In my last post I mentioned that we would be touring the globe visiting some of our international development centers. Our third stop: Copenhagen, Denmark. Take a moment to find out more about one of the 'Softies that works at this location and what he works on. Some pretty interesting stuff happens on our campuses around the world! For a listing of all of our open development roles in Copenhagen, click here. 
All the best - Anne

‘Softie in Question: Christian Heide Damm
Job title: Development Lead on the Microsoft Dynamics AX team

Christian, can you tell us a little bit about what you do?
I work with a Dynamics AX team, which means that we build the backbone administrative system for many companies; managing their financials, production, inventory, trade and more.

Are most of the roles in Copenhagen in Dynamics or are there a good variety of other roles too?
During my 7 plus years here, I have had 3 significantly different roles on 3 different projects. It is very important to me that I am able to move around in the organization, to try out new roles and be on new projects.

Fortunately, the Development Center in Copenhagen is large and varied enough to allow this; we have 600 people working in at least 4 major projects, so there are plenty of opportunities.

What is it like to work at a subsidiary office instead of Microsoft’s headquarters?
We are a relatively small development center – and that means that you get to know many of your co-workers. We feel closer to each other. You don’t feel lost in the crowd. But you still get to work directly on many projects that impact the world of software.

Are the employees primarily from Denmark or is it a pretty international office?
About half of the employees here are non-Danes, and people come from 44 different countries. The multi-nationalism makes it possible for us to develop products that are good a fit with customers across the world. I also love the stories that people tell about their home countries. It’s funny and educational.

Give us the basics of the Copenhagen campus.
It is located 20 km (12 miles) from Copenhagen. Most people come by car, some come by bike and many use public transportation. There’s frequent train service from Copenhagen, and Microsoft has arranged a shuttle bus from the train station to the campus, so it’s quite convenient.
 
The campus is really nice, with gardens, green areas, a small forest, and a lake. There’s even a large grass field on the campus. It gets used for all sorts of activities, like soccer and Frisbee. It’s almost calming to walk around campus.
 
Microsoft offers a large number of social and sports activities through its “Club Sport & More.” There are activities like wine tasting, golf tournament, SCUBA diving, cinema events, skiing trip, swimming lessons, badminton, running and biking.

Geek in Question: Mark Gillett

Job title: Corporate VP, Skype Engineering & Operations

Here at JobsBlog, we love Skype. And who doesn’t? (except maybe some telecom execs)

We’re really excited that Skype is joining Microsoft, so we reached out to Mark who runs Skype’s Product, Engineering, Site Operations, Service Operations & Business Operations to get a sense of what it’s like to work for one of the world’s hottest and most beloved technologies.

Mark, what personally attracted you to working for Skype?
This is one of the few companies where millions of people use your product every day. But beyond that, we feel like an important part of those peoples’ lives. They use Skype for reasons ranging from ordering a pizza to connecting with loved ones separated by thousands of miles.   

Every day, we hear stories of fathers attending their baby’s birth by Skype, folks seeing weddings of far-flung relatives and people connecting in other ways that we never even imagined here at Skype. 

Why is now an exciting time to work at Skype? 
Over the past two years, we’ve moved from the desktop to be truly multi-platform with the addition of iOS and Android. The next 12 months will see significant growth with development efforts in Windows Phone and Windows 8, which will bring the new, fast and fluid Metro interface to Skype. It’ll also drive our mission of making Skype “Always on and Always Connected” for millions of users.   

We started as a business with a disruptive agenda – voice across the internet that “just works,” and was free for everyone. We care about enabling communications across geography, device and modality.

What are some of the big challenges that engineers will have to solve?
Over the next year, we’ll have a range of cutting-edge technical challenges. These will include exploiting the power of the WindowsRT networking stack, optimizing our group video calling technology for new microprocessors and building notification services that function at hundreds of millions of users of scale.  

How would you summarize the work culture at Skype?
We “live” our product and are a truly international organization, with engineering at scale in Estonia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Russia, London and the US in both Palo Alto and New York.

We’re agile and consumer focused. We aim to make our products and services better every day and get our innovations into our users’ hands as quickly as possible. 

We work in small teams with a high degree of interaction and communication and value commitment, shipping and technical excellence in equal measure.  We want to “move the dial” and find new ways to enhance communications all the time. We want Designers, Program Managers, Developers and Testers alike to be able to link what we do today directly to a better product and better experience for our users – on every platform.

What makes an otherwise qualified candidate an especially great fit for Skype?
We have tens of nationalities in almost as many locations worldwide, so a real interest in and sensitivity to working with a diverse range of people is a big benefit at Skype. 

Experience shipping consumer products and services, particularly at scale, can often give a candidate an edge. The best potential Skype candidates show a real passion and deep interest in their profession often with as much enthusiasm about something outside of work.

Where do you see Skype as a technology in 5 years?
We see Skype continuing to evolve to offer more and better communication – synchronously with audio and video, between groups supported by cloud services and asynchronously with rich video.  We believe people want to do more than just communicate, they want to share experiences. Our challenge is to remove the barriers of hardware, software, network and geography to bring people together.

