Stellar Employer for all Experience Levels - Software Development Engineer In Test (SDET) Microsoft Employee Review

5.0
12 Jun 2008
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I found Microsoft to be a safe, supportive place to work. Everyone knows their job and sticks to it. People shouldn't take this for granted because in other places, sometimes even your job description and/or expectations is ambiguous. The benefits are great especially free health care. I always felt like my managers and peers had my best interest and my career advancement in mind right up alongside the team's success. I believe that MS is a company of integrity, one that support great causes and supports the employee as far as possible. There is always someone to learn from or some piece of technology to learn about right there in house. So learning and mentorship opportunities are both plentiful.

Cons

You can gain quite a bit of weight from the free drinks, affordable lunches, and frequent summer morale get togethers so while all of the above is good, you need to take advantage of your ProClub pass. The only other downside, I can think of, and I am really struggling, is that you can easily get so comfortable at Microsoft that you never ever leave. I have felt like this and spoken with others who have to force themselves to see other career options/moves. It's hard to give up Microsoft's benefits and stable work environment but having a diverse resume is also very important.

Explore other reviews about Microsoft

5.0
7 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Interesting and varied work. Seasonality to the job allows for rest period

Cons

Less stability than there used to be makes people afraid to take risks

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