One of the many great things about working for Microsoft is the global presence of the company. Although headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, Microsoft has offices all over the world.

If you want to take your career in an international direction, use your language skills, live and work abroad - we have just about every oppotunity that you can imagine... and then a few more.

I recently had the chance to visit Microsoft Norway's ultra-modern office in Oslo. The office was beautiful, was easy to access with public transportation and everyone I met was as friendly as could be.

Check out my quick video tour of the office, which includes a couple of interviews with Microsoft Norway employees:

More...

By: Ginny Cheng

I received several inquiries from folks that wanted to learn more about the Microsoft Mac Business Unit (MacBU) -- which is growing in both the Redmond, WA and our Mountain View, CA office. 

Mick Foley is one of the Development Leads in the CA office and was kind enough to answer some of the most common questions they get about this group. 

For example, a lot of people ask, “Microsoft has a Mac business group?”

Mick:  Depending on when and how you measure it, Microsoft is either the largest or second largest third party vendors for Mac platform (vs. Adobe). People are often surprised that Microsoft has a Mac Business Unit. Ironically, most Mac people are very aware of Microsoft on the Mac: Office is one of the best selling and therefore most common software packages for the Macintosh.

However, many Microsoft employees are completely unaware that we develop and sell software for the Mac. BTW, in addition to Office, we also develop the Mac Messenger IM client and we are currently working on a new version of RDC for Mac – these are both free products that we develop for to meet a need that we see in the Mac market.

What products do you work on within the MacBu?
I am a developer lead on Entourage. Entourage is the Email/Calendar/Contacts/Exchange client that is shipped as part of Mac Office (along with Word, Excel and PowerPoint). While we are not a part of Outlook, we cover many of the same areas and occupy the same “spot” in the suite. The developer lead role involves both coding and management – I spend about 1/2 of my time in each role.

Do you have to have experience with Mac to excel in this group?
Absolutely not! Of the five people who report to me, only one had significant Mac experience before coming to the MacBU. The MacOS continues to change quite rapidly – in the last 6 years Apple has moved to an entirely rewritten OS (Mac OS X), revised 6 times (10.0 to 10.5) and changed processors (PowerPC to Intel) – even people with years of Mac experience are learning new things all the time. We’re looking for people who can learn quickly, solve hard problems, and work well in cross functional (dev, test, product management) teams. Much of our code is written in C++ so experience there helps, but like Mac specific experience we’re more interested in more general problem solving.

Can you tell me about the growth in this group?  Is it like a start-up?
We are definitely in a hiring phase right now. We are about to ship Office 2008 and we are starting to plan for the next version. As we look at the work we want to do and the time that we have to do it, it is clear that we need to expand. In terms of culture, I think that we have a mix of smaller company focus – being on the Mac makes us somewhat different – but large company resources. We are very much a team culture – working at the MacBU is very much about working with others: both with those who share your role and across disciplines.

Do you guys focus on different features in Redmond vs. Mountain View?
The Mac Office suite consists of four products: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage. Word and Excel (and Messenger!) are developed in Redmond and PowerPoint and Entourage are developed in Silicon Valley. There is a fair amount of shared code that is developed by teams in both locations. In general, we see ourselves as one group, split over two locations – not two groups that happen to ship together.

What’s your vision of the MacBu 5 years from now?
We will certainly still be developing and shipping Mac Office – it’s an important and profitable business for Microsoft. However, I think that the nature and scope of the Office suite will continue to evolve and grow. Personally, I expect that we will be looking at more and more collaborative scenarios to enable teams to work together. I also think that we may be developing and shipping other products that complement the Mac Office scenarios. In terms of the code, I see us continuing to integrate newer Apple and Microsoft technologies to both improve existing functionality and to enable new features to solve new problems.

Do you have any tips for people that end up interviewing for this team?

1. Get a good night’s sleep – come in fresh and ready to think.
   
2. Be prepared for technical problems – we do ask them. However, looking on the Internet for questions and answers won’t help – we avoid asking the ones that are up there, especially the abstract logic questions. Rather, be prepared to discuss and code problems on a whiteboard relating to real code and problems that we have seen in our code.
   
