What is it like to work at <insert glorious company here>

[KronoLeginaire]

What would it be like to work at Microsoft as a programmer?
Seriouly, would the atmoshpere be like that of the one in Anti-Trust?
Free car for joining?

[Tuf]

I didn't see anti-trust but Microsoft has made more millionaires than anyone. I'm sure if someone was talented and connected enough the perks would be very good. I've been to the M$ "campus" and it looks like it would be a pretty cool place to spend your days. I do think their programmers put in some pretty serious hours.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Quote from Demosthenes in the Q&A 3ish thread, when the question Would you work for M$? was asked:

I know people who'd kill to work there

[Werewolfdaddy]

I would; imagine what it would look like on your resume'.

[Black Ice]

Heck I would settle for just being a janitor there. It all pays good

[Black Ice]

Heck I would settle for just being a janitor there. It all pays good even starting at the bottom

[ryanatalie]

I imagine working at Microsoft to be something straight out of Office Space. I work at Intel and love it. We have all the fun toys.

[Tuf]

That sounds pretty good also!

[Floppyman]

I'd much rather work together with Linus Torvalds than with Bill Gates.

[HAL9000]

I have a cousin that works for Microsoft in Dallas Texas. Pretty high stress job to begin with, he carries a cell phone and a pager with him at all times and the things are constantly going off. On the positive side of things, he's making awesome money, they give him generous amounts of MS stock after every yearly evaluation, and he's looking to retire at age 40 (if I remember correctly, he was only about 30 when he started). His dad is a multi-millionaire corporate farmer, but he says he's making more money than his dad ever saw.

[Alienware_Dude]

Heck, I'd settle for ATI if it paid big bucks!

[Blakhart]

What Floppyman said.

[Demosthenes]

Wow, I always search these forums with my name as the query (that is partly why I sign all my memos), and was surprised to see a hit in a thread for which I never replied. No one has ever really quoted me before. I never thought I said anything worth quoting really. ;)

The cool thing about Microsoft is you get to make your own hours pretty much. It does not matter if it is 9 to 5 or 4 to 12 or whatever. As long as you get your time in, people are happy. But, near the end of production (the so called infamous deathmarches :) ) the programmers pull the old college all-nighters.

The interviews are rough, or so I am told. They do not ask you what you can do, but ask you questions to apply what you know. The questions seem simple, until you think about them, which is a very hard thing to do in an interview since the last thing you want to do is sit and not answer. This, however, is probably what they want you to do and what they look for. If you want a real challenge, you Google warriors should search for "microsoft interview questions". My favorite is the constant memory infinite linked list detector. The answer is kinda tricky, but understanding fully how it works is even more difficult.

Otherwise, remember, Microsoft is no longer an operating system franchise. Linus or Gates is kind of irrelevant if you are not working on Windows, which is just one part of the Microsoft empire. Personally, I kinda want to work for the XBox division, though my game programming skills are next to nil.

Respectfully,

Demosthenes

[old dog]

I wonder if they have any openings for a product tester. Sort of like a real world end user / IDIOT. Thats the job I could qualify for, if I cant screw it up then anyone should be able to use it.
old dog

[KronoLeginaire]

Originally posted by ryanatalie I imagine working at Microsoft to be something straight out of Office Space. I work at Intel and love it. We have all the fun toys.

nah, if it were like office space then some disgruntled worker would have bruned the place down by now.