the shifts that you will have to work in. You will become an unhealthy person with all sorts of health problems. You will have to sleep at around 8 AM in the morning and get up at 5 PM in the evening and run to the office. Your whole eating habits will change. You will feel very unhealthy. Also, working at night will take a toll on your mental health because you will not be in contact with the world at all, as you will be sleeping in the day and working at night. The only set of faces whom you'll see is your teammates. You will be asked to work over weekends like Sunday to Saturday or Tuesday to Saturday, which will drift you away from normal life. You will start to forget the feel of Sunday morning, as even if you work from Monday to Friday shift, you wont be able to sleep on Saturday night(as you will be awake all over night for the whole week) and sleep through whole day of Sunday. To add on to the woes of this job, any National holiday is considered as a leave. But in order to stay home that day you will need manager approval for it as only a particular number of people can be on leave for a particular day. Most of the time you will be not be getting it as the old employees are smart enough to block it soon and you will be working even during a national holiday. FOR EXAMPLE: YOU WILL HAVE TO WORK DURING DIWALI/CHRISTMAS or INCLUDING NEW YEAR'S EVE!! If you notice, you can ask hundred people who are currently working and ask them how is the job and everyone gives a good opinion. It's because of the fear of the higher authority like their managers. Do not fall for their words as they will be helplessly hiding the actual truth. Last but not the least, there will be a huge chunk of people coming from a particular company( Which is basically a call center and we do not wish to disclose the name of that company), who are mostly not engineers and do not have any tech knowledge. You will feel ashamed to sit alongside people who lack tech knowledge and boss over you. also, to mention most of the people (99% and their might be very few exceptions) have reached Microsoft GTSC not by studying the technology, but by being nice to higher officials. If you are from a reputed college, you will not have the mindset of bowing your head without any reason(unless if required) and you will be indirectly punished by higher authorities for not doing so(In terms of year end reviews). MY ADVICE TO ALL CAMPUS HIRES : Take this job up only if you want to spoil your health and career. If you are from one of the best colleges from INDIA, my advice is not to take up this job. We all know how difficult it is to crack a Entrance exam and find ways to topmost colleges. Don't commit the mistake of joining a TECH SUPPORT. It doesn't matter even if it is Microsoft tech Support! DO NOT FALL PREY FOR THE FACILITIES THEY PROVIDE AND THE PAY THEY PROVIDE! You will be treated like you are from a call center and will be shouted upon by higher authority people like a worker in factory. Do not consider this review as one person's opinion, this is a collective opinion from almost whole of the MACH community.

If you asked me these questions a year ago, I would answer differently. Due to recent changes in the review model, Microsoft is a less desirable place to work. The company has become excessively focused on metrics which detracts from focusing on the long term sucess of the company. The environment has become more cut throat and a higher stress workplace. Employees are constantly worried about being giving a low review score without much control over it. If you want control over it you need to work all of the time and then that does not even secure anything since situationalism. For instance, if your territory has budget issue in respective clients, or if upper management decisions to change review metrics part way through the year. Manager favoritism runs rampant in the company, it can have a direct impact on how well you do regardless of metrics. HR has covered themselves with a clause in the ratiing system, "In relation to your Peers." Let's say that you have a team of rock stars, not uncommon at Microsoft, of a pool of 50 people approximately 3-4 people will need to be placed into the lowest rating which means they will be on a program that will be difficult to get out of and likely asked to leave the company. Another 6 or 7 people will be rated just above the lowest ranking which will put them in a position where other groups will find them undisirable. Therefore, about 20 percent of the employees are labeled in such a way that they will have difficultly moving between organizations in the company. If you are reporting to a manager that you don't get a along with, your days will potentially be numbered.