Windows 7 sale blog what-is-this-thing-we-call-ux

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If I have one bit of advice for you potential recruits, it’s this: be passionate, be persistent, and be patient. You might have the chance to interview and find that you don’t get the job. DO NOT get discouraged. Things are changing here constantly and sometimes you miss an opportunity due to reasons beyond your or anyone else’s control. There’s these things called “Re-Orgs” which can really throw a wrench into your plans, but if it’s meant to happen, you WILL get here.

The Seattle area is absolutely incredible; I don’t think I’d want to live anywhere else. This is truly an AWESOME place to work. Make no mistake, things are not peachy fantastic everywhere, but show me one organization that is.
My first impression was literally a “WOW” moment. I just couldn’t believe how BIG this place is. We have over 40,Windows 7 sale,000 people just while in the Puget Sound area alone.


Now that I've arrived on JobsBlog, I’m going to dig right in and commence showcasing a number of the interesting positions that I’ve encounter at the enterprise. It’s fun for me to get and share the inside scoop about jobs you may have never known about or thought about,Office 2010 Professional Plus, so I’m heading to introduce you to a number of our new employees who have cool jobs and who can help with some questions you might have regarding the interview process, etc… What better way to find out than first-hand from someone who has recently been THROUGH the process?


By Angela McLaughlin

Trust me on this one…I speak from experience. *smile* If you truly are a fit for the enterprise, your recruiter will make sure they find a place for you where your talents will shine. Feel free to ping away with any questions…good luck!


So, let’s get this started…meet Frank Bisono.
UX jobs fall under Software Engineering and as such,Office 2007 Serial, I work closely with a combination of User Researchers, Program Managers, Product Managers and Developers to drive the interaction design process for new and existing applications from initial concept through engineering implementation. Fancy talk for “I figure out how you get from A to Z when using an application so that it makes sense and you don’t pull your hair out trying to use our program.”


You can learn more about what people like me do at MS by checking out which let’s me show you instead of tell you. You could also take a peek at our Expression suite of products which are designed for…designers! *smile*


User Experience is something I was able to get passionate about very quickly. I remember my first call to Frank, introducing myself on the phone and letting him know that I was representing Microsoft and that we were interested in speaking with him. He thought my call to him was a joke that one of his friends put me up to it because he considered himself an ‘Apple’ guy. Getting to know Frank has been quite the ‘experience’ and I'm happy to say that I played a part in changing an “Apple Guy’s” impression of Microsoft.
Angela wasn’t kidding when she said I thought it was a joke. I actually had to ask her if she really READ my resume. I just couldn’t imagine why on earth the Borg was calling when I had Apple stuff plastered all over my resume. It was real…VERY real…and that began a journey which has turned into the most exciting year of my career.


So, heeeeeeeeeeere’s Frank!
If you’re thinking about applying, or are just curious about MS, I highly encourage you to explore the opportunities available here…there are tons of great things to be done.
[Frank]
"Wow, so is this for real? Am I really here?" < me looks at my blue badge to confirm…yep, I drank the Kool-Aid. />
Frank is a seasoned blogger (check out his blog, www.bisonium.com) and a new User Experience (UX) Designer from the Management and Administration eXperience (MAX) team. He finally joined the Microsoft ranks in November 2006, but he and I go WAY back. OK – at least back to Spring 2006! And if anyone could give you great perspective of the candidate experience,Purchase Office 2010, it would be Frank. He indeed has seen it from all angles.


That also involves doing some design work and making it look good. We take the feedback and research we gather from our users to make sure we give the users what they want and what they need to accomplish their job and enjoy using our products while doing that job. All-in-all, I’d say it’s one with the best jobs at Microsoft.
The problems here are the same that any business of this size would have, and I would argue we have fewer issues than most of those companies. And for me, that’s something I can live with given the multitude of other reasons for working here.

So Angela mentioned this ‘UX thing’. A few of you are asking what exactly IS UX? As Angela pointed out, around these parts UX means User Experience. Some other companies call it UE. It’s all the same. I am specifically a UX Designer, which is also known as an Interaction Designer.

This is the only place I know where you have unlimited resources to just about any kind of technology that runs on a computer…and for you Mac folks out there, yes – that means Mac’s too,Buy Office 2010! We have plenty of them and we make more software for the Mac than anyone other than Apple itself. It’s not uncommon to see Mac desktops and notebooks around campus. You can be a Mac geek and work here, it’s perfectly cool.

I originally contacted Frank in Spring 06 when I came up against my first ‘UX’ position. I had heard terms thrown around previous to this such as ‘Usability’, “UE”, etc… but hadn’t had the opportunity to really focus on positions that were totally driven by the user’s experience with products/applications.
The first thing I will say is that Microsoft is NOT what some people think it is. I had some very strong opinions about this place and to be honest, just never imagined that I would work here. As I went through the process with Angela, I figured I had nothing to lose, so I gave her a chance and before I knew it, I was on a plane to Seattle, WA. It wasn’t until I went through a “loop” (an official interview cycle) here that I realized just how wrong I was about Microsoft.
When I finally started my interview process, I was really amazed at not only how smart everyone was around these parts, but how nice everyone was. I figured it was all smoke and mirrors until you got “in”, but five months later, I still hold the same opinion.