Microsoft is an exciting and rewarding place to work - Program Manager II Microsoft Employee Review

4.0
4 Jan 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Microsoft employs some of the world's smartest people. I've been with the company for 8 years and I routinely learn something new from my colleagues every day. We work on projects that are important to 100's of millions of people around the world, if you want to be part of something that has world-wide impact, this is the place to do it. We have fun, every team has a morale budget for parties and such, and we very casual. Most people have their own offices, though seating is based on time with the company so new hires might double up depending on the group. We have the Gold Standard for health benefits, you'll never pay a dime out-of-pocket for any health care.

Cons

You are guaranteed to get asked to help troubleshoot every Windows or Office problem your family and friends encounter, and it doesn't matter if your job has nothing to do with those products. You get teased by family and friends about working for a monopoly and about Bill Gates' hair, you get to hear about how Linux is so superior to Windows for all sorts of obscure tasks, and people send you links to those damn "Hi, I'm a Mac" commercials. Working in the Redmond, WA area means that 40,000 of your neighbors are also your co-workers, many neighborhoods are easily 60%+ Microsofties, so it can get a bit weird constantly being surrounded by the people you work with.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
30 Jun 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Love it you are surrounded with smart people and complex problem to solve

Cons

Lots of new features and roll outs happening hard to keep pace

4.0
28 Jan 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. If you love tech, this is a great place. No doubt you'll talk tech (mostly the MSFT stack) from enterprise to consumer - from PCs to phones to Xboxes - from datacenter to desktop. 2. What were GREAT benefits are now VERY GOOD (took a small step down) but still probably better than you'll find at 99% of large corporations. If you've got family - the value of the benefits is even higher. 401k match is nice. 3. Even with it's struggles MSFT is still a cash printing machine. This means if you can keep your nose clean and do reasonable work, you can have a stable job, pay your bills, feed your family, and not worry (too much) about layoffs. The stock you own likely won't tank, but probably won't go up much either. You'll get a bonus each year and some stock. It's a decent life if you aren't looking to light the world on fire.

Cons

Brand on Your Resume: After many years of losing market share and struggling to be at the front end of innovation and the fact that there's 90,000 employees, don't think MSFT is necessarily going to be attractive on your resume to more agile and smaller companies. Managing Your Career: Make you say this out loud so it registers - 90,000 employees work there. Double that for vendors. It is VERY hard to "stand out" and move up in the company. Don't expect your manager to be much of an advocate or enabler to help you meet your career goals - they are basically trying to survive the stack rank every year too. Not familiar with the stack rank? Check out the 2012 Vanity Fair article called "Microsoft's Lost Decade".

2374
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All