My last day with Microsoft is on Tuesday. I also feel the same way. I think working at MS in the 80s/early 90s would have been exciting, fresh and challenging (not to mention extremely lucrative). But now? "Frustration" is the best word to describe it :-/
In the past two years, some of the most brilliant engineers I've ever had the privilege of working with have decided to throw in the towel at MSFT. It is not a good sign. I am ramping up my sales of MSFT stock, for sure.
There is still religious fervor inside the company. While at MSFT I worked with a handful of "true believers." Unfortunately, their enthusiasm and faith has yet to translate into interesting new products...
Anyway, if you're in the Seattle area, get in touch. The entrepreneurial community here very much rocks.
That was my experience as well (seeing many brilliant engineers leaving after deciding they've had enough of being let down by MS). Lack of other people on my team that I felt I could look up to and that I enjoyed working with was a big factor in why I left. I suspect the brain drain from MS will only accelerate over time though there are still a lot of truly excellent engineers working there.
Though I only worked at MS for a few years I suspect that the current working environment, culture, bureaucracy etc. problems have been building up for a very long time but were offset by remaining enthusiasm (read: kool aid aftereffects) and the enormous financial incentives from stock options. Now that the MSFT stock price has been flat for nearly a decade and it's increasingly easy to find tech jobs with comparable salaries a lot of the luster of working at MS has evaporated.
He-he. I see we have a nice group of recovering 'softies here, yours truly included (I left in October 2009). We should create a support group or something. :-)
