The worst thing about Microsoft
* From the translator. I want to draw the attention of all anonymous Hayter, which, alas, is still there, that this article is a translation. Therefore, I am not the author and I am not responsible for the ideas and thoughts written here. And I do not work at Microsoft.
Comments and suggestions please write in lichku. Thank you for understanding.
I have two different answers, but I would like to elaborate on one of them, and the second will be as an addition.
Yes that's right. The worst thing about working at Microsoft is not in the internal culture (this is not quite the case, which is discussed further). And it's not about release cycles or the desire to do everything. The fact is that you have to work in a company that people don’t believe in, despite the crucial role it plays in their lives.
')
I can safely say that most people reading this article are not highly respected by Microsoft. If you ask them to name the most innovative company, they will choose Apple or Google. And they will do it with a confident look on their face, while they themselves sit on a chair made by Microsoft.
Stop! Microsoft makes chairs? No, not directly. But what about the part of this chair? Assembled in a factory that runs software from ... guessed it, Microsoft. Trucked by Microsoft programs, on roads built with Microsoft. If you do not prefer to be hit by a bus, then think about the role Microsoft plays to make your child healthy.
Google’s business model is advertising, Apple’s consumer electronics. Microsoft also produces devices and sells advertising through Bing, so we also have an argument in dispute who is the best in these areas. But we need to understand that we have this argument only because of Microsoft’s technological leadership generations.
But I don’t say that there were no other leaders, and I don’t diminish the role of Apple and Google (I think both companies are doing an interesting job). However, when you talk to most people, at least in the US, many do not even know about the role Microsoft plays in their lives. That, in principle, is not something bad. There are many supporting structures that are almost invisible until you think about them.
But Microsoft is different from these stealth structures, because in fact people know Microsoft and many have negative feelings for it.
I am responsible for our Bing for Schools program. It provides children with devices, teaches them the basics of digital literacy and creates a safe environment where they can practice. And at the moment of launching this program, many of our haters crawled out of their huts with torches and spears roaring “Google! Google! For the sake of interest, look at the comments on the article Verge: Microsoft offers classrooms free Surface RT tablets with ad-free Bing for Schools .
If it was only the opinion of an isolated group of fans, I would understand. Indeed, there is always a place for people who completely refuse to believe that competitors may have some positive achievements. But think about the number of young people who frown at the mention of Microsoft. This is a completely different problem.
And because Microsoft employees go to work every day surrounded by people who refuse to believe that you are doing something innovative, going to work becomes even more painful. Because even if you know that you are working on something that will save someone’s life or make the world better, you also realize that at the moment of release most of the technical community will criticize it without any other reason than Microsoft on the product.
Many people know that when you think bad things about a group of people, these people start working and achieve goals and results much worse. For me, the worst thing about working at Microsoft is that this also applies to the group of people you talk to if you talk about the company.
This leads to my second answer. But fortunately, after 11 months, I still enjoy coming to work. I have completed a program that does good things for children. I am delighted with the improvements that colleagues make in the Marketplace, the things that push people forward and higher. You asked about the worst, but every day I feel only the best at work.
Added : Unfortunately, we recently experienced several “worst” days, but they show a good example of what I was trying to explain. So, a professor at Yale Law School conducted a monstrously incomplete study, did not ask for our comment, and wrote an article in a popular blog defaming Bing. Leaving aside the bad research, he concluded that we deliberately manipulate the issue in order to incline the user to our opinion, since he believes that such people work at Microsoft.
His article: Challenging the Bing-It-On Challenge
My answer: Challenging the Challenge to the Bing It On Challenge
From my interview: “People attacked from different aspects, but in my opinion, here you just need to understand that both sides are telling the truth and you just need to look at the experimental design. If you can understand this, see my previous statement. If you cannot do this, then you have to decide who is lying: me or Aires. Because you are accusing not only Microsoft, you personally call me, Matt Vallaert, a liar. People have forgotten that companies are made up of people and allow themselves to publicly express their opinion about Microsoft as a brand. But here I am; I spent a lot of time refuting Aires, which I could spend on Bing for Schools. So if people want to call me a liar, then I can't do anything about it. ”
Every time you try to pin up Microsoft for fun, you distract us from the work that makes the world a better place.
