October is almost here and we will have many new visa employees joining the Microsoft ranks.  Such an exciting time of year!  New employees who have had a Microsoft dream for years and it is about to come true!  Sometimes, I feel like the Jobs Fairy sprinkling my MS Jobs Pixy Dust wherever I go!

So much as been published and talked about where immigration is concerned.  While the numbers are being discussed and there is talk about how it will all impact our economy… it sometimes seems that we forget there are actual living and breathing human beings with dreams, goals and career aspirations that are being heavily affected.  I would like you to meet one of those soon-to-be new employees.

Meet Stephen Vanterpool.  Stephen hails from the British Virgin Islands and actually did a contractor assignment before being offered a FTE position (so he has a pretty good idea of what he has gotten himself into).  His hiring process was a bit rocky – but we worked through it together and now he is about to arrive!  If working at Microsoft is something you really want – Stephen is a perfect example that persistence pays off!

Almost There (Getting a Job at Microsoft)

Well, the time is drawing near. In under two weeks, I will be back in Redmond, but this time as an official blue badge!

It has been quite the journey, and I thought I'd provide a little write-up for anyone attempting to make the same trip. Please excuse me if it gets a little lengthy, it's a story that I'm very excited about.

Almost a year ago I moved out to Redmond to start working as a contractor (orange badge) on the Windows Live Custom Domains team.

I spent the first few months marveling at my new surroundings. The creative energy, the passion that most people showed for their jobs was a new phenomenon for me. Realizing that I wanted to stick around awhile longer than being a contractor would allow, I decided to apply for a full time spot.

I went over to the Microsoft Careers site and applied for a position. After a few weeks of no luck, I was somewhat disheartened, and that's when I got a call from Angela. From the beginning, she was extremely friendly and that did much to allay most of the nervousness I was feeling. She conducted my phone screen , and after I passed she arranged for my in-person interviews.

The morning of the interview loop, I met up with Angela in person and she briefed me on the process, giving me a few tips on how to handle myself. The one that stuck with me the most was this(and I'm heavily paraphrasing):

Before you do ANYTHING in an interview, take a moment to think about it. Don't be afraid to ask questions to make sure you grasp the task at hand. And when you do start on it, make sure you narrate your thought process. How you think is often more important than specifically what you know (That said, don't go in to a coding interview not knowing what a compiler is).

This advice turned out to be invaluable as I went through a day of increasingly challenging interviews. Angela IM'd me early the next morning to let me know that the team wanted to hire me! I was (and still am) on top of the world. As a child I'd often said "Some day I'll work at Microsoft!", in much the same way that most other kids said "I wanna be an astronaut!". So, I could barely contain myself when it began to actually happen.

Over the next few weeks, Angela was my advocate. She worked hard to make sure I received the offer letter, and helped navigate some fairly obscure immigration and relocation issues. In the end, Microsoft helped me move out of my current apartment, stored my stuff, flew me home and back, and when I return to the US in a few weeks, they will put me up until I find my own place, and THEN move all my stuff back in. Truly amazing from my point of view, or maybe I'm just easily impressed....

What I liked about the whole process was that I really got the impression that my needs mattered.  It may sound cliche, but I truly got the feeling that Angela and her team really cared about me, and making my hiring experience an extremely positive one.

There are areas that need improving, however. The major one that comes to mind is the immigration process.  I heard many times that immigration can be a hold up for new employees.  Personally, I found it hard to work through the times when it was difficult to get advice on important issues such as the steps necessary for getting my H1-B visa  Finally, someone was able to take control of my case and got things sorted out. I really hope that improvements regarding immigration can be made in the U.S., as that progression was a low point in an otherwise fantastic (from my point of view) process.

Overall, my experience has been wonderful, and I encourage anyone out there who thinks they have something to offer and is just dying for the chance to really make an impact, APPLY!  You've got nothing to lose.

- Angela

Hello everyone, I am back and excited to share with you a great story about one of our interns who has returned to intern at Microsoft for the second year in a row. Emily will tell you what’s it like to be an SDET and a PM, and will share her experiences as a returning intern on campus. We are all very proud to have her back on campus! 

Emily, please start by telling us a bit about yourself.

Well, I am an incoming senior in Math/Computer Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. I love the outdoors (hiking, cycling, kayaking), music (violin, piano), computers, and shopping. I may not appear to be the typical “techie nerd,” but one of the great things about Microsoft is how diverse it is. There are so many great people with such a variety of interests, that it’s easy to find someone who shares your passion.

