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I've always heard since the 80's that you could work at MSFT for 7 years even as a janitor or security guard, and become a millionaire, if you were fully vested in the stock options.
Noawadays days all the janitors, Connector drivers, cooks, etc., are not real employees of Microsoft, but are employed by staffing agencies. Same with about 1/2 of the tech workers on campus.
This is a thread to talk what is it like working in Microsoft. Feel free to chip in, guys and gals from MSFT.
Let me just start by saying I'm a 13 years old MSFT veteran. I am still working there but I believe many of us will be layoff very soon. Could be as soon as 2-3 weeks... we will see. There are so many changes nowadays.
I'm a 11 year MSFT veteran that spent my time in the Windows org. I left on my own after Win8 began to try starting a business.
I surely miss the status, the money and 100% insurance coverage. I think the social status was the biggest loss. Now I'm not smart since I don't work for MSFT.
I listened to his internal Q&A session. He gave us the new mission statement and it's totally clear to me that this company is going down, becoming irrelevant. I am actually hoping to get layoff and start a new career path..
Seems like when Gates left his full-time and then part-time role, things went down hill.
During Win8 development when they removed the start menu, it was clear a train reck was imminent. A slow moving, yet massive wreck.
I recall a news article after Win8 shipped quoting a MSFT employee justifying the removal of the start menu. She said it was removed because nobody used it. The telemetry data showed this.
I worked with the telemetry team and this is a completely believable and factual view when only looking at the data. However, its hard to fathom someone could be that naive to think nobody uses the start menu and the telemetry data was accurate.
Seems like when Gates left his full-time and then part-time role, things went down hill.
During Win8 development when they removed the start menu, it was clear a train reck was imminent. A slow moving, yet massive wreck.
I recall a news article after Win8 shipped quoting a MSFT employee justifying the removal of the start menu. She said it was removed because nobody used it. The telemetry data showed this.
I worked with the telemetry team and this is a completely believable and factual view when only looking at the data. However, its hard to fathom someone could be that naive to think nobody uses the start menu and the telemetry data was accurate.
Hi 505HPC6Z05,
Definitely true. MS is becoming a "mission-less" titanic. Big bosses (GMs & above) don't take meaningful risk. Everyone has their own circle of trust & be the Yesman among themselves way to often. No one challenge each other in a constructive way. I guess when most mid-high managers are multi-millionaires already, there's really no point to prove anything anymore. Managers I know closed their office doors, gossiping or spent time shopping for weekend toys more than actually doing the real work. Junior guys (Level 60'ish) work like dogs, don't get me wrong, there are hard working people keeping the engines running, but in reality, we are sailing toward the iceberg and we ain't turning the ship in the right direction. I have heard Sucktya talked many times and none of his **** make any real sense in engineers' terms. How the hell can anyone quantify "achieve more" when the term itself is relative?! And, of course, no one's calling him bluffing yet since he's still in the honeymoon period (CEO probation).
My uncle worked for Microsoft from the late 80s until around 2000 and retired a multimillionaire in his 40s due to stock options. He was just a low-level manager.
Those days are long gone...
They are long gone at Microsoft... but available at other companies.
I worked at Microsoft for a few years. I enjoyed my time there.
And there you go. Glad there is a bit of sunshine.
Otherwise, from previous posts, wondering what exactly was the purpose of this thread again? Venting for a couple complainers, suggesting that the "company is going down?"
I challenge that premise. In my observation, they're pivoting hard and will be just fine if they can continue the transformation of business model AND culture. The latter is non-trivial and equally important for long-term success. Everything I've seen suggests that's going to happen, however. If OP's praying for layoff, after 13 years, I'll pray (s)he gets his or her wish however. Speaking of praying, hoping I'll be smart enough to leave the place should I ever get angry, stay that way, and feel leveled-out and alienated (my guess what OP's feeling). Nor, btw, is there much inking of some sort of mass purge coming in MSIT, at-least.
Non-FTE: contract roles can be cash-cows with a bit of active career management. The 18 month shot-clock for non managed-services vendors does make it a challenge, but all of the FTE teams are now forced to carefully consider attrition planning, separating strategic from tactical work, and other factors related to business continuity. High-power vendors can make us fat and lazy, trusted to run it all. That is clearly a very dangerous way of thinking anymore for long-term success, and they've now forced the issue vis-a-vis the shot-clock.
The "status" thing mentioned by the fellow with the monster Corvette is definitely real, indeed. And yes, I milk that insurance like the cash-cow it is.
Embracing MSFT is a choice and not a necessity: there are plenty of other great places to work for talented IT folks, Seattle and elsewhere. The upsides can be huge. It drives others nuts after a year or three, or ten, or whatnot. They run out anyone they don't like, so political IQ obviously matters plenty, too. You decade+ guys should know that, I had it figured out in a few years. Yes, things are in a state of significant flux. Yes, change is difficult. I'm there because I want to be, no more or less. Hope y'all are, too.
most people will tell you that if you analyze the next 1 billion users who will be getting onto the internet and buying technology, the vast majority of them will come from india and china and will be moving up from the lower class to their middle class. meanwhile, the middle class of the US and EU who currently indirectly (via the computers that are purchased at their companies for them) or directly (they buy iphones) drives much of the purchasing power of technology will become more and more irrelevant.
this is expected to occur in the next 15-20 years so we're not talking generations.
how is msft poised to fare in this shift? windows mobile is barely alive. windows desktop and office are doing well but i believe that most of these next 1 billion will be on mobile and tablet without any presence on desktop/laptop and they won't be running windows...they will be running android or ios.
even in the case of ios, can apple compete with the xioamis of the world? does anyone actually buy the iphone 5c?
one can argue that enterprise is where msft will continue to shine and that may be true but most new startups these days are moving away from windows machines and ms office and onto macs, chromebooks, open office, google docs, etc.
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