Microsoft Work Life Balance (apartment, credit, home)

[intothelight]

Hi All - any thoughts about this? Do you come in and leave at roughly the same time every day? Constant on-call? I'm in the telecommunications/network engineering department. Are the rating systems as bad as they are purported to be? Is it cutthroat competition amongst the employees? Low stress/high stress? Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[shaylahc]

My husband started working for Microsoft in March. So far the things we've noticed.

1)Great amount of disorganization. They hire the WORST companies to support them (India and China). My husband spends many, many hours cleaning up after the incompetent messes these "cheap" companies make.

2)It is very much a "dog eat dog" environment. Because reviews are based individually, there is a lot of "intercompetition" between teammates, with people trying to outdo each other. My husband has had issues with other people trying to take credit for his work. Also there is one guy who likes to be the one who swoops in at the end and solves the problems, so he doesn't really communicate well with his teammates so he can always come out looking like the hero (which means better reviews, which in the end means more money).

3)Long hours. My husband works 8-6 most days, and is often paged out at night. Last week he worked one day from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m., then put in his normal 8-6 workday. Sometimes paged out on weekends.

4)Meetings. They have meetings about the meetings they want to have. Sometimes he has 2 meetings going on at once and he has to choose which one to attend. It's amazing any work can get done. My husband calls it a big, dysfunctional family lol.

PROS:

1)Ability to telecommute RARELY if needed.

2)Medical is lightyears better than IBM was, so no complaints there.

3)Money. My husband is well compensated for what he does. He got a raise and a bonus (and stock grants) after only being there 6 months. They don't call them the golden handcuffs for nothing, we're in for 36K and counting after only 6 months.

That's pretty much it. In all fairness, my husband's team kind of sucks. A lot of people have transferred to other departments, and my husband will likely do the same once his 18 months is up.

[Back2Texas]

I've worked at MS for 12 years. My husband has worked at MS for 10 years.

The answers to your questions will vary widely based on the team you're on. I had one job where 12+ hour days, including regular last-minute overnight travel, were common. My husband had a job where the weeks leading up to a ship date meant 8-hour workdays... on Sat/Sun. Much longer during the week, of course. In both cases, we knew going in to those jobs that the work/life balance was going to suck, and we were totally fine with it at that point in our lives. Nowadays, I work from home full-time, and no one really cares what hours I work as long as my work gets done, which is good for where I am at this point in my life.

Today, for example, my husband is out of town so kid-duty is all on me. I started work at about 9:30 AM after school drop-offs. Worked till about 3:00, picked my daughter up at school, took her over to dance class, got on wireless at the dance studio and got a few more things done. Now the kids are in bed and I'll probably catch up on some stuff.

Regarding the review system, I think it is made out to be far worse than it is. Yes, there is a forced distribution, so only x% of people can be in the top bucket, y% in the next bucket, etc. But the distribution is forced at a level where it makes sense, i.e. where there are enough people that they'll naturally distribute themselves along the bell curve. They don't force a 5-person team to follow the bell curve. My husband and I have 20-odd reviews, ranging from stellar to thoroughly average, and I would say that they've all been pretty fair.

Regarding MS being cut-throat, I don't see that at all. To be sure, there are a lot of highly motivated people, but most of them direct that motivation in a positive direction. I've only known one guy who really seemed to build himself up by tearing others down, and he paid for it at review time. (About two years ago, the review system was changed, to place much more emphasis on "the how" -- that is, not just what you do but how you do it. This particular guy got great results, but totally antagonized all of his teammates along the way, and his review reflected that. Big time.)

I've mostly been on great teams, I've been on a few ehhhh teams. One good thing is that if you do find yourself on the latter kind of team, it's pretty easy to transfer within the company.

I honestly thought I'd be here for 1 or 2 years tops, but now I love it and can't really imagine working anywhere else.

[SaltyDawg]

The work-life balance will depend entirely on your 'neighborhood'.

If you're new to the company, expect a firehose aimed directly at you. It will be overwhelming, and you will work your tail off. Same would be true at any large tech firm, but you don't get much in the way of hand-holding at MSFT. Expect 3+ months of just trying to keep your head above water.

After that, it's all about how well you work. I know brilliant people at MSFT who manage to keep a 40-50 hour week fairly easily (with huge flexibility as to how/when those hours are spent), and others who are in constant catch-up, leaving vacation hours behind every year, which is inexcusable.

Know your manager. Know their manager. Know what it is you're supposed to be doing. There are hundreds of businesses there, some good, some bad - and some GREAT. Pay attention, and seek counsel with those who are thriving and don't seem to be miserable.

I see too many people fall into the trap of assuming that they're stuck in a miserable, over-worked job. Learn to work smart. Don't assume that hours=good work. Smart work=good work, no matter where you are.

[spotlesseden]

depends on your team/department. Microsoft is not just one company. it's more like many different smaller companies. Think 50 States under the main govn't in DC, but each states act independently on a lot of things. I used to work on a team that is like 80% white too because it required U.S. Citizen and security clearance, so it's not just all Asians.

I think I'm lucky, I never been a team that required more than 50+ a week. You can work at work if you have doctor apartment/expecting package. of course, sometimes, you may require long hour, but that's not normal. it's expectation. You can also take days off if you worked too many hours.

yes, there are many meetings. Sometimes, the entire day is just meeting, you have no time to do any work.

IF your department makes money, you are will get a lot or resource and support, if your department doesn't make money, you will get little or no resource. They will give you the worst building.

[SouthernInSeattle]

Originally Posted by shaylahc

My husband started working for Microsoft in March. So far the things we've noticed.

1)Great amount of disorganization. They hire the WORST companies to support them (India and China). My husband spends many, many hours cleaning up after the incompetent messes these "cheap" companies make.

2)It is very much a "dog eat dog" environment. Because reviews are based individually, there is a lot of "intercompetition" between teammates, with people trying to outdo each other. My husband has had issues with other people trying to take credit for his work. Also there is one guy who likes to be the one who swoops in at the end and solves the problems, so he doesn't really communicate well with his teammates so he can always come out looking like the hero (which means better reviews, which in the end means more money).

3)Long hours. My husband works 8-6 most days, and is often paged out at night. Last week he worked one day from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m., then put in his normal 8-6 workday. Sometimes paged out on weekends.

4)Meetings. They have meetings about the meetings they want to have. Sometimes he has 2 meetings going on at once and he has to choose which one to attend. It's amazing any work can get done. My husband calls it a big, dysfunctional family lol.

Have to agree with all the above, and my husband worked for one of the more "desirable" teams within MS. That said, it's hard to generalize because every team is entirely different. He recently left on his own terms after 8 years at MS (was in the 2 bucket the past year, on track for a 3), and while he was grateful for his time there, coming out of MS was a complete and total shock to the system. Good shock. Work life balance is amazing at his new company, pay is more than comparable, and the political BS that wreaks within some teams at MS is non-existent now. It took years to simply be noticed and stand out for all of his work/knowledge, and he is now considered almost God-like for his skills after a few short months with his new company. That said, it probably wouldn't have been that way had he not put in the time at MS and had the resume without them. As part of the technical crew, he always said that he felt much of his time was wasted with meetings. It was always, always a meeting.

OP, Google (oops, I mean Bing!) Mini-Microsoft blog if you are looking for more insight on the work/life balance. There are certainly some bitter folks in the comment section, but much of it rings true..