2 Week Recap

re: 2 Week Recap

Alan Yeung — Fri, 19 Nov 2004 17:50:00 GMT

Hey, I'm in STL and studied in WashU!

Mind to share how you successfully got into MS? =D

I hope one day I can share experience like yours...

re: 2 Week Recap

Bill Canning — Fri, 19 Nov 2004 21:57:00 GMT

Alan,

I suggest you check out http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog as a first step. Zoe and Gretchen provide tons of valuable information about getting your resume noticed and doing well in the interview. But really, the only way to an interview at Microsoft is through HR, and that means going through the Careers page on microsoft.com (www.microsoft.com/careers).

Good luck,
Bill

Silly me.

Snappy the Clam — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 18:15:00 GMT

2 Week Recap Microsoft knows that its people are its most valuable asset. The company really takes good care of its people. Too bad the customers don't get the same treatment....

re: 2 Week Recap

Anita Rowland — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 15:20:00 GMT

lunch practices do vary by team and job. I've had some assignments where we ate as a large group almost daily, and others where no one on the team ate together.

I agree about the importance of social connections; this is true even for contractors.

re: 2 Week Recap

Dave Fourputtinski — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 19:27:00 GMT

Congratulations on your new job.

I am envious! I'd love to work for Microsoft.

Best of luck to you. I will follow your blog with interest.

Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blog

TrackBack — Sat, 20 Nov 2004 22:20:00 GMT

Robert Scoble's Influential Blog...

re: 2 Week Recap

jonpoon — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 10:43:00 GMT

Hi,

Congrats on joining Microsoft. Hope you're enjoying it as much as i do.

cheers

re: 2 Week Recap

Nirmal Raghavan V — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 12:17:00 GMT

Hi Bill,

Your blog really makes interesting read. I am a great fan of Microsoft. Please visit my blog when time permits and don't forget to record ur comments!

re: 2 Week Recap

Nishant — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 15:07:00 GMT

Hi Bill,

I was flown there last year to interview for a PM intern position (Shell group... brr). I didn't get an offer :( However, I'm coming back this January - for a full-time PM position.

Any words of wisdom for the interview? I feel that my strengths in the last interview were design (I have difficulty nailing down the final features, at times), and coding. I know for sure that I had difficulty with "conflict resolution." That is, a question such as, "A dev comes to you 2 days before ship date, and informs you of a huge bug in the final build. What do you do? Ship or postpone?" was a question that made me stumble. I'd never really thought about it before, and my first-instinct answer was a big... ahem... undecisive. I think I'm in much better shape this year (I've had a whole year to think about this!)

re: 2 Week Recap

Bill Canning — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 05:29:00 GMT

Nishant,

Please check out http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog for great information about interviewing, etc.

On your particular question, I would suggest that you always think of the customer, and let that be your guide.

Good luck in January and let me know how you do...

Bill

re: 2 Week Recap

Nishant — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 16:36:00 GMT

I'm a regular visitor at jobsblog. Nevertheless, thank you!

Interesting advice on the particular question... I think I need to think about this some more.

And yes, I will definitely let you know :)

re: 2 Week Recap

Bill Canning — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 16:59:00 GMT

I guess what I'd say to that question is: what would be worse for the customer and therefore Microsoft: releasing a product with a known major bug (especially if that bug could lead to data loss) or releasing a product a week or two late? I think if you frame the question in those terms, the answer becomes pretty obvious (at least to me)... I think after the decision is made (whatever direction you choose) you should make it clear what other steps you would take to mitigate the impact as much as possible (e.g., minimize the delay or minimize the bug impact and provide a workaround).

Caveat: I may not know what I'm talking about!

Bill

re: 2 Week Recap

Vinit Bhansali — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 20:58:00 GMT

I don't think releasing a buggy product is good.
A delay is just that, a delay. A buggy product is a LOSS. Both, in terms of PR and finance.

re: 2 Week Recap

Nishant — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 21:46:00 GMT

Vinit -

Speaking idealistically, you are right. Realistically, I'm not sure I agree with you. I think it really depends on the situation.

Bill -

You're right - the question posed to me was quite open-ended. We role-played :) I played PM, while the interviewer played various roles (Dev, SDET). He was trying to overwhelm me, and it worked pretty well. I don't think there was really a right/wrong answer to the question. It was "process" that he wanted to see.

So, let me ask you this - as a PM, do you make this decision? I mean, I know that as the PM, you own the feature, etc. However, I would think that just based on the PM's job description, he's not the guy that really makes the decision.

Basically, here's my question to you - 3 days to ship, and Bob, the super-dev, scurries into your office screaming, "It's gonna blow! It's gonna blow!" Once you calm him down with some Valium, he explains the presence of a certain bug that went unnoticed. The bug is critical, he says, and causes data loss at times. What do you do?

re: 2 Week Recap

Nishant — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 21:47:00 GMT

Oh yeah... the bug cannot be fixed in 3 days :) It's going to take 3 weeks to fix it.