Why go to work for Microsoft?
As a gift for Christmas, cross-post from my personal and technical blog:
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Many of my readers express in personal correspondence a desire to work for Microsoft, and it is difficult to oppose this — there are good reasons for this. But I am not sure that everyone knows such reasons, and how fair are the reasons they think about themselves. I will not lie, at one time I also decided to go to work for this company and the reasons that I then took into account were only partially correct. Now, having learned what reasons are correct and which are not very, I would like to share them with you.
Usually, choosing Microsoft as a place of work, people are guided by such ideas:
')
1. Become a cool specialist, learn the craft of software development, to be at the "top of the world"
2. Make a career and make a lot of money
3. Find a job in a large stable company, where you can just honestly do your job until retirement
So, let's begin. The first reason is really true. There are very few firms in the world at a level comparable to Microsoft when it comes to developing software. I have friends in many other of these firms, so I have something to compare with. Let's say how much you can learn how to program at IBM I'm not sure, but then you will learn the process of developing software and the "inevitable evil" office policy anywhere else, at least in the computer industry. On the other hand, in Google it is impossible to learn office policy and to a large extent the process, but it will teach you how to program. This, by the way, is a moment that many novice programmers do not understand: it is not enough just to be able to program, you also need to understand the process of developing software. I would not like to study office policy, by the way, but unfortunately it usually comes in the same package as the process. But the process itself - milestones, the release cycle, development methods - this is all very important. So, Microsoft takes a successful "middle ground" - here you can learn how to process, and how to program as anywhere else in the world. No university can give you as much knowledge as a few years on Microsoft.
For this, it is worth going to Microsoft. No fools. By the way, it is good to change the discipline during this time, say, I know all this from the point of view of the developer, and from the point of view of the program manager. But you have learned, you have become so clever and cool, only eggs and mountains are steeper than you ... And even without much irony. Microsoft is really a professional peak, like Everest. And here you are standing on the top - the most tall in the world - alone and you begin to understand that the peak is great, but it is also a dead end. Further the climber does not climb. And start thinking about other goals ...
By the way, a couple of lines above I, of course, slightly sinned against the truth. You are not alone on top. In the case of Mycrofost, this is about seventy thousand people around the world. For IBM and Google, the numbers are also rather big. In general, the top is very thoroughly populated. And here you are standing on Everest, and on the bumps and stones around proudly settled proud mountain goats - animals hardy, strong and agile. They did not climb this mountain, they just live here. And also love places higher. Of course, the hummocks and stones are incomparable with the size of the mountain to which you climbed, but with them are associated small life benefits, such as a noticeably more high salary or bonus.
Of course, not all bumps are occupied by goats. Some still climbed fellow climbers. And such a hummock has a much better atmosphere - there is no fussy butting over career issues, nothing falls on top of you, and the atmosphere itself is far less fragrant. In general, life becomes beautiful and amazing. Well, let's say, for example, a look at the beginning of this blog, when my manager was Sergey Solyanik . If you followed the link to his blog, you should have noticed some oddity, right?
Unfortunately, in order to climb a bumpet-occupied bump you don’t need to be able to hang on your fingers over a precipice or walk on a glacier with hidden cracks and landslides. Your professional climber skills, or programmer there, no longer matter. You need a pair of horns, a hard forehead and the ability to butt. Well, maybe the ability to cooperate with another goat, if the hare jumping to the top seems too terrible to fight with him alone. What is there a hare? We, the goats, and the lion will kill, just to have enough goats. And I must say that so someone, and these guys in life around enough anywhere.
You have already understood that I turned to the topic of the second reason for joining Microsoft? If you want to make a career, then it is better to go to Microsport, learn, and then go to a small company, a startup, or even start a business, if you have the right idea and resources, as a last resort to consulting.
Which leads us to the third reason - a place where you can just honestly do your job for the rest of your life, or at least until retirement. Alas, your peak is not cold Everest, but something like a volcano, and not always dormant. Well, maybe not Saint Helen, but still. Yes, Microsoft is extremely stable as a company and has huge cash reserves, as well as revenues. Even in the worst times after the year 2000, when IBM and Sun were fired by the thousands, there was not a single massive downsizing at Microsoft. The “wizards” and Paul Gram are just delirious, Microsoft is not dead at all, he is very much alive and will remain so for many years and most likely decades. However, with the curves of the bell and other modern management technologies, some of which I have already written, not a single large firm in corporate America is a place where you can just calmly do your job. None Not in any industry. Do not experience such an illusion - it is harmful. And in the software development industry, it is still peppered with outsourcing and work going to India and China. So the third reason is also fake.