Please tell us about your first contact with Microsoft.

My first contact with Microsoft recruiting was at the Engineering Career Fair at UCLA in the winter of 2006. The guys and girls at the booth seemed very friendly, so I decided to talk to one of the employees (who was actually a recent UCLA graduate, as well as a Microsoft employee). I had done some background research about positions available for interns, and Software Design Engineer in Test (SDET) seemed up my alley.

Note to potential interviewees: do your background research! The guy I talked to seemed very impressed that I had taken the time to learn about what the positions are, what Microsoft is looking for, etc. After a mini interview at the fair itself, I had an on campus interview. A week or two after my on-campus, I got an email informing me that Microsoft wanted to fly me out to interview in Redmond!

Can you share some of your experiences about the dreaded Microsoft Interview?

The fly-back interview was very intense, but was also exciting and interesting (the accommodations, food allowance, and rental car weren’t bad either). I went through about 6 hours worth of interviews, filled with everything from coding/technical questions to talking about previous leadership/management experience.

My best interview advice, as cliché as it may sound, is to be yourself. It’s easy to want to project the image that you think Microsoft expects, but in reality, there is such a diverse group of people here, that no predefined mold exists.

I had a great time in some of my interviews when I really got into conversations with my interviewers. Sharing my passions, and learning some of theirs, was not only useful in convincing them to give me a shot at an internship, but also for me to realize that this was the group I wanted to work in.

How was your journey from LA to Seattle?

A few months later, I was up in Redmond. A California native with a love for sunshine and warm weather, I was slightly concerned about what I’d heard about this rainy city up north. Luckily my first summer was filled with sun, and I realized that all of the rain was actually quite useful for keeping everything green. I’m back again this summer for Internship Take 2, and even though the weather hasn’t been perfect, we’ve had our fair share of beautiful days.

 Tell us about your first internship at Microsoft.

My first summer at Microsoft, I worked as an SDET for the AdCenter team, doing performance testing for an ad management platform. Performance testing is challenging but fun, because the job of the perf tester is to break things really badly!

Even though I enjoyed testing, I decided to try out a new role for my second summer. Towards the end of my internship, I went through a round of interviews for a program management position in the same group. The interviews were less focused on technical aspects (since the team I’d been working with already knew my technical skills), and more on creativity, ingenuity, product design, and management skills.

What are you doing this summer at Microsoft?

This summer, I ended up working in the same group, but this time in the PM role. I’ve been working on integrating new advertising technologies and managing existing types of online advertising in an ad management platform. The PM role at Microsoft is great. It’s very challenging and diverse, and gives you a great focus on the customer and business perspective, in addition to technical issues. I’ve worked on everything from programming demo applications, writing performance and functional specifications, to integrating possible business collaborations.

How do you feel about the level of support and guidance you receive here as an intern? Have you leveraged the mentoring program?

The mentoring at Microsoft is phenomenal. My mentors both summers went out of their way to make sure that not only did I amass new technical skills and experiences, but also to really make me feel like part of a team. Throughout the summers I had their support, whether I was struggling in my test analysis or trying to come up with new ideas for my feature. My entire summer, I was never treated like just an intern.

This summer, my mentor even arranged for me to meet with one of her own mentors, another very high-powered woman at Microsoft who had some great advice on negotiation and leadership.

What is the highlight of the intern program for you?

One of the great things about the intern program here at Microsoft is how many other interns you get to interact with. Microsoft has some great events for the interns. We did a sailing excursion out of Seattle, a hiking trip to Mt. Rainier, and even a tech talk with Jay Allard, where all of the interns were given a Zune!

And even beyond the “Microsoft planned” events, there are tons of ways to meet new people. I’d made some great friendships that have extended two summers now. We’ve done everything from road trips to Vancouver, hiking all over the Pacific Northwest, kayaking, to exploring Seattle tourist attractions and nightlife. They even threw me a surprise party for my 21st birthday this summer!

Any last words of wisdom to our readers out there?

All in all, I’ve had two amazing summers. My first piece of advice is for all potential Microsoft interns, do the internship! Seek out interviews, contact your recruiters, and accept your offers! You will have a great summer, that I can promise you. Beyond that, once you’re here, strive to go beyond expectations, and don’t be afraid to fail!

Thanks, Emily! 

