Microsoft Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) II reviews

Advancement is nebulous and is highly dependent on whether or not your boss is competent at his/her job. SDET career path is an absolute joke. Almost impossible to get beyond level 62. Was lied to at every step of the way, being told there was headroom, but there never really was.

Pathetic work culture, bad work life balance, you work as a labor just following the manager's orders. All the decision making over the projects is done by the management without much involvement from the engineering ICs who are just handed over the tasks to be completed. There is lack of transparency between management and the ICs. You don't grow as a person but only as a resource. Much of the soft skills you gain is NOT over managing projects, collaboration, innovation or leadership skills, BUT over pushing your work to someone else, negotiating on timelines and the amount of work. This type of work culture is simply not acceptable from a large and reputed organization like Microsoft.