Yes, you need to honestly do your job, for this you were hired. But for you, Microsoft should not be a place to work, but a university with a very good scholarship. And if you study at a university, then you need to get a diploma sometime and start looking for a real job. About the present work, see above.
This, of course, if you have no desire to climb on the bumps and butt. But even to butt better in smaller firms - the competition is less, the goats are less experienced, and the foreheads are not so firm. Well, what to do, yes, and this Microsoft also knows how to do better than anyone! In this regard, firms the size of Microsoft - in any industry - it's like the World Cup in butting. It is prestigious, but it is better to practice first in the school team, then in the regional championships, to go to the national level, and then, having gained experience, it is also possible in the world championship. In addition, a jackpot in a startup can be much better than on Microsoft, so if you go to butt at Microsoft, it is only out of sports interest. And most importantly - do not confuse the ability to butt and mountaineering. The error can be fatal, and in that, and in other area! :-)
You may ask, and what is it that I advise you all this, but I myself sit on Microsoft as glued? Well, for starters, I'm still a bit of a “perpetual scholar” in my soul. In addition, the answer is simple: I have one child at the university, and the second comes next year. In America, it is very expensive. Therefore, the next two or three years, I most likely will not twitch. Moreover, there is still something to learn. And then - we'll see. For example, I look at Microsoft Consulting Europe with interest. I must say that Microsoft Europe and Microsoft Russia (the names are inaccurate, but you understand what I mean) are companies with a significantly different culture than the parent company. And to travel all over Western Europe at the expense of a good company and to gain business connections sounds very attractive. And this is only one of the possibilities; I do not exclude others either. Including startups, small fast-growing promising firms, or even your own business, if you have a real idea. Here is such a picture.
-------------------------------
Many of my readers express in personal correspondence a desire to work for Microsoft, and it is difficult to oppose this — there are good reasons for this. But I am not sure that everyone knows such reasons, and how fair are the reasons they think about themselves. I will not lie, at one time I also decided to go to work for this company and the reasons that I then took into account were only partially correct. Now, having learned what reasons are correct and which are not very, I would like to share them with you.
Usually, choosing Microsoft as a place of work, people are guided by such ideas:
')
1. Become a cool specialist, learn the craft of software development, to be at the "top of the world"
2. Make a career and make a lot of money
3. Find a job in a large stable company, where you can just honestly do your job until retirement
So, let's begin. The first reason is really true. There are very few firms in the world at a level comparable to Microsoft when it comes to developing software. I have friends in many other of these firms, so I have something to compare with. Let's say how much you can learn how to program at IBM I'm not sure, but then you will learn the process of developing software and the "inevitable evil" office policy anywhere else, at least in the computer industry. On the other hand, in Google it is impossible to learn office policy and to a large extent the process, but it will teach you how to program. This, by the way, is a moment that many novice programmers do not understand: it is not enough just to be able to program, you also need to understand the process of developing software. I would not like to study office policy, by the way, but unfortunately it usually comes in the same package as the process. But the process itself - milestones, the release cycle, development methods - this is all very important. So, Microsoft takes a successful "middle ground" - here you can learn how to process, and how to program as anywhere else in the world. No university can give you as much knowledge as a few years on Microsoft.
For this, it is worth going to Microsoft. No fools. By the way, it is good to change the discipline during this time, say, I know all this from the point of view of the developer, and from the point of view of the program manager. But you have learned, you have become so clever and cool, only eggs and mountains are steeper than you ... And even without much irony. Microsoft is really a professional peak, like Everest. And here you are standing on the top - the most tall in the world - alone and you begin to understand that the peak is great, but it is also a dead end. Further the climber does not climb. And start thinking about other goals ...