3. If you’re a college student, think about what you are interested in learning from us about where/how/why we work at Microsoft. What position you take after school is a key decision in your life – it will affect where you live, who you are spending time with and what you are doing for many of your waking hours. Make sure that you get the info you need to make the right decision for you.

Lastly, tell us about yourself. How did you end up with Microsoft? 
I’ve been at Microsoft for almost 5 years – I joined when Microsoft acquired a Virtual PC from Connectix (small (~120 people) company). Virtual PC was a virtualization package that enabled Mac users to run Windows software on their Macs. I moved into the dev lead role on Entourage about 2 years ago. In all honesty, I had never really considered coming to Microsoft – I’ve been programming the Mac for many years, so Microsoft was not exactly on my radar. I have to say that I was initially very surprised by the passion for software and customers that I see here at Microsoft. This passion and Microsoft’s dedication to its employees makes it truly one of the great places to work today.

Prior to Microsoft and Connectix, I worked in the game/educational software industry. In my 10 years, I worked for Maixs (now part of Electronic Arts) including work on SimCity and SimCity 2000, Presage (a small game studio) and Lucas Learning (educational software in the Star Wars world...). While working in the game space was often quite fun – the artists and sound people are great – the nature of the gaming business keeps budgets low and schedules insane. Leaving games in 2000 to go to Connectix, I found that the projects are just as interesting, the pay is better and the schedules allow a life outside of work. I think that the most surprising thing for me when I got into non-game software is that features that get cut can return in a future version. For the most part games, even sequels, are complete rewrites so if a feature is cut, it is gone for good.

Thanks, Mick! That was very interesting.

To check out available positions with the MacBU, go to Microsoft.com/careers site. If you’re a college student, contact your school recruiter instead.

 - Ginny

As many of you know, the holy month of Ramadan was recently celebrated around the world.  And, I was invited to a Iftar dinner party in the Building 34 Café on Microsoft's Redmond campus.  I was flattered by the invitation and definitely made it a point to be there in person to learn about this tradition.  

I went to the event with one of my very close friends, Heidi. What we saw amazed us in the most pleasant way. Café 34 was packed with over 700 people from across the company, it was a very diverse group of people from different parts of the world. Some of them, just as curious as we were, came to learn more and connect with peers. We were greeted by smiling volunteers who welcomed us and offered sweet dates and sweet drinks. They told us that they typically break the fast at the end of the day with something sweet.

As we took a seat in the cafe, we noticed that each table was filled with lots of appetizers and also had a brochure with the agenda for the evening.  On the agenda, I saw that Lisa Brummel (Senior Vice President of Human Resources) was the guest of honor and the Keynote speaker.  I also saw that Sophia Salim was going to do a presentation on the tradition and celebration of Ramadan. I was so filled with emotion when I saw Sophia’s name, because one year ago, I was Sophia’s recruiter and we hired her during one of the Dubai recruiting trips. It was great to see Sophia become a part of the MS family, going up on the stage and presenting to a crowd of 700 people...and in front of Lisa!

I also met with so many of my hires (folks that we hired on my international recruiting trips) who are all great friends now.  I  was delighted to see them all displaying their leadership skills and organizational capabilities. I met with Ikram, Murad, Burhan, Mian Fahim, and Sufian to name a few.

In addition, I would like to mention two more names here: Asad and Salman, who were on the forefront of organizing this event.  I would like to personally thank them and congratulate them on pulling off such a successful event of this magnitude, based entirely on volunteering efforts. I approached them to see if they would like to do a short interview about the event for Jobsblog, and they were excited and very willing to give us some of their time.

Asad is a Senior Program Manager with MS Business Services Online Group, which is defining the Software as Service platform for the key enterprise services. He joined MS about two years ago. Salman is an SDET  in Exchange Front End Server team. He has been working at MS for over 5 years now working primarily on the active sync protocol. Both Asad and Salman are associated with multiple DAC aliases and work with a bunch of volunteer efforts 

I started off by asking Asad and Salman to give us an idea of how this whole thing began.
Asad: The idea was to promote diversity, cultural awareness, and interaction among various groups at Microsoft. Hence, promoting harmony and tolerance among various cultures and ethnic groups at MS, making it a great place to work. Events such as these make Microsoft not only serve as a successful business model, but a great model of harmony and tolerance among a very diverse set of people.  Salman chimed in by adding: “For me it was more about providing a platform where mutual learning could occur”.

