Is Microsoft a good company to work for as a Principal Lead Software Development Engineer?

Principal Lead Software Development Engineer professionals working at Microsoft have rated their employer with 3.8 out of 5 stars in 406 Glassdoor reviews. This is a lower than average score with the overall rating of Microsoft employees being 4.0 out of 5 stars. Search open Principal Lead Software Development Engineer Jobs at Microsoft now and start preparing for your job interview by browsing frequently asked Principal Lead Software Development Engineer interview questions at Microsoft .

Does Microsoft pay Principal Lead Software Development Engineer employees well?

Principal Lead Software Development Engineer professionals rate their compensation and benefits at Microsoft with 3.4 out of 5 stars based on 406 anonymously submitted employee reviews. This is 13.7% worse than the company average rating for salary and benefits. Find out more about Principal Lead Software Development Engineer salaries at Microsoft.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Microsoft?

Software Engineer (6665) , Senior Software Engineer (1760) , Program Manager (1400) , Software Engineer II (1052) , Software Development Engineer (888) , Senior Program Manager (861) , Product Manager (728) , Intern (689) , Technical Support Engineer (688) , Software Developer (669) , Software Development Engineer (SDE) (631) , Consultant (548) , Software Engineer(Internship) (535) , Director (533) , Project Manager (480)

What are the pros of working at Microsoft according to real employee reviews?

"They provide great benefits and you get a lot of exposure if interested in full time corporate role" ((in 6235 reviews)); "Work/Life balance is good and entirely up to you make it what you want it to be" ((in 5400 reviews)); "Some really great people working in the Inside sales teams and the building is fantastic." ((in 4365 reviews)); "Office had a lot of talented folks when I left in 2023 and a great culture." ((in 4070 reviews)); "A lot of the work is driven by individual performance within a team environment and the pay is good." ((in 2123 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Microsoft according to real employee reviews?

"Bad managers abound and there is not much remedy for that except for leaving the job." ((in 1450 reviews)); "life balance in hardware due to frequent unplanned work travel and evening calls; bloated meetings; some poor management" ((in 1199 reviews)); "Frequent layoffs and zero job security regardless of your performance" ((in 795 reviews)); "Long hours you have to wait till the last customer leave it’s energy consuming some of the customers are unrespectful" ((in 476 reviews)); "Senior Leadership on their own mission for career advancement and have little time or concern for the core workforce." ((in 450 reviews))

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Microsoft

Microsoft Principal Lead Software Development Engineer reviews

3.8

69% would recommend to a friend

(406 total reviews)

Satya Nadella

79% approve of CEO

67% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.9

Diversity & inclusion

3.7

Culture & values

3.7

Work/Life balance

3.6

Career opportunities

3.4

Compensation and benefits

3.2

Senior management

Principal Lead Software Development Engineer employees have rated Microsoft with 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 406 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Principal Lead Software Development Engineer professionals have a good working experience there. Microsoft is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Principal Lead Software Development Engineer professionals compared to other employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

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Reviews by job title

406 reviews

4.0

Jan 11, 2011

Good place to work. Good work/life balance

Principal architect

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Talented people in engineering Big company, able to move to a different area without start from scratch Good benefit package

Cons

Stagnant stock price Need to be politically savvy in order to succeed Not able to take advantage of grassroot innovation in technology and business models

4.0

Jan 2, 2010

Microsoft - good place to work despite size

Principal software engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

1. Variety of different areas to work on 2. Great benefits 3. Good work/life balance

Cons

1. Sometimes slow moving and cannot innovate as fast as needed due to size and legacy

4.0

Jan 7, 2009

The New IBM of 15 years ago.

Principal architect

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Impact millions of people worldwide with MS products

Cons

Slow moving and loosing the innovative edge. The company's management used to be extremely accessible and brutally honest with it's employees. This was 8 years ago when I joined the company. Now there are too many prep meetings for meetings with executives where so much of the informatin is filtered by people trying to protect their jobs - that it is getting harder and harder to make quick swift decisions to compete in the Google Era of Microsoft's history. Microsoft has survived the past competitive eras because they were software products that can take some time to build, etc. Applying a 18month-36month development cycle to Internet services which are literally in beta for years does not work. This is the reason MSN and other divisions of Microsoft are struggling to compete with Google.

Viewing 400 - 402 of 406 Reviews

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Microsoft Principal Lead Software Development Engineer reviews

Ratings by category

Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

Good place to work. Good work/life balance

Microsoft - good place to work despite size

The New IBM of 15 years ago.

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Microsoft reviews FAQs

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