I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and the randomness ensured that every paragraph stands out on its own.
Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
51–60 of 117 posts
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Facebook, behemoth that it is, is still a startup. We get a little carried away calling every little personal website project a startup and perhaps that's just right for the forum. But don't get tunnel vision. Facebook is a startup.
Then how do we categorize a startup if not by age (Facebook is already 5 years old) and size (hundreds of employees, billions in stock)?
By growth rate. Even a large company could be a startup if it doubles in size in a year.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#53If you consistently deliver what the business needs most, and you do it well, it’s impossible not to get promoted. People tell me this isn’t true, that it’s all about the people you know and about “visibility.” I have no idea how to consistently deliver impactful business results without becoming visible as a side effect. I hate it when developers ask me how to become “more visible.” They hate it when I tell them to…
Unless you're at a non-profit, revenue/sales/profit are what drives the company. If you can duct tape a product that gets me $1B of yearly recurring revenue then I will take that over the cleanest architected product that no one wants to pay for.
In one of my other comments from a different thread I made the point that a lot of developers don't realize that they should understand the business. When you do understand it and the salesperson is in a tizzy about the "wrong thing", you can point out, "actually, that's not the real revenue driver. XYZ is. Why does the customer think ABC is? I'll tell you why, it's because DEF. But by doing XYZ we can deliver ABC in six months time."
I think you'll find when you can talk at the level of business a lot of things become clearer for you and the sales team.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#54...but trust me on the sunscreen.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#55Two things struck me, one kind of minor - a Pentium 66? In 1997 my desktop machine at my new startup job was a Pentium Pro 200. It replaced the SGI Indy R4400 200 from my previous startup job. No offices with doors, though, of course. The other thing was, and I don't mean these questions in a derogatory way, how do you start working for Microsoft in 1997, of all years. And how do you stay there for 12 years running?…
"What kind of startup employee will you be when the only professional environment you have known is Microsoft?"
What do you think they do at MS and what do you think they do at startup companies? Ex-MS people have done places like Zillow, Valve, Fog Creek. And thousands have joined relatively large companies in their early phases, such as Google and Facebook.
Do you honestly believe that devs at Microsoft sit around saying, "Hmm... how can we do nothing today?"
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#56Good ideas are a dime a dozen. Great ideas are usually laughed at. Neither sees the light of day without you taking action. While there were good stories and takeaways from his post, I keep hearing this same mantra coming across so many would-be entrepreneur stories. Why do people doubt themselves so much and not listen to their own ideas?
I think working in a corporation kills that confidence in yourself. It numbs you somehow.
The issue isn't confidence, it's motivation. Ideas are a dime and dozen. Execution on good ideas is what matters. Personally, it seems so blidingly obvious that I wouldn't even think to say it, but clearly for a lot people this seems controversial.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#57Really needs a TL;DR
It was a sort of TL;DR of a 12 years career. Highly condensed wisdom.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
What kind of startup employee will you be when the only professional environment you have known is Microsoft? Good thing he's not going to a startup, he's going to Facebook.
Facebook, behemoth that it is, is still a startup. We get a little carried away calling every little personal website project a startup and perhaps that's just right for the forum. But don't get tunnel vision. Facebook is a startup.
I have trouble with classifying the most visited site in the world as a startup. I don't find that accurate.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#59Once, at a Pizza Hut counter, I noticed that all the pens meant for signing credit card receipts had little flowers attached to their tops. Stuck together in a cup, the bunch of pens looked like a bouquet. I asked the cashier whether this was a new Pizza Hut policy. She said no – she had done it on her own. What would you pay to have her in your company?
Maybe he missed the point? People typically attach things to the end of pens to stop them from getting stolen. Not to make bouquets.
Re: Resignation letter from Microsoft Employee
#60He had me until: "What’s your final level at Microsoft? Please don’t say CEO or Technical Fellow – I can almost guarantee you it’s not." He may be right, but there are some ambitious employees at Microsoft who truly do want to be CEO. If that's what they want, I hope they continue to bust their ass of to achieve it. I really don't like when critics put a cap on someone's future.
I would think that people driven to attain those levels wouldn't listen to advice like that anyway.