Microsoft reviews

4.0

77% would recommend to a friend

(53,843 total reviews)
avatar

Satya Nadella

77% approve of CEO

71% positive business outlook

Microsoft has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 53,843 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 Informationstechnologie industry (3.9 stars).

Reviews by job title

54K reviews
4.0
Sep 25, 2014

Lots of opportunity, interesting projects, smart, motivated people

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

One of the best things about Microsoft is that you are working with smart, motivated people all the time. You will find great challenges and be inspired by your peers on a daily basis. I'm always growing and learning. This can be untrue in certain teams, but in general I've found this to be true for most of the teams I've worked with. Loads of opportunity to try new things. I've worked on many different products and gained experience in multiple roles. You can truly change your career while staying in the comfort of the same company.

Cons

Politics becomes a part of your everyday pretty quickly as you move up in the company. There is a lot of overhead to get sign off on changes and move forward with something new. They want to be agile, but this is the biggest obstacle in actually being good at it. There is a lot of pressure for moving up. This is a good thing in a lot of respects, but can be stressful if you find yourself on a competitive team where moving up is difficult, or if you want to coast for a while career wise and focus on other aspects of life. It's not the place you can just do good work and not worry about promotions. If you're not moving up, you are eventually moving out.

1.0
Sep 23, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Decent compensation packages, although very little room for negotiation. Intelligent teammates. Nice lateral movement across teams with minimal wait time (18 months or less, with manager approval) There are some teams that still have private offices, although for most products the open office model might be better. 401K match up to 6% of salary. Health Club.

Cons

The politics at Microsoft are cutthroat and the performance review model based on a graded curve is archaic and contra-indicated for software development, which thrives on collaboration and cooperation. While this ranking system is supposed to have been abolished recently, after 30+ years of its extreme influence as to management promotion and leadership reviews, it is unlikely that this atmosphere of a zero-sum compensation model (there is no winner without a loser), is anything less than entrenched, and, consequently, Microsoft would not be a place to risk years of one's career when there are just as attractive jobs waiting at companies who were of the you-win, we-all-win philosophy from inception.

2.0
Sep 18, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Despite year over year reductions, benefits are good, particularly for families. They also have a few nice perks, though not as much as Google or Facebook. You can learn a lot here when you are starting out.

Cons

Hypocrisy, competition, and back-stabbing are ingrained in the culture. If you are a smart straight shooter who focuses on results and has great relationships with co-workers (as the "company values" recommend), that is *not* enough. You must play the political game, particularly if you go into management. If you don't play politics, your best option is to stay out of management and quickly find a politically-savvy manager who appreciates, rewards, and fights for you. If you are lucky enough to find such a manager, you'll be put on the fast track. If not, you may have to watch your career stagnate, falling far behind peers who contribute less than half as much as you do.

Viewing 523 - 525 of 53,843 Reviews

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