- Priya

By Anne Cheng

Interesting fact – our US interns attend 216 different universities and are from 29 different countries.   A great group of interns that are as diverse and varied as the internships they filled.  Being a global company with a global customer base makes it even more important for us to have talent from all around the world to help us create our next generation versions/products.  As promised, I asked a few of our international interns about their experiences – what were their interviews like?  How did it feel to relocate to a new country?  What were some of the things they worked on during their time here? All questions that I receive frequently from candidates around the word interested in our internships. 

In today's post - and the next 2 posts, I'll introduce you to some of our International interns and their thoughts on their experiences ...  Hear from Eugeni from Brazil below, and check back later this week to hear from Ioana from Romania and Bulut from Turkey.

Meet Eugeni from Brazil – Softwre Development Engineer intern within Core File Systems team
   
Q:  Hi, Eugeni.  Thanks for joining us today!  To start, tell us a bit about yourself.

A:  I was born in Moscow, Russia, and lived there until 1996. At that time, my parents changed to Brazil, and I came along.

I get used to programming when I was around 8 years old, when my father bought his first computer (a 286-based laptop, with CGA screen and MS-DOS 3.3). At that time there were almost no possibilities to learn anything about computing in Russia, so I had to learn all by myself. I started with batch files programming, and soon learned Pascal. After that, I learned a couple of other languages, like Basic and C, and since that time I had no doubts about my future profession.

Besides computers, I also have a few hobbies. I like reading, listening to music, martial arts (mainly Tae Kwon Do and Muay Thai), and I also study music since I was 7 years old.
 
Q:  What were your reasons for applying for an internship here?

A:  I guess that the main reason was the curiosity about how the computers really work internally. I always tried to learn everything about computers by myself, but with Microsoft-related products it is quite a challenge :).  Since I started my under-graduation, I was mostly working with Unix and Linux related systems, but I was always curious to find out how Windows work. So probably the chance to understand how Windows really works, and - who knows - maybe even contribute something back were the main reasons.
 
Q:  How were your interviews?  Were they what you expected?  Any tips for future candidates?

A:  The interviews were really interesting - they actually were much more interesting then I was originally expecting. From what I was reading about Microsoft interviews, I was expecting several coding-related questions, but the interviews were much more interesting than that. Of course, there were code questions :), but the whole goal of the interviews - from my point of view - was to see how the candidates would solve unexpected problems.

I mean, the interviewers didn't want the candidates simple to say "ahh, I can use this algorithm with these parameters to solve this problem", but wanted to see how would they solve a completely unknown problem, or how would they behave themselves in front of a new situation.

On my free time, I often program something, just to see if I can solve a difficult computing problem. Thus, I was really enjoying the interviews, because I had the feeling that the interviewers had the same passion about computers, just like me.

The interviews were more interesting for me because I had very limited experience with Microsoft products and whole Windows-related programming styles and techniques. So I tried to solve the problems from a different point of view, and this has resulted in some interesting discussions.
 
Q:  You relocated from Brazil.  How was the relocation process for you?

I relocated from São Carlos, Brazil, a small city near the center of São Paulo state. I did my under-graduation and master degree there, at UFSCar university, and after that I changed to USP university, also in São Carlos, for my PhD.

I guess that the biggest challenge - at least for me - was the distance. When you are working at Microsoft you have plenty of free time, but it is obviously not enough to travel back home for a weekend, or at least once in a few months. So definitely this proves to be a problem - when you have to stay away from you family, and friends, for a long time.

Besides this distance, the relocation was great - everything was scheduled and prepared for me shortly, including the housing, rental car, and during my whole stay in the US I had no complains about the relocation.  Good job guys :).  

Q:  What did you work on in your internship and how were you able to apply your learning from school?

A:  During my internship I worked on NTFS file system. It was really interesting for me because I managed to obtain just the kind of knowledge I wanted (I mean, how the things really work on a low level). NTFS is a huge (or better, really-really HUGE) file system, and it has a LOT of code. And it is also completely different from Linux file systems that I was aware of, so it took me some time to learn how it work.

After few first weeks, however, I was able to understand most of it.  Obviously, I couldn't get to that point without help of my mentor, Daniel Chan, and manager, Neal Christiansen, who helped me greatly and were able to answer any tough question I had.

During my internship, I worked on NTFS performance evaluation and tuning.  We managed to improve the performance of all directory-related operations greatly, and our changes are in Vista and Longhorn server branches right now.

