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In 8 months at Microsoft, I learned these things

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Re: In 8 months at Microsoft, I learned these things

#231

Post by foobarbazqux »

bproctor wrote: post #228
dap wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have friends in almost all big companies and I discuss them about these issues a lot. Almost all of them agree that they are in a similar situation. Really? You have friends in almost all big companies? There's a lot of truth in the points you mention, but even in my limited experience (six years at two companies, one very large and one pretty small), it's much more complex than you suggest. Many of these things…

I pretty sure he meant most of his friends work at big companies.

Also there aren't that many tech companies as big as Microsoft, in terms of either market cap or number of employees. Seems pretty easy to have friends at all of them if you were friends with a lot of people in a CS department at college.

Re: In 8 months at Microsoft, I learned these things

#232

Post by marssaxman »

DrJokepu wrote: post #132
kryten wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Joy to the European work ethic. I haven't worked past 5 for the last 10 years. I refuse to do unpaid work and overtime. Would your employer bill you out for free? Nope.

Actually yes, it's called a bonus.

Not worth it.

Re: In 8 months at Microsoft, I learned these things

#233

Post by jimmaswell »

jmduke wrote: post #36
ngoel36 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent two summers interning as a Program Manager at Microsoft (Xbox and Office), and his statements are nearly 100% accurate: - Literally any piece of documentation was always 1+ years out of date. Setting up a dev environment could take days when it should have only taken hours. - A lot of my coworkers were over 35. Starkly different from my experience later at Google. Working past 6 was considered absurd, and a l…

Although things were done differently than they are done in Silicon Valley, the difference is not necessarily bad, perhaps more eye-opening. This is how MOST computer science majors spend their careers. Not mastering MongoDB, collaborating on Google Spreadsheets, or posting things to HN, but using Windows XP, Visual Studio, and Microsoft Word 2003 on a 2008 Lenovo laptop. And MS is perfectly happy taking their money.…

I didn't know ASP.NET was considered something in the same level of winxp or word 2003 at the point - maybe the original ASP. Unless that's not what you were implying.

Re: In 8 months at Microsoft, I learned these things

#234

Post by allenu »

bodegajed wrote: post #221
rmah wrote: post #119

I'm not sure where to start. This is a person at his first job out of college and he's been there for less than a year (two if we're being generous). And yet he has the audacity to say "I learned that one will see this sort of problems in all large scale companies."? Really? This is absurd. I can't wrap my head around the sort of arrogance and myopia that makes a 21 or 22 yr old think that he can describe an entire w…

> I can't wrap my head around the sort of arrogance and myopia that makes a 21 or 22 yr old think that he can describe an entire world from such limited experience. I like him already, If were Microsoft I _will_ hire him asap. He's the type of person who wants to make things better.

Wanting to make things better really isn't enough. You need to be able to make it happen. Writing a blog post to the world from your limited experience that a particular company has problems is cute and probably feels good, but not really helpful to fixing the problem. If he actually explained what he would do to make things better, that would be a start.

Re: In 8 months at Microsoft, I learned these things

#235

Post by mlwarren »

bkurtz13 wrote: post #192
alpb wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey there, author of the post here. I thought I may justify what I said. I have friends in almost all big companies and I discuss them about these issues a lot. Almost all of them agree that they are in a similar situation. I know that even Microsoft is a huge world and NOT all organizations are the same. All organizations have their own culture so there's no common culture in the company I can describe. In a way thi…

I am at the same point in my career as you. My first job out of college was at HP. I must say that everything you mentioned was the case for me too. Now I'm at a smaller company, and my quality of life has improved tremendously.

Ex IBMer here. Spent some time there when I was OPs age and my experience was similar. I'm at a mid-size company and it's better but still not perfect! Nothing is, at least all the time, I assume.

Re: In 8 months at Microsoft, I learned these things

#236

Post by ragsagar »

venomsnake wrote: post #19

Publishing something that HR/PR can consider slander under your real name while being junior developer is not a recipe for stable employment. These guys tend to freak out over minor stuff like that. Lets hope it does not have negative consequences. Otherwise familiar - these companies are like supertankers - move slowly and few people are empowered to make meaningful decisions and contributions. Worked for a few year…

He might be sure that his HR/PR will never look into his blog or read HN or Reddit.

Re: In 8 months at Microsoft, I learned these things

#238

Post by [deleted] »

mathattack wrote: post #3

"I am surprised that no one I met in Windows Azure team heard about Heroku or Rackspace, which are direct competitors. That’s acceptable, not everybody has to know these." WOW! It's one thing to ignore competitors, it's another to not know who they are. I thought (by reputation) that Microsoft was a competitive place. "It’s hard to find a position in corporations matches what you love to do." Seems obvious, but hinds…

[deleted]

Re: In 8 months at Microsoft, I learned these things

#239

Post by adamconroy »

mathattack wrote: post #3

"I am surprised that no one I met in Windows Azure team heard about Heroku or Rackspace, which are direct competitors. That’s acceptable, not everybody has to know these." WOW! It's one thing to ignore competitors, it's another to not know who they are. I thought (by reputation) that Microsoft was a competitive place. "It’s hard to find a position in corporations matches what you love to do." Seems obvious, but hinds…

An alternative explanation is that what he says is not true.

Re: In 8 months at Microsoft, I learned these things

#240

Post by adamconroy »

wreckimnaked wrote: post #210

>I am surprised that no one I met in Windows Azure team heard about Heroku or Rackspace, which are direct competitors. That’s acceptable, not everybody has to know these. Am I the only one that thinks this is completely unacceptable?

You are probably the only one that believes his statement.
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