Entries tagged 'your-story'
Three insider tips to becoming a social media rockstar
Matt Bernardy graduated from the University of Washington in 2007 and quickly ascended to the role of Social Media Marketing Manager at Microsoft. Today, he posted an article on The Huffington Post that details his three tips to becoming a social media rockstar.Matt writes:
"As the Social Media Marketing Manager for Windows Digital and Interactive Marketing, my job is to help our marketing and PR teams think about new ways of engaging customers. We do that by integrating elements of social media into nearly every campaign we develop… Microsoft takes social media engagement seriously, and I have a real voice in developing multi-million dollar campaigns. Here are three tips I've learned (sometimes the hard way) that can help give you a leg up:"
Microsoft interns discuss creativity, collaboration & Cirque du Soleil
This summer, Microsoft’s Online Services Division (OSD) held its First Annual Hack Day for interns at Bing, Bing Mobile and MSN. The competition gave teams of interns a single day to collaborate and create a new app.Over forty interns showed up to demonstrate 9 apps. The People’s Choice prize was awarded to Peter Huang, Jessica Leung, Daphne Ezer, Zhiyong “Joe” Xie and Etienne Le Grand for building the Sidecar app.
Below, the team discusses Hack Day, interning at Microsoft and the Sidecar app in their own words.
Interns win top prize for Windows Phone 7 app
Among all sorts of other fun, games, learning, work and play, Microsoft's 2010 Interns had the opportunity to partake in a number of competitions. Entertainment & Devices hosted a competition that pitted the best and the brightest against each other to design the best new Windows Phone 7 app.The 1st place winning team created a new app for the Windows Phone called, "Headliner." Check out video highlights Headliner below and then read on to hear insights from the winning team of José Arriaga Maldonado, Roger Pincombe, Aaron Schultz and Chris Cortes - in their own words.
Microsoft interview study guide: Part II of II
This posting details a candidate´s viewpoint and advice on interviewing with Microsoft. Our guest poster, Joe, has further recorded his insights on his recently relaunched blog My Technical Interview Experience.
In Part I, Joe wrote, "Now that I’ve been through the Microsoft interview (and many just like it), I’m here to present you with what I wished I had: a comprehensive study guide that specifically tells you how to prepare for your recent college graduate / intern SDE or SDET interview at Microsoft."
The following is the second half of Joe's study guide:
Microsoft interview study guide: Part I of II
This posting details a candidate´s viewpoint and advice on interviewing with Microsoft. Our guest poster, Joe, has further recorded his insights on his recently relaunched blog My Technical Interview Experience.
Preparing for the Microsoft interview can be an overwhelming task. You have very little time to study for what seems like an endless amount of material and it can be difficult to determine what information is pertinent and what isn’t.
Back when I was studying for the Microsoft interview, I remember how stressful it was and how I wished there had been some sort of guide that told me exactly how to prepare. Now that I’ve been through the Microsoft interview (and many just like it), I’m here to present you with what I wished I had: a comprehensive study guide that specifically tells you how to prepare for your recent college graduate / intern SDE or SDET interview at Microsoft. I’m confident that if you study for all of the bullet points listed below, you’ll be in good shape for your interview.
Your Story: Interviewing at Microsoft by new hire Thom Mitchell - Part II
Part II: The Day of the Interview (read Part I here)I got to the Microsoft lobby about 10 minutes early. After a somewhat anxious period of waiting in the reception room, I began the interview loop. I ended up interviewing with five people - some were managers, some were peers and some were dotted-line managers with whom I'd be working with as part of a matrixed organization.
All of the interviews were interesting, collegial and detailed. Only one interviewer really grilled me - but that was because I didn't pick up on his copious hints and blew a question. Luckily, he gave me a second chance and I did much better, although not great, with that answer. Except for that one tough question, the day felt more like the interviewers were trying to see if I'd fit into their organization, not wondering whether I could do the job. The presumption seemed to be that if I had made it this far, then I could probably do the job.
Your Story: Interviewing at Microsoft by new hire Thom Mitchell - Part I
Microsoft has a legendary reputation as a difficult place to interview, but a great place to work.Some months back, I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from a Microsoft recruiter requesting an interview for what sounded like an interesting pre-sales position. The next day, the recruiter called me and spent some 30 minutes digging into my background and resume - asking questions and listening to my answers. It felt more like a conversation than a traditional interview. Based on our talk, she scheduled a phone interview with one of the hiring managers for the very next day.
The hiring manager called at the appointed time and we spent approximately an hour going through my background in greater detail. He also focused on trying to understand how I work, my pre-sales experience and how I would interact with other members of a sales org, clients, etc. He asked a few questions about my technical knowledge, but, again, the whole exchange felt closer to a casual conversation than a high-stakes do-or-die interview. He used up very little time telling me about Microsoft, and – when he did discuss the company – he highlighted its opportunities and its responsibilities.
The interview went well enough for me to pass to the next level - the dreaded technical interview.
Three days in the Pacific Northwest: the Microsoft Interview
Recent Microsoft candidate, Aran Donohue, has written about his interview experience for his blog Little Computer Scientist. His story runs from stepping off the plane at Sea-Tac International Airport to taking the red-eye home to Toronto. Aran reflects on everything from his interactions with the Microsoft recruiter to the important suject of coffee in Seattle.As JobsBlog aims to bring you unvarnished insight into Microsoft and the job interview process, we've run the complete, unchanged story below with the good, bad and ugly of his experience.
Aran's story:
I interviewed onsite at Microsoft this week. Here’s an assortment of thoughts and lessons learned, in roughly chronological order.Your story: the Microsoft interview
This posting details a candidate´s experience interviewing with Microsoft. Our guest poster, Joe, has further recorded his insights at his blog My Technical Interview Experience, where he offers advice on how to be successful in the programming technical interview/recruiting process. Take it away, Joe...
Much has been made of how generous Microsoft is to its employees and how it´s consistently ranked as one of the best companies to work for. What a lot of people don’t know is how well Microsoft treats its interview candidates. During my programming job search, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview with many companies. Below, I’ve listed some ways that Microsoft stood out from the rest with its generosity:
Information Sessions
Microsoft information sessions are very well thought out and usually feature 2-3 employees on hand to sell the company and answer questions. Free food is served and at the end of the presentation, expensive prizes like Zunes and Xboxes are raffled off to the audience.Ask the Readers: Dream Job
We talk a lot on this blog about building a solid resume, interviewing well and more as part of getting that dream job at Microsoft. Of course, that dream job looks different to every candidate, so today why not tell us what it looks like to you? What's your Microsoft dream job? Do you have a specific team or product you'd love to work on? Is there a research opportunity here you can't find anywhere else? Or do you just want to code for free soda? :-) Let us know!
