Microsoft Principal Software Engineer/Manager reviews

3.7

68% would recommend to a friend

(491 total reviews)
avatar

Satya Nadella

73% approve of CEO

65% positive business outlook

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).

Reviews by job title

491 reviews
5.0
Apr 15, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Microsoft is a great place to work. I love it here. It's not perfect, but no company is, but it's still a lot better than most companies I've worked for. You can work on projects that impact the entire world. If you don't like what you're current job, you can easily move to another team or division and keep all your seniority and benefits. (And the benefits are great!)

Cons

Microsoft can be a little insular and internally focused, although we try not to be. Managers aren't uniform, there are good ones and bad ones everywhere, and you can get a bad one at Microsoft. The environment can be very competitive, it's not for everyone (and getting in can be very competitive too).

5.0
Nov 2, 2015

The company to bet on

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Compensation is very good. In fact, it is way better than what my friends are drawing at Google (One of the reasons for Google's lower compensation is that in most cases, Google under-hires. At least, it is true for lateral-hires at Hyderabad). Work life balance is great and everyone seems to respect your life beyond work. The work is not bad, and it's not rocket science either. There's a new enthusiasm in the company since Satya has become the CEO. There are plenty of career opportunities and it's very easy to switch teams.

Cons

Although the company has become open to new technologies, it is still deeply invested in Microsoft specific technologies. There's a lot of scope for adoption of newer, better tech.

3.0
Sep 5, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great benefits. Work/life balance. There is a variety of teams & projects to work on.

Cons

Variable quality of teams. Large organizations move very slowly. Total lack of agility. Over-staffed in some areas - people are there to make sure they've got jobs, not to make new products. Work at principal level starts to become more about fixing the org, rather then interesting technical or product issues.

Viewing 475 - 477 of 491 Reviews

Glassdoor has 68,684 Microsoft reviews submitted anonymously by Microsoft employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Microsoft is right for you.