1 reader asked us to conduct “employee on the street” interviews with various Microsofties. A few weeks ago, I contacted some employees whom I had a hand in “recruiting” into Microsoft. All joined Microsoft within the last 2 years, work in different divisions of the company, and previously worked at some big name, recognizable companies.
I contacted someone in each of the 4 core technical disciplines, but not surprisingly, the Program Manager never answered my questions. J But the people who did willingly answer the questions are:
Mellie, Development Manager
Samir, Software Development Engineer
Kiran, Software Test Engineer
Vijay, Software Design Engineer in Test
So without further ado, our “Employee on the street” Q&A …
What do you like most about working at Microsoft?
Mellie: The support for innovation, never being satisfied with the status quo, the push to be better, faster, stronger.
Samir: It;s an incredible feeling to work alongside some of the most talented people in the industry, and to contribute to products that have a wide-ranging impact on people around the world.
Kiran: Working with great people. My co-workers are smart, great communicators,
Microsoft Office Home And Business 2010, and creative. I have had opportunities to work at other successful companies. Microsoft has the strongest draw due to the caliber of the people working here.
Vijay: The ocean of learning opportunities and the everyday amazement of ‘How can one company have so many really smart people?!;
What do you like least about working at Microsoft?
Mellie: Today we are not the best at end to end accountability. There are major initiatives underway to drive better accountability so I expect that will change soon.
Samir: Microsoft is enormous—and it is beginning to show signs of problems inherent in large organizations: overhead and delays in communication being the most bothersome.
Kiran: Microsoft is perceived as a monopoly. This stigma sometimes puts me on the defensive. Working for a company that is the target of lawsuits is a bit embarrassing. I dislike that Microsoft is a favorite target because of its history and success
Vijay: Location. I wish we were in Boston. Well… I just tell myself,
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It;s been said before that everyone's first six months at Microsoft is very hard, but after that, you'll either want to leave or could never imagine working anywhere else. In your opinion, is this true?
Mellie: I work in Windows and it is most certainly true in my case . . . because it is such a complex environment, it just takes a while to understand all the moving parts.
Samir: It;s not entirely true that a new hire would either want to leave or couldn;t imagine working anywhere else after being at Microsoft for six months—it;s really not that black-and-white. I think people take into account other factors—foremost among them being whether they can achieve the right balance between their personal and professional lives, opportunities for development on multiple fronts, and exposure to a wide array of technologies—and not too many companies offer that.
Kiran: No, I don't believe this is completely true. The development groups and job roles in Microsoft are very diverse. Some positions may be difficult the first 6 months and others may be more challenging over time. It is probably true that you will know fairly quickly whether you can be a part of the Microsoft culture. However, I doubt anyone will understand everything the company has to offer in just 6 months. The company is large and constantly changing.
Vijay: Yes, the first 6 months were very hard for me, but I haven;t come to any drastic conclusions yet.
Coming from another corporation into Microsoft,
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Mellie: The lack of end to end metrics to help us measure how well we are driving quality and meeting our customer needs.
Samir: Coming from another corporation into Microsoft,
Office 2010 Standard Keygen, there;s been a lot of information I;ve had to process and absorb in a short period of time in order to be effective at my job—it;s like drinking from a fire hose!
Kiran: The biggest adjustment for me has been the challenge of multi-tasking and information consumption. There are many projects, events, and technological changes to keep up with. Microsoft exposes its employees to a lot of information. This has been a difficult but welcomed adjustment.
Vijay: My technical learning curve was pretty steep as I come from a non-Windows background.
It does take more time than usual to make good friends here, partly because everyone is so busy. But if you are patient and open, things fall into place.
What is your typical workday schedule?
Mellie: I work a pretty traditional day 8-5:30 or 6pm. Many people on my team work the 10-7 schedule. I would say that is probably the norm for my group.
Samir: I prefer working during core business hours because doing so enables faster communication and decision-making.
Kiran: The hours are extremely flexible here. I get into work anywhere from 9:30 to 10:30. I leave anywhere from 5 to 9 depending on the day. I work around 45+ hours per week right now. The + is usually email or the occasional remote work from home. I usually do not work weekends except for email. The actual number of hours fluctuates depending on where we are in the product cycle. 60+ hour weeks are pretty common right before ship.
Vijay: 10 AM – 6:30 PM unless there is a meeting at 9 AM.
Scott, I hope that answers some of your questions. If any Microsoft employees want to chime in with their own experiences, please feel free to do so,
Office 2010 Pro Key!! I may write a separate blog entry so I can answer some of these questions from my own perspective.
gretchen
Office 2010 Professional Plus 32 Bit blog employee
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