I also had a chance to work with some additional Microsoft teams on a few other projects. It was a really interesting experience, and I don't think that every intern had the chance to work on so many things :).

One thing I learned from my internship is that the education you receive at college is fundamental for each and every job you'll have. Of course, each job requires different techniques and knowledge, but unless you have a solid theory basis (like basic algorithms, data structures, and all sort of "boring" things you learn) you will have a really hard time.

As a clue for future interns - if you think that the concepts and techniques from the decades of 70 and 80, like sorting algorithms, data structures and so on, are useless and you are never going to need them on you job, you really should think again about it :).

I guess I just have to thank my teachers at UFSCar and USP universities, to give me the base to do all the great things. Even while at some points during my graduation I was really thinking that some computing, theory and math classes would be pointless, my stay at Microsoft have proven that I was wrong :).

Q:  What were the top three things you enjoyed about your internship?

A:  1 - The possibility to work on real code, and contribute to a real-world operating system.

2 - The chance work with and learn from really brilliant programmers.

3 - The coffee machines at Microsoft were really good :).

Q:  Is there anything you would change about your experience?

A:  My internship was a really great experience. I managed to learn a LOT, and it definitely was a unique experience.

Thanks, Eugeni! 

Readers, if you have other questions for Eugeni, be sure to leave them in the comments section.

Hope this encourages some of you to apply!  As you can see from my previous post on Microsoft internships, our internships are extremely fun as well!  Let me know in the comments section if you have more questions about our internships.  We have most of our interns here in the summer, but for some of our International candidates, we occasionally will have some off-season opportunities as well.  For more information on our US based internships, including more profiles of previous interns, check out:  http://www.microsoft.com/college/ip_overview.mspx. 

And check back later this week to hear from two more of our international interns!

Anne

By Anne Cheng

On Monday, you met Eugeni, one of our interns from Brazil.  Today, meet Ioana.  And check back later this week to meet Bulut from Turkey!

Meet Ioana from Romania – Current  Software Design Engineer in Test within the Fundamental Test team in Windows

Q:  Hi Ioana.  Tell us a bit about yourself.

A:  I am a student in the 4th year at Computer Science Faculty of University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania. Last year I participated as part of a team to Windows Embedded Student Challenge and our project, Forest Watcher, won the first prize. It was one of the best experiences I had, because I learned a lot about developing a project and about working in a team. We still believe in the idea and we hope that we will implement it someday.
In my free time I like to read, meet my friends or watch a movie with my fiancé.

Q:  What were your reasons for applying for an internship here?

A:  Last year, when I was to Windows Embedded Student Challenge, I had the chance to meet people from Microsoft, to see how things work here and I was really impressed by how professional they were and how friendly. It also seemed like the right place to come if you wanted to get to work with the latest technologies or if you wanted to impact a lot of people with your work.

Q:  How were your interviews – were they what you expected?  Any tips for future candidates?

A:  I had both a telephone interview and then an “in person” interview, which contained both technical and non-technical interview. This way I was able to both prove my technical knowledge and to speak about myself and about the things that I was interested in. I think that during the interview it was important to prove not only the knowledge I had, but the way I was reasoning, the way I got to the answers.

I thought to the interview as to an exam, so I prepared for it, for example by revising the algorithms course I had at faculty. It was a great experience and although I was a little nervous before, when the interview started I relaxed and everything worked fine.

Q:  You relocated from Romania.  How was the relocation process for you?

A:  It was much better than I expected. Microsoft made all the arrangements and all I had to do was to come in my nice new house. I also met a lot of people at Microsoft that came from outside US, so I didn’t feel like a stranger. The only thing that I miss here is my family.

Q:  What are you working on this summer, and how have you been able to apply your learning from school?

A:  My project is to do the testing for an application that will facilitate test automation. This way the tester will only have to record the steps of the testing and he’s (almost) done, instead of having to hard code the steps. It is very interesting, because I get to write testing specifications, which I haven’t done before, and to actually do the testing. I know that my work will impact a lot of people by allowing them to work more efficiently and that makes me really satisfied.

Q:  What are the top three things you enjoyed most about your internship?

A:  I like really much the people I work with. The team is very dynamic and always ready to help you. I also like that at the end of the summer I will be able to say that I had an impact on people and the tools they use. The third thing would be that you learn a lot of things. You get to work with the latest technologies and you experience the new tools before they are released.

