Microsoft Information Links
I worked at Microsoft for 2 years, from February of 1999 to February of 2001. Ultimately, I fell "victim" to the "rank and yank" system that the company uses, but was no victim. The job that I performed at Microsoft (Technical Account Manager in Premier Support Services) was a bad fit for me. I came to Microsoft from Compaq having previously been very hands on and technical, most recently as an Exchange Consultant. A TAM needs to understand technology but not be hands-on - that's what product support professionals are for. After a while of trying to stretch into a different mode of thinking (customer service through frequent contact and engagement of others), I found myself yearning to be able to solve the problems myself, while at the same time being able to move upward. Unfortunately, I trapped myself into the job, waiting too long to move. Once you've received a string of negative (or in my case average) reviews, you can no longer move within the company. That left me the unpleasant choice of trying to get better at something I didn't enjoy doing, or trying to find a better fit outside Microsoft. I chose the latter, which proved to be full of pitfalls of its own.
Understand that I loved working for Microsoft. Its a terrific company for technologists, and one of the best in the world in my opinion.
General:
- I found this essay about Working at Microsoft, written by Michael Brundage, a developer there.
- An interesting article about Microsoft corporate culture that appeared in the Harvard Computer Society site, Sep 97. "Here Be Dragons", by James Grimmelmann