Jeff Lin, guitarist for Seattle band Harvey Danger, talks about Virtual Earth 3D, work/life balance, and finding your destiny.
Jeff Lin doesn't want a corporate mother
Geek in question: Jeff Lin
Job title: Program Manager, Virtual Earth 3D
What are you working on right now?
Virtual Earth 3D is all about realistic representation of the world. We’ve got a couple hundred cities with photo-realistic imagery and 3D geometry. You can add photos, make movies, do tours. It’s actually super cool. I think it’s one of the coolest things that Microsoft is doing.
Do you have to say that because you work on it?
Naw. I feel pretty lucky that I got this position. I just started in this group five months ago. I’d been over at MSN since 2005, and when I applied for this job, I was like, there’s no way. I think I just lucked out.
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Temporary workspace in Seattle offers relief from an ugly drive to Redmond. Reserve a space, shorten your commute, and preserve your sanity.
By Steve Birge
May 2, 2008
Crossing the dreaded Lake Washington bridges to get to work in Redmond is a lot less painful if you stay in Seattle.
For many Seattle residents, the new Worklink Touchdown space in the Westlake/Terry building in downtown Seattle is a welcome relief. The new space opened April 14. It offers loads of airy temporary desk space, meeting rooms and collaboration areas, and enclosed phone/Live Meeting rooms. It’s located just downstairs from existing Microsoft offices in Seattle.
About 150 spaces are available for FTEs to reserve for up to five consecutive work days. The bright, collegial space is not meant to replace assigned offices, but rather to offer a workplace for the convenience of employees in Seattle, said Cindy Quitasol, development manager for Americas Real Estate.
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Microspotting and its creator, Ariel Meadow Stallings, rely on social media marketing to attract job candidates who would probably never consider working for Microsoft.
Marketing Manager Ariel Meadow Stallings uses social media techniques to attract job candidates to Microsoft. Photo by Darryl Bernstein.
By Fred Albert
If an outgoing woman with a wide smile and braids the color of peppermint sticks sidles up to you in a Redmond cafeteria and starts asking about your life, there’s no need to call security. You’ve just attracted the attention of Ariel Meadow Stallings.Stallings is the pigtailed perpetrator behind Microspotting, a corporate blog that profiles some of the most interesting, passionate personalities at Microsoft. Launched last October under the auspices of the Staffing Marketing team, Microspotting feels anything but corporate, reflecting the offbeat, irreverent character of the writer/photographer and the all-around life force behind it.
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No dress code doesn't necessarily mean jeans and sandals with socks, people!
The geek in question: Jonathan Biderman
The job title: Program Manager,
Infopath
My, you’re looking snappy today. What’s up? Do you have a job interview or something?
Thanks! But why does anyone need a reason to dress up, down or sideways? Since Microsoft doesn’t have a dress code I could just as readily choose to wear holey jeans and sandals as I could a tuxedo (…one of these days…)
Interviewing may be a typically assumed reason for dressing up at Microsoft, but I just wanted to start wearing the nice clothes that otherwise would be gathering dust in my closet. I decided that if I wear my numerous ties, I won’t actually have too many. That, and it certainly amuses my team.
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Jeff Sandquist isn't a cheerleader
The geek in question: Jeff Sandquist
The job title: Senior Director, Platform Evangelism
How long have you been with the company?
I think it’s been about 12 years. I get a plaque every once and a while to remind me. I started as a contractor answering phones for Product Support Services.
So, if you’ve been here that long, you’ve gotten to witness Microsoft’s shift toward transparency — including your own “peer to peer over a beer” work with Channel 9. What are the limits of that transparency? How does it feel knowing management reads your blog?
When I first started here, I was terrified of the higher ups. They were almost like Santa Claus — these mythical figures running these billion dollar businesses. I used to be so scared of Sanjay that I would actually go down a different hallway rather than talk to him.
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Amir: former Technical Director of Farts & Explosions for South Park; current UX designer for MSN.
The geek in question: Amir Bahadori
The job title: UX Designer II
What are you working on right now?
My team works with Fortune 500 companies to create entertainment experiences that we promote on the MSN homepage. We just did a website for LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers — it was this 3D book that opened up and had articles and content about his life.
Essentially every project is its own universe. We take from our services and create an experience that people can come in and play with and spend some time with the brand, so there’s a bit of brand lift.
Ha! You said “brand lift.”
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Lloyd Scott, veteran of network TV programming, brings his video and TV savvy to Microsoft. He’s the newest addition to the Media & Entertainment Group.
By Steve Birge
May 30, 2008
Quick quiz: Who has the largest library of on-demand high definition (HD) programming available online? (It’s not the networks, not Hollywood studios, and not a cable company giant.)
The answer: Microsoft, with 1,600 hours of HD content among a library of 5,000 total hours of content. Microsoft is still a software company, have no fear. But it also is on its way to “defining the future of entertainment delivery,” behind such products as Xbox and Zune, and is building itself to further expand Redmond’s collection of world-class content.
The latest move in the Media & Entertainment Group (MEG) toward this end is the hiring of Lloyd Scott, an 18-year veteran of guiding networks, studios, and cable distributors through programming and acquisition of content. Scott serves as a business analyst in a MEG team assembled by Corporate Vice President Blair Westlake that already boasts phenomenal networks of contacts and experience in Hollywood and content centers around the world.
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Beatrice & Natalie consider their fates as saviors of clip art
The geeks in question: Beatrice Billard & Natalie K. Parks
The job titles: Site Manager and Content Project Manager for Clip Art & Media Site (CAM), on Office Online
What kind of stuff are you two working on?
Beatrice: My job focuses on working with our engineering and business development teams to plan and implement Microsoft’s Clip Art & Media website features and partnerships with content providers.
Natalie: I manage the programming of the daily site, and acquire content. I’m involved with acquisition, where we purchase content … although we are moving away from that model. Beatrice is involved with attribution, where we obtain content for free, in exchange for attribution with our partners, and I am working more and more in that arena as well.
B: You’re more the designer’s eye, and I’m more the structure and the process.
N: She’s more technical than I am. But you’re an artist too!
B: But the lines are blurry.
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