Main reason is that I am bored to death in Microsoft. I was industry hire and I always worked in tiny, privately-held software companies, then made the jump to the biggest software company in the world. Quite a change :) Despite the size, those were not what you would call 'startups'. They were not seeking investors, they were established for a while and had customer base. It is just that owners considered that they have enough as it is...
For those who never worked in that setting, it is very different than typical Microsoft product group. Given small company size, you are forced to wear many hats. In one of the companies, my typical work week would start with a customer-site visit (in same town), which included requirement gathering, interviewing end users, talking with stakeholders... Back in the office, next day, I would translate my notes into functional decomposition diagrams, data-flow diagrams, database schema updates, down to the list of work items for a week. Then, team and I would divide work items among us and start working on implementation. We would test among ourselves, review and generally work together to achieve incremental improvement by end of the week. On Friday (or next Monday) I would go back to the customer and, while chatting with our customers, deploy new version of the software to test environment, import production data into it and return home with great sense of accomplishment.
So, I miss that a lot... This is something you cannot accomplish in Microsoft. I have growing feeling that I am wasting my skills here -- I know I can do a lot more, but there is no way that I can get into position where I can show my strengths. I am an SDE and I just see that PMs feel threatened when I try to talk design. Testers do not like when I show them how to do their job. UX designers are holding their 'I went to design school' card high and take great offence if you suggest improvements to their mockups.
Another reason is that I really do not see that current leadership has any clue how to fix this company. There is no vision and there is no direction. Everyone is afraid of making decisions and everybody wants to postpone them or push them to others. Trio system is designed to fix the problem where incompetent PUM takes down whole product by distributing responsibility among three peers, hoping that if one is a dud, two others will carry the product to the completion. However, at same time, it also eliminated strong PUMs, which were capable of pushing the vision forward.
As a final word, I would like to thank Lisa and Steve for killing our health care coverage PPO and removing my golden handcuffs... I am really free now, as Microsoft will offer nothing better than any other company in the industry.
14 comments:
Similar background here- joined MS after SDE roll at small startups, amazed at the inefficiency. As a dev I was expected to be braindead & code. I switched to PM to game the system and had a great run but it's all politics at a certain point.
Finally decided that it wasn't fun anymore and I'd be happier being more productive. Just left Microsoft to be a dev in a much more dev-oriented company.
Sinofsky's whole triad model just disempowers everyone.
My career advice? Be clear with yourself about what you're getting out of your job- growth, learning, resume building, etc. Leave when you can get more elsewhere (the market is hot right now).
Microsoft is like a large ship in the ocean that is slowly taking on water. Some people on board see the leak and know that they ship will sink before it reaches shore. Wall Street are the passengers that see this happening, which is why the stock does not move despite strong revenue performance. They know that revenue alone will not stop the leak – the leak being competing in a non-PC world. A small number of employees see the leak and are leaving the company, especially with the current toxic culture. The vast majority of employees, whether they see the leak or not, refuse to acknowledge it, so they choose to ignore it thinking the ship will reach the shore and not sink. Real panic will not set in until the ship takes on enough water where high- to senior-level leaders have to make changes, which will come in headcount reductions, further benefit cuts, vendor utilization, etc. Better yet, the board will have to act because of institutional shareholder revolt, which means Ballmer must go. After the ship sinks, an outside leader will have to salvage the wreck, raise it to the surface and reposition the ship for sailing. The ship will look much different this time around though. Much smaller. Much nimbler. Much less reliant on Office and Windows. It will be much faster to compete with its faster, younger and agile competitors.
I have a question for you. From the tone of your post you don't seem to be in a hurry to get out (you wrote that you'll leave "eventually"). Why stay? Is it just inertia or is there something else?
Also, you have known life outside of MSFT but from personal experience I can tell you that when Microsoft is all you know (hired out of college) there can be a lot of apprehension about leaving. It took me about 6 months to make up my mind. It turns out this was the best decision I could have made, but during my last week at MS and my first week with my new employer I was all but certain of that.
Why stay? Is it just inertia or is there something else?
Inertia is partly to blame. Then, my wife does not work, so risk aversion factor is high. Benefits were very important to as, but as I said, Lisa and Steve are helping with that one :)
...there can be a lot of apprehension about leaving. It took me about 6 months to make up my mind.
Believe me, even when you are industry hire like me, after ten years, apprehension is still here.
New Microsoft,
You should really try interviewing at Google. I did after being an industry hire who spent 8 years at IBM, and after a little over a year, I haven't regretted it at all. IBM really takes care of its shareholders (I'm still holding IBM stock); but it's engineers, not so much.
Zune is dead!
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will cease introducing new versions of the Zune music and video player because of tepid demand, letting the company shift its focus to other devices, according to a person familiar with the decision.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-14/microsoft-said-to-stop-releasing-new-zune-models-as-demand-ebbs.html
http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=108&sid=443795
How you can #SupportJapan - http://binged.it/fEh7iT. For every retweet, @bing will give $1 to Japan quake victims, up to $100K.
Try Bing. A new way to search, explore, & decide
Really? Using a disaster to promote Bing? And after losing BILLIONS of dollars on Bing, MS is only giving $100k? They spend more on stage effects for the company meeting. This is really disgusting.
Bing Japan disaster FAIL
Must be the idea of some Chinese citizen in Bing Marketing. They're known to hate Japan.
No more golden medical handcuffs? Just how much are new employees paying per month to enjoy the coverage that existing employees will have to start paying for in 2013?
This blog didn't last long.
For all the huffing and puffing, not much to show for it. Have you left yet due to the new annual review?
Thank you new Mini, certainly worth a try; especially with all the upcoming changes at MS.
Left as part of the 1400, and life has been SO MUCH BETTER.
Overall summation:
Work: stimulating/cutting edge
Coworkers: we work together to make great products
Hours: about the same
Reviews: real
Health Benefits: minimal
Vacation: starts at two weeks
Retirement: if the startup succeeds
Pay: better
Future Employability: High
Job Satisfaction: A
So glad to be gone. Would never work there again. I do miss old Pre-Balmer MSFT though, and the Micronews.
One of the growing trends I see across the company is people leaving without having another job lined up. The MSFT culture causes that much desperation.
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