What do you think Skype most stands to gain from joining Microsoft?
We believe Skype stands to benefit from being a part of the bigger, but passionately product- and engineering-focused business Microsoft has built. Bringing our ideas together will provide our community with more, better products and services over the next few months and years.

By Eugenia Sawa

Watching the nightly news recently got me thinking about the economy, the NBA lockout, and what the players were doing with all of the extra time on their hands. Then I read a story about Tony Parker and how he is playing basketball in Europe for a sum of money much more modest than his regular NBA salary. As part owner of the club he’s playing for he will also get to learn a few things in the management office. I’m not saying he is a hero nor do I know his true motives for playing in Europe, but – I like his attitude.

When the economy of NBA basketball gave him lemons Tony went to Europe to turn his situation into lemonade. He made the decision to keep his skills sharp, play in a different league, and really think outside of the box in an unexpected move.

How does this translate to the regular world? A lot of this holds true in any job search:

1. Look at your skills set and identify your options – Then see if skills translate into a different field. Some of the machine learning and AI software engineers I have worked with have experience in the biomedical field using their same skills but focusing on genetics or biomedical imaging. Just because you aren’t working in the field of your choice doesn’t mean there isn’t another field or area you can utilize your skills. This requires research, curiosity, and the ability to think outside of the box.
2. Don’t limit yourself to jobs in the big leagues – While most people focus on getting jobs with big name companies or startups, keep an open mind to lesser known and perhaps smaller companies where you have more opportunity to be in the game, keeping and possibly even growing your existing skills. You can expand upon your skill set because you will likely get to wear more hats than you’re used to in this type of environment. A developer job in this type of setting may also require you to do testing, budgeting, or release management work. It’s easier to stretch yourself in this type of situation and the opportunity to do so is greater.
3. Don’t let pay deter you from taking a job even if it is short term – I know this might be tough one. You know what you’re worth in the market and until you find that job that will pay you what you consider market value, it doesn’t hurt to work in a job that pays less than you are accustomed. You are using your skills keeping yourself sharp until you find your ideal job. Recruiters often ask about gaps in employment and while it’s not a deal breaker; it speaks volumes when someone keeps themselves busy and keeps their skills marketable. Tony knows this is a short term move in his long career and knows what he might be worth long term, but despite that, he’s working and learning.

So what does all this mean? Make a list of your skills and see if it translates into a different role. It could be one that you have never thought of and may be something you enjoy. Think differently even if it is out of your comfort zone and don’t limit your options. And the best part? You can do all of this while running a continuous job search for “the” job you’re hoping to land either now or in the near future. So go now – play ball!

-Eugenia

Crowds packed Bellevue Square mall this morning as the seventh Microsoft Store (and the first on the company’s home turf) officially opened its doors.

The first 1,000 people into the store received VIP tickets to a Miley Cyrus concert at the store on Saturday. The next 1,000 got two general admission tickets to the show.

And in a surprise move later in the day, Dave Matthews took the stage for a special acoustic performance.

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Dear JobsBlog:
I'm gearing up for an interview with Microsoft. I’m prepared for the technical questions, but want to know what non-technical "soft skills" I should focus on in my interview. Any suggestions?

-Covering All My Bases

Dear Covering All My Bases:
In Part I of my answer, I explained The Three P’s of Microsoft: Passion, Potential and People and I focused specifically on how to convey "Passion" during the hiring process. In Part II, I discussed "Potential.

Today, in my final part of this series, I will talk about "People."

More...

Dear JobsBlog:
I'm gearing up for an interview with Microsoft. I’m prepared for the technical questions, but want to know what non-technical "soft skills" I should focus on in my interview. Any suggestions?

-Covering All My Bases

Dear Covering All My Bases:
In Part I of my answer, I explained The Three P’s of Microsoft: Passion, Potential and People and I focused specifically on how to convey "Passion" during the hiring process.

Today, I want to continue the conversation and discuss "Potential."

More...

‘Softie in Question: Qudsiah Khan

Job title: Software Development Engineer, Windows Web Services

Tell me about the path that brought you to Microsoft.
I was born in Lahore, Pakistan. I studied Computer Science there and then came to the US in 2005 to attend grad school in computer engineering at Purdue.

While completing graduate school, I interned at Google in Mountain View. I worked on the Google Toolbar team.

Did you intend to work for Google after graduation?
I enjoyed interning at Google, but I decided that I wanted to explore other bases and find something different. I wanted to go somewhere that had a lot of great projects to choose from.

I found the best blend of opportunities here at Microsoft.

More...

Dear JobsBlog:
I'm gearing up for an interview with Microsoft. I’m prepared for the technical questions, but want to know what non-technical "soft skills" I should focus on in my interview. Any suggestions?

-Covering All My Bases

Dear Covering All My Bases:
Over the years, I’ve received many variations of this question from job candidates.

I like to think of the answer in terms of The Three P’s of Microsoft: Passion, Potential and People. Hiring teams try to identify these “soft skills” along with the core skills required for the role. Understanding the Three Ps helps candidates make their best case during the interview process to get a “hire recommendation” from the hiring team.

Today, I’ll explain the First P – Passion – and I will follow up on Potential and People in the coming days:

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