Q:  Is there anything you would change about your experience thus far?
A:  I would probably sleep less and go instead to more intern events. There is a lot of fun here this summer and a lot of nice things to do, but the day has, unfortunately, only 24 hours.

I know the feeling.  Thanks, Ioana! 

Like last time, if you have any questions for Ioana or me, please leave comments.  For more information on our US based internships, including more profiles of previous interns, check out the internship section of our college website.  

Anne

By Anne Cheng 

On Monday, we heard from Eugeni, and Wednesday, we spoke with Ioana. Both told us about their internship experiences with Microsoft.

Today is my final installment, and I'm pleased to introduce you to Bulut.

Meet Bulut from Turkey – Currently a Software Design Engineer in Test within Office Operations

Q:  Hi Bulut.  Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions on JobsBlog!  First, tell us a bit about yourself.

A:  I’m undergraduate Computer Science & Engineering student at Sabanci University from Turkey. I have finished my third year and now I’m doing my internship at one Microsoft. I work as an SDET at Internet Platforms and Operations team(IPO) which works under MS Office. I’m the first intern that came from a Turkish University hopefully that would increase in following years. 

Q:  What were your reasons for applying for an internship here?

A:  Having work experience in one of the oldest and biggest software companies in the world seems an eligible answer to me. :) Other then the absolute answer I also haven’t worked outside of my country before. Working in Microsoft for 3 months is really a perfect experience for me to decide if working in US is suitable for me and how would life be that way.

Q:  How were your interviews.  Were they what you expected?  Any tips for future candidates?

A:  Well when I entered the interviews, I knew that there was no interns accepted in the past from Turkey. So I was not worried about the interview I was seeing it as a perfect interview experience as I had nearly none in the past. And I must confess this really helped me a lot, so the first think I can recommend is somehow find a way to be relax, thinking it as an experience worked very nice for me. And as every people entering these interviews says when the interviewer asks you a question ask him/her lots of questions until you are confident that you really know what he/she meant. Explain every possible answer that comes to your mind and every possible solution they usually give small tips and help you to proceed. Try to find an efficient way to solve the problem. After you are done with the algorithm write the code. Then check it if you see a bug say it loud and proud because as long as I see they like to see people who checks their code without  being told. And be sure that you are familier with data types, complexity calculations and testing. It is very possible that they ask you to test the chair you are sitting on.

Q:  You relocated from Turkey.  How was the relocation process for you?

A:  Microsoft really helps a lot in this field. They really helped a lot about Visa (All I had to do was get to US Consulate and apply with dozens of forms  Microsoft had provided ), they send me my airline ticket, arranged the house and rental car. All I had to do was bring my personal items with me to airport take the car and drive home.

Q:  What are you working on this summer and how have you been able to apply your learning from school?

A:  I’m working as a tester in IPO. I write and run tests on an upcoming product. My past experience and education in programming helps a lot in developing test programs and also understanding and testing the developers code. But as there are only few courses related to testing in my school and none of them covered it very deeply I learn lots of things here in internship.

Q:  What are the top three things you've enjoyed most about your internship?

A:  1-Real life work experience in the biggest software company.
2-Real life experience of living in US.
3-Nice salary :)

Q:  Anything you would change about your experience thus far?
A:  I wouldn’t bring towels with me, there are plenty of them here :) (At least I know where my towel is…)

Thanks, Bulut!  If you have questions for Bulut or me, please leave a comment.  For more information on our US based internships, including more profiles of previous interns, check out the internship section of our college website.  

Anne

By: Ginny Cheng

In my last post, I encouraged students that may be hesitant in making Redmond a long-term investment to consider the possibilities of checking out opportunities with Microsoft in other locations (domestic & international) after they’ve been at HQ for a few years.  Then again, many employees end up falling in love with the Emerald City and making it their permanent home, so you never know.

To give a real life example that there are indeed opportunities for employees to explore outside of HQ, I approached my friend, Zeeshan – a former college hire (2002) and a 3x intern from University of Waterloo - for his take on his adventures that led him to Washington, DC.   He also gives some good advice for new hires already at Microsoft! 

Q:  How did you know Microsoft was the right choice for you straight out of college?

A:  I did an internship with Microsoft and loved the diversity of people and technology Microsoft provided.  I was hooked.  I did two more internships and had no doubt I wanted to work for Microsoft fulltime.  To give you an idea of what I mean by diversity of technologies and options, my first internship was as an SDET in Office.  For my next internship, I decided I wanted to do something closer to the end user.  So, I went to mobile devices as an SDET.  I really enjoyed being an SDET, but I really wanted to be an SDE.  So I came back as an SDE for my final internship.  There aren’t very many companies that provide this sort of flexibility.

