Dear JobsBlog: What makes Microsoft unique?
By: The JobsBloggers
As a Microsoft recruiter, I’m often asked this question when I’m traveling to campus. In my post today, I’ll share how I typically respond.
It’s hard to describe the “Microsoft culture” as a singular thing. With more than 90,000 employees located around the world, each business group and subsidiary will kind of have its own vibe. Within Redmond, there are even different cultures from one building to the next! But if I had to pick a couple of key traits that seem to be consistent across the company, I would point to two similarities:
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We’re passionate about technology. Not just our own technology; Microsofties get excited about the tech they encounter at work, at home and out in the world. My current team frequently sends around interesting articles about the tech industry, and I know lots of people are glued to the live blogs whenever a new product is unveiled, whether it be from Microsoft or any other major player in our industry. (For most employees, we learned about the new Surface along with the rest of the world by following our favorite tech blogs!) We’re not all “techy” in the traditional sense—most of us in non-engineering roles aren’t expected to code or understand what’s going on under the hood—but boy do we love discussing (debating?) the latest tech news.
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We’re self-critical. There’s a good reason that interviewers often ask candidates to talk about a time when they made a bad call. We know that the best way to excel is to identify when things aren’t going well and then turn it around. Why was Windows 7 a complete overhaul of its predecessor, Windows Vista? Why aren’t we selling Zune hardware anymore? Because we know as a company we have to be aware of weaknesses (maybe it was time to start from scratch, or maybe our efforts would be better spent on a different aspect of entertainment) and act on them, or we risk being seen as out of touch. This can lead to tough conversations and decisions. For the record, I love my Zune, but I know the company has to make tradeoffs to stay flexible and focus on products that are great and will sell well.
I hope this gives you a realistic and balanced picture of Microsoft: We are tech-obsessed, we find inspiration in what’s coming next, and we live for self-improvement toward success.
3 Comments
Javier Matamoros said:
I´m sorry but I don´t agree. After 10 years living in Redmond and working 6 as a vendor in MS campus I´m still waiting for the day when a MS employee know how to manipulate an iPhone. Never. They don´t need it, it looks like some weird allergic reaction may come up if they do so. Yes, passionate about technologies but the MS ones, the others are just a probe about the way it shouldn´t be done.
Don´t say that MS guys are self-critical. Excuse me? Are you really working here? There is no more frustrating job that get a "no" as a response when you try to improve THEIR product. The response is always "this will be like this by design" or "no changes are planned" or "this is coming from whatever team, we cannot make any changes".
Venkatesapalani Thangavelu said:
Hi
Through this article - Its wonderful to know - Microsoft knows " What it is & What it got to be " for betterment.
Very nice.
With Regards
Venkatesapalani Thangavelu.
Claus Fjeldgaard said:
Hello jobs blogger
First, my answer to the question of what makes Microsoft unique, it is not only a few things, I will begin by saying, with more than 100,000 people belong to the same basic philosophy, to develop software for the user, and not just to your computer, phone or the new tablet, so when endlig hardware is in place, it's amazing what cooperation in the scale can do and accomplish in rekorttid. And for every day that passes, I become more and more convinced that it faktis is very possible that it is a Microsoft man / woman makes "Techno-project: The automatic refrigerator" finished, so that social and sunhedshjælper here Denmark again again again can be more time to help each and every one of the ældrer or weak who need it.
Now that I'm at the keyboard, I then just say that I still am looking forward to working with you in the near future for Cooperation in Microsoft over the world, therefore also something that is unique advantage of it together can , much more than alone. I can not find a dream position at Microsoft, might have not made the inu, It is with a Microsoft solution that works, it's quite clearly the big reason for me to this day is still not afraid to recommend people to at least try whole gratiis,
Because I know that Microsoft is something unique, and I'm not afraid to shout it as hard as I can when I have listed me behind by people who may face and puttering with his apple, or phone ... Should we write about race?
-Yes, we can.
-FINE I won again :-) Now, do I gain, also can we play a game on occasion.
Hugs from S Claus