Working at Microsoft in Mountain View, CA: 19 Employee Job Reviews by Real Employee working in Mountain View, CA Area

"It is good and helpful as my first professional job which taught me lot of things but as a contractor, we are restricted t give on more inputs."

"I believe MS is a great place for improving and selling OS and office software year by year. It is extremely profitable business and employees get paid well. Company is huge and global because of the reason. It's just not a company for any innovation or invention. The org and people mindset is not set up that way. One Microsoft marketing pitch hasn't really worked at the employee level. Different departments are still pointing guns to each other."

"I've worked at Microsoft since 2000. When I came here, it was pretty much the only place to work at if you wanted to work on software that touched billions of people. It's still a fantastic company to work for, despite the hammering it has received (some of it well-justified) in recent years.The people, the atmosphere, the managerial culture, the breadth of technologies, the compensation, the opportunity for growth and new experiences -- they are all top-notch at MSFT."

"Very good working environment."

What do you like about working at Microsoft?

"I like the good working environment. There are lots of training programs and classes to improve skills."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Cut down specification review time so the team can move on to feasibility study, and update the specification along the way."

What don't you like about working at Microsoft?

"I have not found any dislikes about working at the company."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"The project has slow progress, due to too long a time spent on specification review before performing feasibility study."

What do you like about working at Microsoft?

"I like the great benefits, and the huge impact because everything you do impacts tons of people. I like the clear promotion/directional career guidelines."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Be passionate about technology! That will take you a long way. Know your stuff, but if you don't know, better to admit it and show that you're smart and can learn well."

What don't you like about working at Microsoft?

"The ranking system does not set up others to help each other, no matter how much language they put in about that being important. I've had two managers who really invested in me and sacrificed for me, and they were both pushed out the door. The self-serving managers who play the game were the ones who did well."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Align the whole company in a clear direction - make more difficult decisions. Upper management tends to cover themselves by not committing to one thing, which is why we end up with a lot of half-baked products that don't integrate well together. People are individually doing good work, but it's not part of a clear overall plan."

What do you like about working at Microsoft?

"My likes are: scale, resources, technology stack, ability to have an impact, challenging work, and compensation."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Support your resume with actual knowledge, be ready for whiteboard coding and design, and ask the right questions."

What don't you like about working at Microsoft?

"I don't like lack of focus, changing goals and priorities too often, and lack of internal communication."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Innovate, carefully select goals, allow more initiative, and spin off some of the business units."

What do you like about working at Microsoft?

"MSFT is a great company with good benefits and good people."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"This is a great company for most people to work for."

What don't you like about working at Microsoft?

"At my current level, there is limited career growth available."

"It was awesome working with big giants like Microsoft."

What do you like about working at Microsoft?

"I like the challenging tasks, keeping up to the expectations, and good interaction with team mates."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Be very genuine with all the information they provided."

What don't you like about working at Microsoft?

"I love to adopt the environment the way it is."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Coordinate with the employees properly, and maintain good relations."

"One of the most challenging test environments."

"Long hours, hard work, true career growth and learning, great benefits, but a lot of stress."

What do you like about working at Microsoft?

"I grew professionally - both technically and interpersonally. It was a true career-building experience. There are good colleagues here."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"There will be tricky technical questions, and not just programming, but brain-teasers and puzzles."

What don't you like about working at Microsoft?

"Pressure to perform and internal competition are very high. It is a very stressful environment."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Have a better mentoring program for people who are not yet mid-career professionals (like I was when I got there)."

"Microsoft has been a great experience."

"Microsoft is a fun place to work with smart people on very large problems."

What do you like about working at Microsoft?

"I liked the people I worked with on a day-to-day basis. Microsoft strives to hire the best and brightest people that it can find, and there are always good exchanges of ideas going on."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Be honest. The company isn't looking for the most whiz-bang windows guru ever. They're looking for people who can learn quickly, reason through problems and work with dynamic teams."

What don't you like about working at Microsoft?

"Advancement within the Silicon Valley Campus is difficult to come by. There aren't many opportunities for advancement that open up without having to move to Washington."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"I would suggest that management at Microsoft's Silicon Valley Campus work more on developing the potential of the employees that they have working for them. It's a great place to work but there's not a lot of management support for personal or career development."

"MSFT was a very fun place to work. And it was with a new division of MSFT, which made every day a new challenge. That added a lot to the fun of the environment."

What do you like about working at Microsoft?

"It is fun and high energy."

What don't you like about working at Microsoft?

"I don't like the politics of working with a big company."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Finding ways to work smarter with other business units within the corporation will enhance the offerings."

"Microsoft is an exciting place to work."

What do you like about working at Microsoft?

"Very well-organized with great management."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Be prepared."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Keep it up."