I started my full-time career at Microsoft as an SDE in mobile devices.  My first team was Office Mobile where I worked on a number of technologies, including the richink control, Excel mobile, Powerpoint mobile and Word mobile.  After that, I transitioned to Outlook Mobile as a Messaging dev lead, where my team owned secure messaging, rights management, out of office assistant, and exchange search. 

After five years in mobile, I wanted to do something different.  Again, this goes to show why I picked Microsoft.  This desire for a change brought me to the Healthcare Solutions team, where I am currently a developer.

Q:  I’ll bet many people do not realize that Microsoft is in the Heathcare Solutions business.   What does your team do?  And, why did you take on this challenge?

A:  My current team is a company Microsoft acquired last year.  We develop an enterprise health platform that aggregates data from all sources in an enterprise (in our case hospitals) for a unified view.  After half a decade with mobile devices, I wanted to do something different.  I had several offers from different teams in Microsoft.  At the end, I liked the fact that Azyxxi was an acquired startup.  I wanted to gain startup experience, as well as help integrate an acquired company.  The team actually has a presence in Bellevue as well, so I didn’t have to move to DC.  It was actually the GM in my previous team who helped me see that DC was a better option.  I am glad she did.

Q:   Students often wonder if there are other development opportunities outside of Redmond, can you tell us what resource you used to do your search?  Did you think it was also about timing?

A:    I used our internal careers website that Microsofties use to find other jobs.  I found several teams outside Microsoft.  There were several positions in California, as well as, a few in Boston.   I was not looking specifically outside Redmond, if I had, then I would have found even more.  I also know several people who work remotely from places other than Redmond.  I don’t think it had anything to do with timing.  The teams I mentioned are all growing and are constantly hiring people. 

Q:  What are the advantages of working in Redmond first? 

A:   Although not necessarily a “must”,  it is true that the experience you gain in Redmond is different from experience outside of Redmond.  But it is also true for different teams in Redmond.  Zune’s culture is very different from that of Office, which itself is different from Mobile. 

You do have more networking opportunities in Redmond. I routinely met people from many different teams, something that’s harder to do now.  However, outside of Redmond, you do interact with different teams in Redmond and do make new contacts.  You just have to stay in touch with them differently (we use Communicator a lot). 

Another disadvantage of starting away from Redmond, is that you won’t get to see other cultures.  Although I worked in mobile devices, I spent enough time with people from other teams (Office, Exchange, Xbox etc) that I also got to understand their cultures.  However, it isn’t that big a disadvantage.

Q:  How did your manager support you in the process of this new position?  How did you find out about this position?

A:   My previous management was bummed that I wanted to leave, but they totally supported my decision.  In fact, I actually brainstormed my options with my previous management, and they helped me pick one.  It was actually my previous GM who nudged me into accepting the DC position, instead of the one in Redmond. 

I heard of this specific team through a friend, but opened jobs are also posted in Microsoft Careers website. 

Q:  Any advice you’d give to future students interviewing with Microsoft?

A:   I have interviewed a lot of college candidates.  A common problem sometimes is that people try to impress their interviewers a little too much.  I went through interviews myself when I was switching teams and can tell you from experience to just be yourself.  Many times there are no right (or wrong) answers to what interviewers are asking.  Just be honest.  

Best interviews are ones where you have candid discussions with the interviewer, giving the interviewer an insight into the candidate.  Worst interviews, therefore, are ones where the interviewer comes out of the interview without really knowing the candidate. Those situations are easy "no-hires".  How can you hire someone you couldn’t really evaluate?  I think this happens when candidates aren’t themselves during the interview. 

In addition, please do prepare. I have seen candidates apply to jobs that specifically ask for a certain skill, and candidates pleading ignorance during interviews.  That doesn’t work.  If you’re applying for a technical role then brush up on technical skills.  Learn a bit about the team, if possible.  Try to understand yourself.  For instance, if asked for a weakness then you should really know what it is. It isn’t impressive to see a candidate spend 5 minutes trying to come up with a personal weakness.  Show your passion (we are all passionate about something).  I found it helpful to interview myself.  I asked myself all sort of questions and I made sure I knew the answers to those questions. 

