Why should I start my career at Microsoft, rather than a startup?
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Why should I start my career at Microsoft, rather than a startup?
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Re: Why should I start my career at Microsoft, rather than a startup?
#2Blog post quotes from a Kevin at Microsoft, making him look like a naive cheerleader:
"On the other hand, choosing Microsoft to launch your career provides nothing but upside.
Don’t believe the hype. I admit I’m biased, but for tech jobs, Microsoft is your best bet."
But it omits Kevin's six reasons why it's nothing but upside, in between these two paras. Good practice would be to show via ellipsis that something was omitted. Better would be to give a more honest argument.
Re: Why should I start my career at Microsoft, rather than a startup?
#3I started my career at Microsoft and don't regret it for a second, but I cannot imagine I'll ever go back. The reasons for going to Microsoft cited in the original article at http://microsoftjobsblog.com/blog/dear-jobsblog-why-should-i... are silly.
I could direct some snark at each bullet point, but they're sufficiently ridiculous that instead I'll give my reasons for not regretting my four years and two days of being a blue badge:
* Brand names are useful: when you're interviewing for your second job, no one will have ever heard of fribble.com (or whatever), but they'll know Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, etc.
* I met a huge number of people in a very short amount of time. The connections I made at Microsoft are still paying off today in terms of friendship, jobs, and intros.
* Relocation benefits are awesome. I grew up and went to school in Minnesota, and when I was hired by Microsoft, they paid for all of my relocation expenses. The odds of finding a startup that can/will do this are probably low.
* You'll be able to appreciate just how green the grass on the other side really is. Seriously: the amount of bureaucracy and political infighting can be stultifying. Understanding what you don't want out of the rest of your career is just as important as knowing what you want, in my opinion.
* "Our career paths provide clear steps for success" is silly, but the odds are that you'll never have a manager in a small company who is invested in growing your skills. Having some structure for a couple years to get this was useful for me.
Edit: one more:
* "Microsoft is getting ready to launch some of the most exciting products you’ve seen yet" is also silly, since the odds of you working on one of the 'cool' projects is incredibly low, but there is a lot to be said for the fact that millions of people will use the software you help create. My work on Visual Studio impacted every single user every day, which is ridiculously cool and humbling.
Re: Why should I start my career at Microsoft, rather than a startup?
#4Blog post quotes from a Kevin at Microsoft, making him look like a naive cheerleader: "On the other hand, choosing Microsoft to launch your career provides nothing but upside. Don’t believe the hype. I admit I’m biased, but for tech jobs, Microsoft is your best bet." But it omits Kevin's six reasons why it's nothing but upside, in between these two paras. Good practice would be to show via ellipsis that something was…
His "reasons" are more naive cheerleading. Frankly, I thought Kevin's post was so vapid that a response was unnecessary.
Re: Why should I start my career at Microsoft, rather than a startup?
#5[deleted]
Re: Why should I start my career at Microsoft, rather than a startup?
#6[deleted]
Re: Why should I start my career at Microsoft, rather than a startup?
#7Interesting. But its silly to try to generalize, folks are different. Some folks do really really well in a big company atmosphere, others don't.
If you want to have an impact on the company, startup is a good bet.
If you want to be sure the company will be around long enough to pay off your student loans, a publicly traded company is a good bet.
If you want to work on something thousands will use, a big company is a good bet.
If you want to explore in a design space, a big company is a good bet.
If you have a vision you want to make real, a startup is a good bet.
If you want to learn what it takes to build a business around a technology a startup is a good bet.
If you want to meet a spouse who is in a similar type of job, a big company is a good bet.
There are so many different things you might consider.
Re: Why should I start my career at Microsoft, rather than a startup?
#8I started my career at Microsoft and don't regret it for a second, but I cannot imagine I'll ever go back. The reasons for going to Microsoft cited in the original article at http://microsoftjobsblog.com/blog/dear-jobsblog-why-should-i... are silly. I could direct some snark at each bullet point, but they're sufficiently ridiculous that instead I'll give my reasons for not regretting my four years and two days of bei…
all of those items (except the last one) are good reasons to work for other large tech companies. They would seem to translate perfectly to working at Amazon, as well.
Re: Why should I start my career at Microsoft, rather than a startup?
#9I started my career at Microsoft and don't regret it for a second, but I cannot imagine I'll ever go back. The reasons for going to Microsoft cited in the original article at http://microsoftjobsblog.com/blog/dear-jobsblog-why-should-i... are silly. I could direct some snark at each bullet point, but they're sufficiently ridiculous that instead I'll give my reasons for not regretting my four years and two days of bei…
all of those items (except the last one) are good reasons to work for other large tech companies. They would seem to translate perfectly to working at Amazon, as well.
as a side note -- I have several friends who work at both Microsoft and Amazon as I live here in Seattle.
My Microsoft friends are A LOT happier -- they have a much more balanced schedule, are not expected to be available on a moments notice and feel much more relaxed at their job. The friends I know at Amazon are very rarely off at a normal time, have a lot more pressure from the higher ups and have to regularly take high quantities of "on call" work.
Re: Why should I start my career at Microsoft, rather than a startup?
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
all of those items (except the last one) are good reasons to work for other large tech companies. They would seem to translate perfectly to working at Amazon, as well.
as a side note -- I have several friends who work at both Microsoft and Amazon as I live here in Seattle. My Microsoft friends are A LOT happier -- they have a much more balanced schedule, are not expected to be available on a moments notice and feel much more relaxed at their job. The friends I know at Amazon are very rarely off at a normal time, have a lot more pressure from the higher ups and have to regularly tak…
I'm here in Seattle and my limited experience with Amazonians and Microsofties matches yours, though I think it matters more what group you wind up working with as much as anything. There may be great groups to work for at Amazon, but I sure haven't heard of any of them.