A few notes. I have been working here for only 11 months. I'm still in search of my way and until I was exhausted. I love to work here. Partly because of the excellent bosses, partly because of the privilege of being a white person in an industry driven by white people. And what I want to say can be attributed to almost any large company with which I worked.
As you can see in this discussion , many people believe that their work comes down to good reviews. And as stated in the answer in the first place, it is hard to get a bad review if you do a good job (be it a review from the public or from a colleague). But the main thing is that no matter how bad or unfair these reviews are, they should not affect your feelings or the work that you do. And as soon as this happens, you cease to be a person with whom it is pleasant to work.
The rating system is found in almost every Fortune 500 company. And people constantly complain about it. And I can write a whole post that is not a problem. However, for the current topic, the essence is that as soon as people believe that this is a problem, it becomes extremely unpleasant to work with them.
There is an excellent study in psychology that relates to our subject. Present High / Low vs. Money / Meaning options. You measure how many people are motivated to work for financial reward and how much they believe in a certain deep meaning of work and are motivated by it. Then you look at the performance.
The first results are not surprising. People who have low rates in both parameters are not very successful. And only one Meaning bypasses only Money, which is also quite predictable. But it is surprising that one Meaning bypasses Money plus Meaning. Do you think that the more someone is motivated, the better, and that two factors are better than one? However, it is not.
This is reflected in the fact that people at Microsoft, who love what they do and do not care about the indicators in the rating system, do better than those who constantly think about their results. And with such people it is much more fun to work together.
Think that if we rephrased the question differently: What is the worst thing in life? Now imagine a person who constantly asks this question. Would you like to work with him?
Comments and suggestions please write in lichku. Thank you for understanding.
What's the worst thing about Microsoft?
I have two different answers, but I would like to elaborate on one of them, and the second will be as an addition.
The first thing is the number of people outside Microsoft who doubt the company.
Yes that's right. The worst thing about working at Microsoft is not in the internal culture (this is not quite the case, which is discussed further). And it's not about release cycles or the desire to do everything. The fact is that you have to work in a company that people don’t believe in, despite the crucial role it plays in their lives.
')
I can safely say that most people reading this article are not highly respected by Microsoft. If you ask them to name the most innovative company, they will choose Apple or Google. And they will do it with a confident look on their face, while they themselves sit on a chair made by Microsoft.
Stop! Microsoft makes chairs? No, not directly. But what about the part of this chair? Assembled in a factory that runs software from ... guessed it, Microsoft. Trucked by Microsoft programs, on roads built with Microsoft. If you do not prefer to be hit by a bus, then think about the role Microsoft plays to make your child healthy.
Google’s business model is advertising, Apple’s consumer electronics. Microsoft also produces devices and sells advertising through Bing, so we also have an argument in dispute who is the best in these areas. But we need to understand that we have this argument only because of Microsoft’s technological leadership generations.
But I don’t say that there were no other leaders, and I don’t diminish the role of Apple and Google (I think both companies are doing an interesting job). However, when you talk to most people, at least in the US, many do not even know about the role Microsoft plays in their lives. That, in principle, is not something bad. There are many supporting structures that are almost invisible until you think about them.
But Microsoft is different from these stealth structures, because in fact people know Microsoft and many have negative feelings for it.
I am responsible for our Bing for Schools program. It provides children with devices, teaches them the basics of digital literacy and creates a safe environment where they can practice. And at the moment of launching this program, many of our haters crawled out of their huts with torches and spears roaring “Google! Google! For the sake of interest, look at the comments on the article Verge: Microsoft offers classrooms free Surface RT tablets with ad-free Bing for Schools .