This doesn’t contradict the honest discussion part I mentioned above.  For instance, an interviewer asked me if I had ideas on Google compete.  I actually did, because I had thought about it.  I was also asked about my business interests, had discussions on management styles, and even personal weaknesses.   I was honest in responding to all of them, but I had done my homework to make sure I did not waste valuable time thinking about my management style. 

A specific advice for technical interviews (a few hints rather).  We don’t really care if you come up with the best algorithm ever written to solve a given problem.  We are more interested in understanding your thought process.  I have seen people shoot themselves by trying to over-optimize after a perfectly good start.  A less optimal solution is better than no solution. 

 Also, do try to understand the problem.  It doesn’t help if the interviewer asked for the integer with most occurrences and your solution returns the number of occurrences instead. 

Finally, test and verify all solutions, even if they are just high-level designs.  It isn’t enough to solve a problem, you also have to prove that your solution is a correct one, and that’s where testing comes in. 

Q:  Any advice you’d give to new hires already at Microsoft?

A:   I actually have three main suggestions:

First, in many ways Microsoft is like college, except you make a ton of money while learning.  I am sure there are other companies out there that provide as many learning opportunities, but I am certain there are very few and far between.  Microsoft has great training resources and mentor programs, and people here really enjoy coaching.   My first advice would be to take full advantage of this. 

Secondly, Microsoft also puts a great deal of emphasis on people’s careers.  However, most people don’t actively think about their own careers, and that is a mistake.  Managing a career is different from just doing a job.  Managing a career means your job should be aligned to your career goals.  Your commitments and achievements should take you closer to your goals.  If what you find yourself doing isn’t doing that, then speak up.  You’ll find that most Microsoft managers are very willing to fix things.  In my experience, a lot of the time, job dissatisfaction comes from lack of communication, rather than lack of willingness of managers to create a better working environment. 

Other than that, just have fun.  Microsoft has a good work hard play harder environment.  We get a lot of discounts for local activities (in Northwest and elsewhere), and I always took advantage of those. 

Q:  Any other interesting thing you'd like to share with us? How do you like DC?  Do you picture yourself going back to Redmond again? 

A:   DC is cool.  A lot of things here are free.  I’ve been hitting museums, the zoo and even some shows, and they’re all free!  It is super hot though (Redmond doesn’t get that hot). It’s 99 today.  However, I do see sun every day, which is nice.  The good metro system is also very nice to have.  It is also a much more culturally and racially diverse area, which makes it exciting for a person like me who enjoys interacting with people from different cultures and backgrounds. 

As for the future, I just got here.  I think I can achieve the next few milestones in my career easily on this team in DC. After doing that, if I find myself looking for a change and if my current team is unable to provide the change, then I’ll look around.  If what appeals to me happens to be in Redmond, then I’ll be in Redmond again .  I do miss Seattle, it’s a really cool city as well.  I am already planning a personal December visit to Seattle.

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*Note to self…don’t forget to bring Ginny a nice gift from DC when visiting Seattle in December.
(OK, I, as in Ginny, wrote that..ha ha) 

- Ginny

Ahh, finally someone asked for it.  I have been contemplating writing this post for quite some time, but I feared it would be too risky.  But after getting the following question, I decided to take the leap:  

“Hey I was wondering if someone could write a blog about when it's appropriate to contact a recruiter and when it's not appropriate to contact a recruiter. Like maybe you could write a top ten list of annoying things you see people do commonly?”

I have surveyed my team and come up with some common complaints.  While I’m happy to say that I don’t have enough complaints for a Top 10 list, here are a few of the top common themes:

• If you are going to reach out to a recruiter, please do your homework.  We get cold-calls from people all the time who found a name on the internet and call up to talk about their career hunt. If you are going to call someone you don’t know, be thoughtful of their time and call them with relevant questions. (This advice goes to recruiters too… there is nothing worse than a cold-caller who doesn’t know a thing about you). 
• Same is true for the internet: while an email is less invasive than a phone call, please customize your letter so that you are contacting “me” and not just a random email address you found.
• Don’t treat your recruiter like they are stupid.  Yes, we know that recruiters are not as technical as engineers, but we want and deserve some respect, just as you do. We are your advocate, not your roadblock- remember it.
• Know when to back off.  Yes, we love persistence, but some people take it too far. It’s a recruiter's job to be polite, so after we tell you a “delicate no” a few times, you should back off.
• Don’t lie.  I have covered this one on the blog before, but I’ll say it again: recruiters can spot lies a mile away.  If you think you have a new one, we promise you that you don’t. It hurts your credibility.
• Are you sick?  This is overwhelmingly common.  People often come to an interview telling you how they are sick, or getting over a cold, or jet-lagged or tired.  While this may often be true, we suspect it is a thinly veiled cover-up for nerves and an early excuse for poor performance.  We understand you may be under-the-weather, but don’t start the day with excuses.  We have heard them before.

