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What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

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Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#31

Post by Bajeezus »

syntaxing wrote: post #29

I always thought Microsoft was one of the tech companies with the best work life balance. Is this not the case? Is it because of the gender disparity/sexism? Can any share some insight how it's to work for MS in Mountain View? Is it a bad idea for someone starting a family?

Like any company, it varies quite a bit from team to team, organization to organization. I and most of my engineer friends at MS work 40 hour weeks consistently, but I do know a small handful of people (usually PMs or other non-tech roles) that work 50+ per week.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#32

Post by kerng »

What I would recommend to everyone in their 20s is to get a mentor who has been in the workforce for 30-40+ years.

You will learn and hear invaluable stories on how companies treat employees, how firing works, how being fired is and generally just meaningful information that will put your own present misery into perspective and prepare you for the things to come.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#33

Post by abc_lisper »

kerng wrote: post #32

What I would recommend to everyone in their 20s is to get a mentor who has been in the workforce for 30-40+ years. You will learn and hear invaluable stories on how companies treat employees, how firing works, how being fired is and generally just meaningful information that will put your own present misery into perspective and prepare you for the things to come.

Ahh.. But young people are so much smarter/s

I guess most of young people learn this the hard way, myself included!

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#34

Post by 0x8BADF00D »

stevebmark wrote: post #4

I'm not sure what the takeaways are from this article, if anything concrete. It sounds sad and frustrating that some supposed friends inside the company didn't say goodbye when she was let go, but I guess I don't see that as surprising or noteworthy at a large company. Maybe there's a warning sign to not go all-in on a company, but she doesn't sound remorseful for having done it? I hope she finds satisfying and balan…

The key takeaway is to be wary of cognitive dissonance. She just casually got into an affair at the office, while claiming to want to build a relationship with her existing boyfriend, for example.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#35

Post by kerng »

abc_lisper wrote: post #33
kerng wrote: post #32

What I would recommend to everyone in their 20s is to get a mentor who has been in the workforce for 30-40+ years. You will learn and hear invaluable stories on how companies treat employees, how firing works, how being fired is and generally just meaningful information that will put your own present misery into perspective and prepare you for the things to come.

Ahh.. But young people are so much smarter/s I guess most of young people learn this the hard way, myself included!

One story that stuck with me was how one of my mentors got fired out of the blue at Christmas Eve after being at a well known tech company for 15+ years. Explaining that to your family that day is probably not fun.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#36

Post by shshhdhs »

Waterluvian wrote: post #17
devinmcafee wrote: post #11

I think many young people in tech learn this lesson the hard way. They get excited with all the free food, laundry services, and events that tech jobs offer. They end up spending all of their waking hours at work and work becomes an identity. Then one day something changes and they realize they spent the last N years of their life at work, not building real lasting relationships, pursuing hobbies, dating, etc. It tru…

I learned this a few years into my career and made major changes to adjust it. I've never felt happier and more fulfilled than this last year where my job is a sideshow and my focus and best hours of the day are spent with my family.

That’s great to hear! What changes did you make?

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#37

Post by pinewurst »

PorterDuff wrote: post #12

Lots of fuss and fury about what is basically just another large company. They're not your friends and never will be. Dunno why there's so much surprise here, I guess it's just another youngster hitting the immovable object of the working world. A friend of mine who went and got a job at Microsoft (a rarity in my circle, they don't seem to be heavyweights in the graphics or video world) and made a smart move. His dea…

The Microsoft interview experience remains awful, Satya or not. I’ve tried a few times but with one exception I was treated like dirt every time by recruiters and interviewers.

(Edit) One interviewer blew cigarette smoke in my face, for example. That’s not to say that there aren’t plenty of decent people there.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#38

Post by danmaz74 »

kerng wrote: post #27

I'm not sure what to make of this post. 3.5 years of which 2 years or so are in dedicated program to rotate jobs across the world seems like an amazing deal to kick off a career many would dream of. Not much responsibility but a lot to learn and observe! More objectively reflecting ones own performance and actions might good to understand reasons for what happened. This is business and work, not family and friends. I…

The point IMHO was that this business and work swallowed up all time from family and friendships.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#39

Post by Waterluvian »

shshhdhs wrote: post #36
Waterluvian wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned this a few years into my career and made major changes to adjust it. I've never felt happier and more fulfilled than this last year where my job is a sideshow and my focus and best hours of the day are spent with my family.

That’s great to hear! What changes did you make?

Found a job where I can work from home.

Developed a healthy but firm relationship with my employer that I shall not be available outside office hours.

Hacked away at slack to permanently disable notifications and never show the blue distraction dot. Developed an expectation among the team about my responsiveness via slack or email.

Unlearned from my previous job: installing any work related software on my phone.

Adopted a financial lifestyle that prevents me from being a wage slave. This is the most important part, I think. It means all of the above can never be eroded because I'm not afraid to quit/be fired. This means I can stand by my philosophy.

Re: What I gained, lost and learned while working for Microsoft

#40

Post by idlewords »

jldugger wrote: post #22
ljiljana wrote: post #15

> A few guys working both for Microsoft and Partners were treating me like a cute puppy or telling me they wanted to have sex with me while drunk, but all of it seemed minor and acceptable — I was getting so much in return. jesus, how is this minor and acceptable? i'm a woman in engineering and I can not even imagine having to deal with something like this. Is it that Marketing is that much different? Or am I just lu…

> jesus, how is this minor and acceptable? I suspect working in an Eastern Europe satellite office far more regressive than your typical US west coast office. Not that it makes it either minor or acceptable, just... different.

My cousin works in tech in Poland and I get the impression from her that workplace culture is changing rapidly to a more "international" style where this kind of behavior is not acceptable. Then again, she may not tell me the worst stuff.

I would love to hear from people on the ground about their experience, and whether that's true across other tech workplaces in central and eastern europe.

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