By the way, a couple of lines above I, of course, slightly sinned against the truth. You are not alone on top. In the case of Mycrofost, this is about seventy thousand people around the world. For IBM and Google, the numbers are also rather big. In general, the top is very thoroughly populated. And here you are standing on Everest, and on the bumps and stones around proudly settled proud mountain goats - animals hardy, strong and agile. They did not climb this mountain, they just live here. And also love places higher. Of course, the hummocks and stones are incomparable with the size of the mountain to which you climbed, but with them are associated small life benefits, such as a noticeably more high salary or bonus.
Of course, not all bumps are occupied by goats. Some still climbed fellow climbers. And such a hummock has a much better atmosphere - there is no fussy butting over career issues, nothing falls on top of you, and the atmosphere itself is far less fragrant. In general, life becomes beautiful and amazing. Well, let's say, for example, a look at the beginning of this blog, when my manager was Sergey Solyanik . If you followed the link to his blog, you should have noticed some oddity, right?
Unfortunately, in order to climb a bumpet-occupied bump you don’t need to be able to hang on your fingers over a precipice or walk on a glacier with hidden cracks and landslides. Your professional climber skills, or programmer there, no longer matter. You need a pair of horns, a hard forehead and the ability to butt. Well, maybe the ability to cooperate with another goat, if the hare jumping to the top seems too terrible to fight with him alone. What is there a hare? We, the goats, and the lion will kill, just to have enough goats. And I must say that so someone, and these guys in life around enough anywhere.
You have already understood that I turned to the topic of the second reason for joining Microsoft? If you want to make a career, then it is better to go to Microsport, learn, and then go to a small company, a startup, or even start a business, if you have the right idea and resources, as a last resort to consulting.
Which leads us to the third reason - a place where you can just honestly do your job for the rest of your life, or at least until retirement. Alas, your peak is not cold Everest, but something like a volcano, and not always dormant. Well, maybe not Saint Helen, but still. Yes, Microsoft is extremely stable as a company and has huge cash reserves, as well as revenues. Even in the worst times after the year 2000, when IBM and Sun were fired by the thousands, there was not a single massive downsizing at Microsoft. The “wizards” and Paul Gram are just delirious, Microsoft is not dead at all, he is very much alive and will remain so for many years and most likely decades. However, with the curves of the bell and other modern management technologies, some of which I have already written, not a single large firm in corporate America is a place where you can just calmly do your job. None Not in any industry. Do not experience such an illusion - it is harmful. And in the software development industry, it is still peppered with outsourcing and work going to India and China. So the third reason is also fake.
Yes, you need to honestly do your job, for this you were hired. But for you, Microsoft should not be a place to work, but a university with a very good scholarship. And if you study at a university, then you need to get a diploma sometime and start looking for a real job. About the present work, see above.
This, of course, if you have no desire to climb on the bumps and butt. But even to butt better in smaller firms - the competition is less, the goats are less experienced, and the foreheads are not so firm. Well, what to do, yes, and this Microsoft also knows how to do better than anyone! In this regard, firms the size of Microsoft - in any industry - it's like the World Cup in butting. It is prestigious, but it is better to practice first in the school team, then in the regional championships, to go to the national level, and then, having gained experience, it is also possible in the world championship. In addition, a jackpot in a startup can be much better than on Microsoft, so if you go to butt at Microsoft, it is only out of sports interest. And most importantly - do not confuse the ability to butt and mountaineering. The error can be fatal, and in that, and in other area! :-)
You may ask, and what is it that I advise you all this, but I myself sit on Microsoft as glued? Well, for starters, I'm still a bit of a “perpetual scholar” in my soul. In addition, the answer is simple: I have one child at the university, and the second comes next year. In America, it is very expensive. Therefore, the next two or three years, I most likely will not twitch. Moreover, there is still something to learn. And then - we'll see. For example, I look at Microsoft Consulting Europe with interest. I must say that Microsoft Europe and Microsoft Russia (the names are inaccurate, but you understand what I mean) are companies with a significantly different culture than the parent company. And to travel all over Western Europe at the expense of a good company and to gain business connections sounds very attractive. And this is only one of the possibilities; I do not exclude others either. Including startups, small fast-growing promising firms, or even your own business, if you have a real idea. Here is such a picture.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/18050/
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