I’m ready for the comments to fly about the inappropriate things recruiters do… so go for it.  I’ll summarize the best ones in my next post.

- Jenna

I love announcing the hires that this blog produces, and I have a new one that I am so proud to see become part of the Microsoft Family.

Gabe Wishnie is another product of the coding contest (round #3) .  While he wasn’t crowned the “winner” of the contest, his passion won over the excitement of the team (and the hearts of the recruiters who were rooting him on).  When we paired up his completed coding exercise and resume with his raw potential and guts, we decided he was worth placing a bet on.  So, we flew him here from Canada for the interviews and he aced the process.  Now, he has signed his offer letter and is on his way to join the Windows Live Development Team.

Below, Gabe gives us the unedited “fact” and “fiction” of interviewing at Microsoft.  Thanks Gabe, for all your hard work.  We can't wait for you to start!

FACT: Microsoft wants to know how you think and the process you take to solve a problem. 

If you follow JobsBlog you have probably seen this over and over.  So, how can you prepare for this?  Find questions and begin working through them.  Do not do this with the intent to memorize the answers, but instead use them to enhance your problem-solving skills.  Some good sources of questions I used were Chris Sells’ Web site and old college text books – a great one is Schaum’s Outlines Programming with C++.  I just started flipping through and answering the questions at the end of chapters.

FACT:  Knowing your weaknesses will help you to better prepare for your interview.

I know this one seems obvious, but I think it is one of the most important tips.  If you know your areas of weakness you know exactly where to start your preparation.  The best part is that your recruiter can help you with this.  After your phone screen, ask your recruiter in what areas the hiring manager thought you were weak and focus on them.  One great college text book that I would recommend going back through to brush up on general computer science skills, is Introduction to Algorithms.

FICTION:  You need to know someone at Microsoft or have attended an Ivy League school to get recognized out of the hundreds of thousands of resumes Microsoft receives in a year.

I know this one does not fall under preparation exactly, but I see this in a lot of comments and wanted to mention it.  Take it from me, someone who did not know anyone at Microsoft and did not attend an Ivy League school, you still can get your shot.  If you are already reading JobsBlog you are on the right path.  Besides giving great resume and interview advice it also gives you a perfect avenue to get yourself in a much smaller pool of applicants.  How?  The coding contest is what did it for me.  I was shocked that only 25 people completed this as directed - if I remember the numbers correctly.  These coding contests are your chance to shine regardless of whom you know or your background.  Take advantage of them!

As this is already getting longer then I had intended, I will close with one final thought; have fun.  If you love what you do and the job you are interviewing for let it show.  I guarantee the people that interview do, so prove you will make a great addition to the team by showing your natural enthusiasm.  As for the preparation, work hard at it.  Like anything else you get out what you put in.  After all, when you land that job all the hard work will be worth it.

FICTION: If you do not have the perfect skill set match for the job, then you do not have a chance. 

This one rang especially true for me being a long time C# developer interviewing for a C++ job.  How can you assure the recruiter and eventually the hiring manager that you are the one for the job even if your skills do not exactly match?  Fortunately, this one does not really involve any preparation.

As developers we have a true passion for the industry we work in, let it show.  Let them know you enjoy learning, that you are a quick learner, and basically that you welcome the challenge.  Additionally, to really make it ring true start reading up on the skills you are lacking before the interview and speak to the points you learned to demonstrate you have already started ramping up.

FICTION:  Take your chances; You can make it through your entire interview without getting asked a white board problem.

Actually, this may be true, but from my experience out of my five interviews, I was asked five different white board problems (actually one interview did not have any but another had two).  I knew these would be my akilies heal, so to prepare, I just took those questions mentioned previously and began working them on paper rather on the computer.  You will soon realize that writing code on paper or a white board is a lot harder than it seems.  Fortunately, the more you work through, the easier it starts to get. 

Besides practicing, I highly recommend watching the Mock White Boarding Problem on Channel9.  This gives you the inside scoop of exactly what to expect in a typical white boarding question.

- Jenna