Zelcastalumni map

People who leave Microsoft most often go to Meta, Google and Palantir Technologies. 5% found something next. 14% go small. Median stay 2y 5m

These are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer, not Microsoft's headcount: 1,588 people on a map of 26,572, the No. 4 company on it by people. Updated August 20, 2026.

People on the map
1,5886.0% of everyone on the map
There now
35122% of the people here
Moved on
1,23778% of the people here
Median tenure
2y 5mmiddle half 1y 1m to 4y 2m

Put Microsoft side by side with another company, every number against every number.

Came from, went to

Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Amazon. Most leave for Meta (10% of recorded departures).

Microsoft1,366 in · 1,326 out
64Amazon55Google40Meta19Amazon Web Services18Capital One17IBM12Apple12Intel12Lockheed MartinMeta12710%Google1219%Palantir Technologies645%Amazon484%Amazon Web Services181%Stripe181%Anduril Industries161%Bloomberg161%Uber161%
249 of 1,366 recorded arrivals shown, 1,117 more from 846 other companies444 of 1,326 recorded departures shown, 882 more to 611 other companies

After Microsoft

  • 5%Founded something57
  • 14%Joined a startup170
  • 25%Joined a big company310
  • 56%Elsewhere

Shares of those who moved on, by their next stop.

The Microsoft mafia

57 of the people who left went straight to a founding role, 5% of those who moved on, half of them within a month of leaving. The bars are the ’15 to ’26 classes; earlier founders count in the total.

How long people stay

20%<1y
21%1-2y
31%2-4y
22%4-7y
7%7y+
2y 5m median tenuremiddle half 1y 1m to 4y 2m

1,159 stays with both a start and an end on the record.

Who comes and goes, by year

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
joined left2026 is a partial year

2012 to 2026: 1,767 joined, 1,488 left.

Caliber

84mediantop 10%93
0Eng Scorer caliber, 1,588 scored99

there now 80 moved on 84. The people who left score higher than the people still there.

Titles held here

  1. Software Engineer506
  2. Software Engineer Intern417
  3. Software Engineer II234
  4. Senior Software Engineer129
  5. Software Development Engineer49
  6. Research Intern48
  7. Software Development Engineer Intern41
  8. Explorer Intern36

8 most common titles, by people who held them.

First job on the record for 19% of people here.

Behind the median

Everyone here with an Eng Scorer read, placed in their caliber tier.

  • 6%Exceptional92 people
  • 24%Strong381 people
  • 45%Solid710 people
  • 24%Emerging380 people
  • 1%Unproven23 people

1,586 of the 1,588 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.

Exceptional and strong are the top two of the five tiers. 473 of the 1,586 people here with a read sit in them, 30%. A tier is the band an Eng Scorer caliber score falls in, so this is the same measurement as the median on the caliber card, opened up.

Whether a title rose here

The level of the first title recorded here, against the last.

34%Titles that rose409 of 1,190 classified people

  • 34%Rose409 people
  • 62%Stayed level739 people
  • 4%Fell42 people

1,190 of the 1,588 people here had a title that could be placed on the ladder before and after.

A title rose when the last title recorded here sits higher on the ladder than the first; for someone who recorded one title here and then left, it is measured against the first title of their next role. The ladder runs intern, junior, mid, senior, staff or manager, principal, director, VP, then founder or C-level. A title that matches no rung is left out rather than guessed, and product, program and project managers are left out entirely, being a different ladder. That leaves 1,190 of the 1,588 people here classified, and it leans towards people who have left: someone still here on a single recorded title has nothing to be measured against.

Where they studied

  1. Stanford8.9%
  2. UC Berkeley8.4%
  3. Carnegie Mellon6.0%
  4. MIT4.9%
  5. Georgia Tech4.0%
  6. UIUC3.6%
  7. University of Washington3.6%
  8. University of Maryland2.8%

The 8 most listed schools among the 1,575 people here with a school on file.

Of the 1,575 people here with a school on file, 140 list Stanford, 133 list UC Berkeley and 94 list Carnegie Mellon. A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.

Public work

one square is one in a hundred
40%have a public GitHub account on their profile

635 of the 1,586 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts. An account the check did not find reads the same as no account, so this is a floor rather than a census.

Across the 325 companies on the map that can show this figure, the median is 38%.

Where they are now

44% of the people who have worked at Microsoft and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 47% of everyone on the map.

Microsoft
Everyone on the map
  • 44%SF Bay Area701 · map 47%
  • 32%New York511 · map 33%
  • 11%Seattle180 · map 3%
  • 4%Washington DC71 · map 7%
  • 4%Los Angeles59 · map 6%
  • 0.3%Atlanta5 · map 0.1%
  • 0.3%Boston4 · map 0.4%
  • 0.2%Denver3 · map 0.2%
  • 3%Somewhere else52

1,586 of the 1,588 people who worked at Microsoft list a location, and every share here is over those 1,586.

Where they live now, from the profile as it reads today, not where they sat while they worked at Microsoft: a metro here does not mean the company has an office in it. The lower strip is the same metros across the whole map, for comparison.

Key facts

  • 1,588 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at Microsoft: 351 are there now and 1,237 have moved on.
  • The most common next employer after Microsoft is Meta (127 people, 10% of recorded departures), followed by Google and Palantir Technologies.
  • The most common previous employer before Microsoft is Amazon (64 people), followed by Google and Meta.
  • The median tenure at Microsoft is 2y 5m (middle half 1y 1m to 4y 2m).
  • Of those who moved on from Microsoft, 5% went on to a founder title, 14% joined a company with 200 or fewer people, and 25% joined a company with 10,000 or more.
  • The median Eng Scorer caliber of people who have worked at Microsoft is 84 on the 0 to 99 scale (1,588 scored).
  • The most common title held at Microsoft is Software Engineer, then Software Engineer Intern.
  • Of the 1,575 people here with a school on file, 140 list Stanford (8.9%), then UC Berkeley (133). A person can list more than one school, so these overlap rather than add up.
  • 44% of the 1,586 people here who list a location live in SF Bay Area today, against 47% of everyone on the map. That is where they live now, not the office they sat in while they worked here.
  • 40% of the 1,586 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub account on it.
  • Of the 1,190 people here whose title could be placed on a ladder both before and after, 409 rose, 739 stayed level and 42 fell.

About this data: built from 144,786 jobs across 26,572 engineers in the Zelcast network and Eng Scorer reads, updated August 20, 2026. A move counts when the next role starts within 24 months of leaving; companies with fewer than 20 people on the map are not shown, and destinations with fewer than 3 people are folded into the totals. Caliber is the Eng Scorer score.

Worked at Microsoft? See how your profile reads to a startup hiring manager, and where it ranks among 26,572 engineers.

Previous on the mapAmazonNo. 3 by people · 2,533 on the mapNext on the mapPalantir TechnologiesNo. 5 by people · 1,422 on the map

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