If it was only the opinion of an isolated group of fans, I would understand. Indeed, there is always a place for people who completely refuse to believe that competitors may have some positive achievements. But think about the number of young people who frown at the mention of Microsoft. This is a completely different problem.
And because Microsoft employees go to work every day surrounded by people who refuse to believe that you are doing something innovative, going to work becomes even more painful. Because even if you know that you are working on something that will save someone’s life or make the world better, you also realize that at the moment of release most of the technical community will criticize it without any other reason than Microsoft on the product.
Many people know that when you think bad things about a group of people, these people start working and achieve goals and results much worse. For me, the worst thing about working at Microsoft is that this also applies to the group of people you talk to if you talk about the company.
This leads to my second answer. But fortunately, after 11 months, I still enjoy coming to work. I have completed a program that does good things for children. I am delighted with the improvements that colleagues make in the Marketplace, the things that push people forward and higher. You asked about the worst, but every day I feel only the best at work.
Added : Unfortunately, we recently experienced several “worst” days, but they show a good example of what I was trying to explain. So, a professor at Yale Law School conducted a monstrously incomplete study, did not ask for our comment, and wrote an article in a popular blog defaming Bing. Leaving aside the bad research, he concluded that we deliberately manipulate the issue in order to incline the user to our opinion, since he believes that such people work at Microsoft.
His article: Challenging the Bing-It-On Challenge
My answer: Challenging the Challenge to the Bing It On Challenge
From my interview: “People attacked from different aspects, but in my opinion, here you just need to understand that both sides are telling the truth and you just need to look at the experimental design. If you can understand this, see my previous statement. If you cannot do this, then you have to decide who is lying: me or Aires. Because you are accusing not only Microsoft, you personally call me, Matt Vallaert, a liar. People have forgotten that companies are made up of people and allow themselves to publicly express their opinion about Microsoft as a brand. But here I am; I spent a lot of time refuting Aires, which I could spend on Bing for Schools. So if people want to call me a liar, then I can't do anything about it. ”
Every time you try to pin up Microsoft for fun, you distract us from the work that makes the world a better place.
The second worst thing about Microsoft is working with people who are obsessed with this issue.
A few notes. I have been working here for only 11 months. I'm still in search of my way and until I was exhausted. I love to work here. Partly because of the excellent bosses, partly because of the privilege of being a white person in an industry driven by white people. And what I want to say can be attributed to almost any large company with which I worked.
As you can see in this discussion , many people believe that their work comes down to good reviews. And as stated in the answer in the first place, it is hard to get a bad review if you do a good job (be it a review from the public or from a colleague). But the main thing is that no matter how bad or unfair these reviews are, they should not affect your feelings or the work that you do. And as soon as this happens, you cease to be a person with whom it is pleasant to work.
The rating system is found in almost every Fortune 500 company. And people constantly complain about it. And I can write a whole post that is not a problem. However, for the current topic, the essence is that as soon as people believe that this is a problem, it becomes extremely unpleasant to work with them.
There is an excellent study in psychology that relates to our subject. Present High / Low vs. Money / Meaning options. You measure how many people are motivated to work for financial reward and how much they believe in a certain deep meaning of work and are motivated by it. Then you look at the performance.
The first results are not surprising. People who have low rates in both parameters are not very successful. And only one Meaning bypasses only Money, which is also quite predictable. But it is surprising that one Meaning bypasses Money plus Meaning. Do you think that the more someone is motivated, the better, and that two factors are better than one? However, it is not.
This is reflected in the fact that people at Microsoft, who love what they do and do not care about the indicators in the rating system, do better than those who constantly think about their results. And with such people it is much more fun to work together.
Think that if we rephrased the question differently: What is the worst thing in life? Now imagine a person who constantly asks this question. Would you like to work with him?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/197684/
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