Field Trip: Microsoft's South Lake Union office (Day 1: The Commute)

Posted Nov 16 2009 2:01 AM by the JobsBloggers

So, I'm doing something a little different this week. Normally I keep Microspotting focused on the sexy geeks of Microsoft, but this week I'm obsessing over Microsoft's South Lake Union office -- the new, totally non-Redmond, totally Seattle home of a growing development team. I'm going to work here for the week, and tell you how it goes. Where I usually work, in Redmond. That's a Surface, amidst all those chairs.

Let's get one thing straight: I love my job and I have an easy commute. I catch The Connector one block from my home, and step off the bus across the street from my building at Microsoft's Redmond Campus. I work in an great office with our own Surface to fiddle with and gorgeous graffiti art and people playing Rock Band in the lobby.

...Sweet as the ride and the office may be, there's no denying that I am a Seattleite who commutes 12 miles each way to work at Microsoft's Redmond campus. And there's also no denying that I'm insanely jealous of my colleagues who live in Seattle and get to work at Microsoft ... in Seattle.

So this week I'm crushing out on Microsoft's South Lake Union office. My commute this morning consisted of a 10 minute Metro bus ride. Granted, there was no wifi and the seats weren't as cushy as The Connector, but I was only wifi-less for 10 minutes, and even a geek like me can manage for 10 minutes. I spent my commute chatting with the Space Needle

Once I got off the bus, the Space Needle was all, "OH HELLO THERE! Please allow me to walk with you to work." And so I tootled along down Westlake with the Needle poking its head around buildings saying "O hai. You're totally in Seattle right now. Not Redmond. Did you cross a bridge to get here? ...I didn't think so!"

Then, with a jolly "brrrring-ding-ding!" the South Lake Union trolley (affectionately known around town as the S.L.U.T.) went rumbling by and I was struck by the fact that oh my goodness, if you lived in Seattle's Belltown or Eastlake neighborhoods and worked at the South Lake Union office ... you could totally ride the S.L.U.T. to work.

In other words, South Lake Union has pretty much the best commuting options ever. *sigh* ...I love my job in Redmond and I love The Connector ... but I dream of working at the South Lake Union office.

PS: To all you Seattlites who say you'll never work for Microsoft because of the commute (that was totally me for 10 freaking years!) there are tons of developer jobs open in South Lake Union.

Tomorrow's Field Trip focus: Sniffing around the South Lake Union building and neighborhood.

This is Amir, who you may remember from his Microspotting profile a few months back, chilling out in the lobby of the South Lake Union Microsoft office.

5 Comments

  • George said:

    [*sniff* *sniff* *tear* I so need to visit the SLU offices & work out of there one day. Your post makes it look so appealing to us west siders!

  • Daniele Muscetta said:

    [10 minutes commute? buses with WIFI onboard?

    guys, you are spoiled over there...

    here in Rome it takes an hour.. sometimes nearly two of being stuck in traffic with your car to go ANYWHERE...!

  • Ariel said:

    [Daniele, wifi isn't standard on public transportation here in Seattle -- <a href="http://www.ditii.com/2007/09/06/microsoft-seattle-redmond-bound-wi-fi-enabled-bus-service/" rel="nofollow">it's part of what makes the Connector so special</a>!

    And a 10 minute commute is rare and special in Seattle, too -- for a while, we were the <a href="http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/21902_congestweb.shtml" rel="nofollow">second worst traffic in the nation</a>! It's part of why I'm so jealous of the folks who work in the South Lake Union office -- if you live in-city, the commute to the office is a dreeeeam.

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