There was a time that I wanted to work for Microsoft. In fact, there was a time when I was close to moving to Redmond for a job. I was called about a job in the MS internal IT staff, and I had a couple of phone interviews, needed to schedule a trip to Redmond, and I was a little excited about the chance to work with some very smart people. This was in the mid-1990s and while the salary wasn't great, the opportunities and benefits were fantastic. I talked it over with my wife, and while we thought it would be good for my career, in the end I dropped out of the process. The weather in Seattle wasn't conducive to our lives and I moved on in my career.
I thought about it over the years, wondering what it would be like to work at Microsoft. I'd known a lot of employees over the years, thought they were interesting people, and it seemed like an exciting place to work. There was a time I even wondered if I could take over Robert Scoble's job and be the "voice" of Microsoft.
I had thought Microsoft was a cool company for years, and I used their software for work extensively. I thought I'd want to have input into how it was built and make it better. I had heard stories of the crazy people at Microsoft, like guys that wore shorts year around, or walked around talking to themselves. In the late 90s Microsoft was hiring some very smart people and it seemed that just being around them would be exciting.
However things changed. My family grew and priorities morphed to meet new responsibilities. I grew to love the Denver area, and as I matured, so did Microsoft. The benefits of Microsoft stock waned and the company seemed to stagnate. It seemed more and more employees were working from home, and it wasn't as exciting a place to be as in years past. I'm sure many current Microsofties would disagree, but that was my impression over the last few years.
I no longer dream of working at Microsoft, or really any popular company (*cough* Google *cough), and am satisfied with this job. I still think Microsoft Research in the Bay Area might be a cool place to work sometime, if they'd ever have me. Maybe I could be the "Voice of the Future" :)
Steve Jones
The Voice of the DBA Podcasts
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