Will deeply miss my time at Microsoft...
Pros
Some of the most amazing tech industry leaders work for Microsoft, and you will feel their influence. Drives you to work harder, and better yourself. Access to the bleeding edge of patterns, practices, tools, technology, and thinking. You are given access to more training venues and opportunities than you will reasonably be able to take advantage of. If you want to learn more about any tech, this is the company for you. Given lots of freedom to maintain work/life balance (see caveat in Cons). Leading the way with cutting edge review processes that work toward keeping employees from being a number (we're still transforming this process, and it has it's quirks, but is . Company leadership as a whole truly care about your work life. They ask for lots of feedback, and I have personally witnessed the company change direction in a big way based on employee feedback. Benefits are about the best you'll get. In my particular division (Microsoft Services), you will get to meet LOTS of industry leaders, and power players at Microsoft and other big enterprises across the world. If you want to expand your network, this is one of the best jobs around. Wallflowers don't last long at this company.
Cons
VERY high demands, which can cut into that work life balance. Nobody will ensure you have this balance, and it is up to you to maintain it. If you are passionate about technology, like I am, you may find yourself having difficulty choosing work/life balance over going that extra mile for your projects and team. There is ALWAYS more work to do, and the company will always welcome, and incentivize you to chose more work. Travel expectations can be unreasonable for a "family person" (although, not unreasonable from a business perspective). HUGE organization, so we do suffer from your typical Big Corp Problems: Communication difficulties, inter-departmental collaboration, business goals/objectives and their alignments at the separate business divisions are not always as tight as they should be, and of course, you do at times feel like a number but this is trending in a positive direction.
