Is Microsoft a good company to work for as a Principal Software Engineer/Manager?

Principal Software Engineer/Manager professionals working at Microsoft have rated their employer with 3.7 out of 5 stars in 491 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 Software Engineer/Manager Jobs at Microsoft now and start preparing for your job interview by browsing frequently asked Principal Software Engineer/Manager interview questions at Microsoft .

Does Microsoft pay Principal Software Engineer/Manager employees well?

Principal Software Engineer/Manager professionals rate their compensation and benefits at Microsoft with 3.3 out of 5 stars based on 491 anonymously submitted employee reviews. This is 16.7% worse than the company average rating for salary and benefits. Find out more about Principal Software Engineer/Manager 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 (727) , 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 Software Engineer/Manager reviews

3.7

68% would recommend to a friend

(491 total reviews)

Satya Nadella

73% approve of CEO

65% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

3.9

Diversity & inclusion

3.6

Culture & values

3.6

Work/Life balance

3.5

Career opportunities

3.3

Compensation and benefits

3.1

Senior management

Principal Software Engineer/Manager employees have rated Microsoft with 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 491 company reviews on Glassdoor. This indicates that most Principal Software Engineer/Manager professionals have a good working experience there. Microsoft is rated in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) by Principal Software Engineer/Manager professionals compared to other employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

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Disability

Parent or family caregiver

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Reviews by job title

491 reviews

1.0

Sep 1, 2016

Sucks

Principal software engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

There's free soda in the kitchen

Cons

Microsoft just can't compete in today's market.

2.0

Aug 7, 2016

Principal Software Engineering Manager

Principal software engineering manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

I was at Microsoft for 4 years in various roles / divisions. - World class engineers - Great pay / benefits. - Very interesting problems to solve. - Mega scale challenges and opportunities. - Satya's changes to make Microsoft focused on being a cloud and services company and starting to embrace open source is the right future.

Cons

Unfortunately I think the cons still outweigh the pros at Microsoft. - Company culture is in general terrible due to politics, personal career aspirations and brilliant jerks. - Politics. I can't stress this con enough. People are more concerned about their own career advancement than their team and our customers. - Brilliant jerks are still promoted and given a lot of influence. - Work/life balance can be terrible depending on the org. - Proprietary APIs and custom implementations in Azure that provide the same functionality as open source projects. - The higher up you move in levels / leadership at Microsoft the more political it gets. - Reorgs are still frequent, incredibly disruptive and cause a constant exodus of talent.

5.0

Aug 2, 2016

great company to work for

Principal software engineer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Microsoft is not the company you used to know. it is evolving in a good way.

Cons

review cycle still needs refinements.

Viewing 472 - 474 of 491 Reviews

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Microsoft Principal Software Engineer/Manager reviews

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Sucks

Principal Software Engineering Manager

great company to work for

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