[jason_slack]

I'd like to offer this advice:

1. Besides salary and options..would you like to work at Microsoft?

2. Do you have a family or are planning one? Does Microsoft seem like a place you can have a work - life balance? If your significant other wants to go on a date night, can you go or is it likely work will demand your attention?

3. What does your gut tell you? Sometimes above all else you have a feeling about things. I listen to mine.

4. If you walk into Microsoft, day 1, and they say "hey, we have possible bugs in this string library, please read the bug reports and fix the bugs"....are you down? Of are you gonna be like: "I left startup xxx for this.....". Usually newbies get some grunt work to prove themselves.

[zippzom]

1. Frankly, no, but I think it might enable me to be better at and have access to work that I would like to do in the future.

2. Work life balance seems good.

3. Tough to say.

[jiveturkey]

1. then the answer is quite easy and you needn't have gone through these machinations. get the offer to see what you're worth, but turn them down. personally, i'd turn them down "on the spot" when you get the offer without thinking about it. don't actually laugh, but say that their offer isn't in the ballpark. don't give a counter, just thank them for their time. you never know, they might come back with significantly more.