Is this the first time we are doing this event at Microsoft?
Actually, we started the tradition last year. It all started out at the grassroots level. We came together as a volunteer group of about 10-12 people. We met several times to plan the event, and launched a massive poster campaign in all kitchens, on all floors of all MS buildings. We served food from 6 different restaurants, covering all corners of the world. Last year, about 400 people attended. This year the attendance almost doubled and we had more than 700 people attend, about 60% of which do not practice Ramadan.

I almost know the answer to this question, but would still love to hear from you… what’s the feedback been like?
The feedback has been nothing short of outstanding all around the company.  People not just enjoyed the food from all over the world, but they had a genuine interest in learning more about the Muslim tradition of fasting in the month of Ramadan. I think 700 MS employees taking their time off in the evening, sitting through the presentations, and joining us for Iftar and dinner is a moving story in itself. We had a video presentation, followed by Iftar (traditional breaking of fast at sunset) and a couple of short personal presentations explaining the philosophy and the mechanics of the tradition of Ramadan, followed by dinner.

What is your long term vision around this?
We would like to continue this tradition, and hopefully we will see it grow into an even bigger event. Lisa Brummel, SR  VP - Human Resources, has been very supportive and graciously accepted to be the chief guest for the second year in a row. Lisa has been a great source of encouragement and support to all of us, and it speaks volumes of Microsoft’s commitment to diversity and making it a better workplace for people with different religions, national origins, and cultural and social backgrounds. Promoting diversity and harmony is an ongoing effort.

How much work is it to pull-off an event like this?
A lot of work. It took the volunteer team more than a month of planning and execution that resulted in such a successful event. We met 6 times during this time, going over every minute detail of the event. Hosting 700 people entirely by volunteers, takes a lot of planning and effort. This included preparing presentations, editing video presentations, coordinating logistics and making sure we had an elaborate menu with food from almost every continent.

I feel like I can't say enough about how great this event was, to do it justice. It was one of those moments where, once again, I felt proud to be a part of this company.  I feel like we TRULY practice what we say.

In addition, I would like to thank Lisa, on behalf of all the folks who attended. Her presence meant a lot and is definitely a great source of encouragement for all.  I look forward to many more enlightening events like this one in the future.

- Priya

I gotta tell you …  the internet is so weird.  After my last blog post where I stated that Vancouver had “worn me out,” news articles began popping up with my quote.  And the flood of emails followed with more questions around Vancouver and even more comments on my quote.  I never realized that saying your job was tough was newsworthy - but I guess it is.

For most of you who have written to me over the past few weeks wanting a job in Vancouver, I realize I have not replied.  Why?  Because we are not really hiring there yet.  So your emails are currently going in a folder on my computer, where I plan to review them when our Vancouver roles open.

Why the wait?  Well, what I stated before is still true:  We are all busy on-boarding and hiring the people who already committed to Microsoft.  You may not realize that we have people who accepted offers from us in 2006 and are still waiting for a visa.  So Vancouver is a welcome relief, and we are prioritizing finding positions for these people.  After that is complete, we will see some new jobs open.  And when we do, I will post the news here (and open that folder with all the emails!).

But until then, we continue to work away with those people who were already in our process.

So let me give all those reporters a little more to talk about:  it is still tough. Tougher than ever.  And while you are quoting me you can say I love it, too.  I am tired but loving it.

-Jenna

Warning- shameless plug ahead.....

I wanted to let you know about a resume workshop I led on Live Meeting a few weeks ago. If you are interested in learning about some of my favorite do’s and don’ts, then this is a great workshop to watch.  

The main topics in this workshop (it lasts around 50 minutes) are as follows:

1. 3 categories of a strong resume (work experience, education, projects and leadership)
   
2. How to get noticed in a crowd of resumes
   
3. Tips and Tricks

So, log-in and check out my workshop.  It's available online until March 2008.

