Opening : Microsoft, the technology giant, is a dream place to work for many people. I’ve spent four years of my career here, and now, let me take you behind the scenes of this “land of dreams” and share stories you may not know.
I stepped into the door of Microsoft after graduating from school in 2019. It can be said that I dedicated almost all my youth to this company. Some people may say: "Wow, you must be living a good life, right?" Well, overall it's not bad, but there are some things that people can't help but complain about.
Troubles about salary increases : First of all, there is the issue of salary increases. In two of my four years at Microsoft, I barely received a raise. It was because of the epidemic that year, as everyone knows, that year almost everyone’s salary stagnated. But what about another year? The CEO sent an email directly saying: "We have made a major decision." What was the result? Just no salary increase. In my opinion, this is a disguised form of layoffs. They seemed to be saying: "If you can, just leave. Anyway, I know you don't dare to leave." Alas, this feeling is really frustrating.
Microsoft’s “volume” culture : Let’s talk about Microsoft’s “volume” culture. Due to the pressure of layoffs and performance reviews, many people begin to worry that they will be laid off, so they naturally work harder. But this kind of "volume" is not particularly obvious, especially in the past few years, with the rapid expansion of Microsoft in China, a large number of domestic Internet talents have poured in, which has also caused certain changes in the original corporate culture of foreign companies. impact. I think this is an irreversible process, and all companies will become more and more curled. The worst thing is the bosses who came directly from domestic Internet companies. The "volume" culture they brought with them was simply the hardest hit area. Therefore, if you want to work at Microsoft, be sure to find out in advance which group you want to go to, because the working atmosphere of some groups is still very good, but some groups are just like you in domestic Internet companies.
Structural issues in large companies : Another troublesome issue when working in a large company like Microsoft is the institutional issue. There are so many old employees with 10 or 20 years of work experience, and they sit in management positions. Sometimes there are more managers on a project than people actually working on it! Some of them don't even know how to write code at all, but they are still there to point fingers and give blind orders. This situation is really unbearable! But I feel relieved now. Anyway, I make more than them (laughs).
Work experience and spare time life : Although Microsoft has a changing trend and institutional problems as mentioned earlier, overall the working experience at Microsoft is still good. I usually go to work at 10 am and leave at 6 pm, and I can work remotely from home most of the time. In my spare time, I also participated in the company's band, became the UP host of the B station game area, etc. Having so much free time shows that my job is not particularly saturated (and certainly not particularly relaxing). But there is one thing I must complain about: due to the rapid expansion of Microsoft China in recent years, the work experience has been seriously degraded! Workstations are becoming smaller and smaller, and the number of moves is increasing! Sometimes you even have to move from one building to another! This is a disaster for people who have already rented a house! Moreover, the previous benefits such as cola and fruits are now less and less! The cafeteria also became very crowded and there were several food safety issues! These may be just "happy troubles" for the company, but they are pure troubles for individuals!
Personal growth and technology selection : Finally, let’s talk about personal growth. One advantage of working in a large company like Microsoft is that you can be exposed to many advanced technologies and projects, but a disadvantage is that many technologies are developed within the company itself and are not necessarily the most popular outside. This leads to the fact that the technologies you learn may not have been heard of by others outside (such as C#). Moreover, many of the main businesses are actually maintaining codes that have existed for a long time (maybe 10 or 20 years old). These codes may not have high technical content but are very troublesome and need to solve various compliance issues, etc. . So if you want to join Microsoft, you must know in advance what the group you are going to do, what technology stack it uses, etc.!
Ending : Okay, these are my experiences and complaints about my four years at Microsoft! Hope this information can be helpful to you! If you are interested in remote work or how to find a high-paying job, remember to follow me! I will share these contents with you in the next video! Goodbye~
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