I have to say it's pretty good.  Well, I am the host...but even if I wasn’t, I would still say it was good. A lot of the content is geared towards college students, but many of the main points cross over nicely to industry candidates. 

If that isn’t enough incentive for you to log in, here is one more reason—you can hear what I sound like!  I used my best radio voice.

- Janelle

You tell me.

This has been an interesting media week for Microsoft. We just launched Halo 3, one of the coolest video games of all time.  And I read in the press about rumored talks between Microsoft and Facebook , one of the COOLEST social networking sites around.  (No idea if the reports are true; I hear the same buzz in the media that you do.)  Anyway, It’s been a cool week.

The reason I ask this is because I was watching a cable news channel yesterday where 3 middle-aged men in business suits were talking about Facebook and Microsoft … and how they thought Microsoft was uncool. They mentioned that Microsoft involvement would ruin Facebook and its reputation of being cool. This made me laugh, since the people talking about Microsoft were about as uncool as they come. But it brought up a more important question--- Is Microsoft cool?

I think it is.  I think there are a ton of great groups that are doing really cool things. Do we advertise those cool things as well as we could? Maybe not.  But do they exist? Yes! I definitely think they do. I know I’ve hired a ton of cool people this year, and I’m not alone in doing so.

What do you think? Are we cool? Are we neutral? Are we getting better? Are we getting worse in the coolness factor?  I’m all ears.

(And apologies for saying cool so much in this post—I wanted to get my point across and couldn’t seem to find a better word.) Maybe hip? Radical?

- Janelle

I am a big sports fan. I love the idea of finding the right combination of the right people with the right abilities to make a winning team.

Working in a large company is very similar to that. A great leader/manager will know when to build people up from within the organization,  teaching them the tools and providing the resources they will need to be successful. A great leader also knows when you need new players on your roster—when it’s time to look outside your own team and draft someone new into a leadership role.

This got me thinking: There was an article in the Wall Street Journal a few days ago, talking about how Steve Ballmer has decided to look outside the Microsoft organization for hiring new managers and top talent. The article talks about bringing in people from other industries, while not upsetting the masses, which many see as a strictly developer culture. 

We have had some great acquisitions from some of our drafts, including COO Kevin Turner, CFO Chris Lidell and Recruiter Extraordinaire Janelle Godfrey (Hey- I wasn’t home grown within MS, so I’m going to say I was an amazing acquisition to the team). 

Seriously though, smart companies need to know when to build people up and when to look elsewhere for talent. I think it’s a smart move on Microsoft’s part to be willing to look outside the organization.

Many employees will say that we should be promoting within. I think we do a lot of promoting within. It's definitely a strong point for working at Microsoft.  However, there has to be a balance. 

In order for an organization to continue to be at the top of its game, you need people who know this place like the back of their hand. You need college hires, you need people with 10+ years of experience working in 10 different groups. But, you also need people who have seen how the other half works, including our competitors and people from other industries.  This balance allows a company to thrive.

Therefore, I think it’s a good thing. I’m glad my company is willing to look elsewhere to hire top people, and I don’t see it as a last ditch effort to make an impact.  I think it’s very strategic.

What do you think?

Are there any superstar players we should hire?  Who are some of the real visionary CEOs/leaders out there that could be added to the Microsoft roster? Should we make any trades?

-Janelle

So Tuesday at 12:01 am the final title in the Halo series was released--- here in Seattle none other than Bill Gates himself, was the first in line to buy his copy.

Thousands of people stood in line all over the world to get their copy of Halo 3, and I would love to know how many sick days were requested on Tuesday.

I have heard good things from this game--- it seems like it was worth the hype.

The Halo craze even touched Harvard University, where some MIT hackers turned this statue of John P. Harvard in Harvard Yard into “Master Chief”- a key Halo character.  The statue was decorated with a Spartan helmet and assault rifle, as well as, a Beaver emblem on the right shoulder.

I heard that this launch is supposed to be bigger than Spiderman 3, bigger than the final Harry Potter book.

What do you think? Was it worth the wait? Did you “skip" school or work  with the Halo 3 Flu?

- Janelle