What gets Mario out of bed in the morning? It's not martinis and cover songs!

The geek in question: Mario Guzzi
The job title: Senior Test Lead, Microsoft Expression Blend

Tell me a bit about what you’re working on.
I work on Microsoft Expression Blend, which is a tool that enables designers to build rich user experiences on top of different platforms such as Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). It is Microsoft’s first attempt to engage seriously with the designers of the world.

People haven’t always had nice things to say about Microsoft’s design values. Do you feel like your team is changing that?
This is what gets me out of bed in the morning: the opportunity to actually give designers a new kind of opportunity. In the software development cycle, designers aren’t necessarily first class citizens, and our tools, paired up with the platform, enables them to become an active participant in the development process. I want designers to be able to do the creative work that they want to on user experiences, and not be tied to the hands of a developer interpreting their work and trying to understand why different color schemas or fonts are important.

I’ve started to see new jobs appearing — like a new set of skill sets for designers, new roles being developed that involve Expression. It’s super exciting to feel that you have an opportunity to build tools that will enable other people to do their jobs.

When you were nominated to be Microspotting, a team member described you as a rock star. What’s up with that?
Well, I have two passions. One is software, and second is music, and I play in a band. So, we’ve been playing live lately. I play rock, but I’m not a star.

How do you integrate your musician side into your tester job?
There are a whole bunch of musicians in the team, and we actually have this thing where on Fridays we get together in someone’s office with a pretty good setup of mixers and mics, and we drink martinis and play cover songs.

So, you’re telling me if I come by this Friday tomorrow there would be martinis and cover songs?
Officially I could not reveal the undisclosed location, but yes somewhere here. Just follow the music.

How long have you been at Microsoft, and how did you get here?
I’ve been at Microsoft almost 10 years. It’s going to be 10 years in October. I got hired back in ‘99 from Argentina, which is where I’m originally from. I was just about to graduate, and I never imagined that I could get a job like this. I would have come even if it was to park cars; it didn’t matter for me. An opportunity like this was not to be passed.

What’s kept you here all these years?
The culture allows you not to be defined by your title. The impact you have is not defined by the level or the stage in your career. That’s just kick-ass.

What’s your favorite little-known benefit?
The Prime Card. You get lots of discounts, but one hidden gem is all the super fancy restaurants where you can get an entree for free. Every Friday is Prime night, and I go tasting all the different restaurants. Yeah, it’s awesome.

What’s surprised you about working for Microsoft?
The opportunities. When I look back, I could have never imagined that a South American kid that didn’t go to like a big university could end up having a somewhat important job and the opportunity to make a change on a product that’s making a difference. It’s just mind-boggling for me.

And I think what I love about this company is that you have the opportunity to have an impact. And that surprised me, and continues to do so. As you change roles or you change teams or products, there are different opportunities, but the opportunity is always there, and that’s something that I value.

Rock star links:
• Product website: microsoft.com/expression
Team blog: expression.microsoft.com
Mario’s band: yetanotherenemy.com

Rees

This is on paper, of course—the kind of paper medical bills are printed on. After a complicated pregnancy, Rees arrived nine weeks early and spent the first eight weeks of his life in neonatal intensive care, hooked up to wires and tubes.

It’s important to note, however, that the now-rambunctious one-year-old boy has a million dollar smile to match the two-inch stack of medical bills from his birth.

Rees and his parents, 13-year Microsoft employee Mark Murray and his wife, Melinda Williams, were recently featured on PBS’s “Frontline” as part of the investigative program’s special report on the U.S. health-care system, exploring its current state and ideas on how to fix it.

Mark Murray and his wife, Melinda Williams

Murray, general manager of corporate communications, said “Frontline” first approached Microsoft to be part of the program on health care because of the company’s outstanding health benefits. “Frontline” wanted to be able to show a “best-case example” of how the health-care system could work when a private employer offers its employees full coverage.

Turns out Murray and his wife were a keen example of the full range of medical challenges families can face, as well as the relief that can come from working for a company that provides complete coverage.

After trying to have a baby for eight years, Murray and his wife conceived, but then she nearly lost the baby and was confined to bed rest for four months of the pregnancy. Then, she was in the hospital for six weeks, and Rees was born nine weeks early and spent two months in intensive care. In the midst of all of that, Murray was diagnosed with a congenital hip defect and had to have a full hip replacement.

“When the bills started to roll in, I remember getting a bill—a single piece of paper—that was for $326,000. This was after we’d received two inches of bills already. I thought, ‘How can this possibly be?’” Murray said. “Then I scanned over to right hand side to see how much I owed, and the number was zero dollars and zero cents.” Microsoft health insurance covered every penny of the family’s medical problems: Rees’s care, Melinda’s pregnancy, and Mark’s hip replacement.

Murray said just about every day during the ordeal, and every day since, he and his wife look at each other and marvel at how fortunate they are.

“How do people that don’t have this kind of health insurance cope with this kind of situation?” Murray asked. “We didn’t have to stop and pull out a calculator and say, ‘Can we afford this test that could be absolutely critical to the baby’s health?’”

“Frontline” traveled across the country talking to people and families all over the health-care spectrum, and most of the others profiled were not as fortunate. “They paid a terrible price in terms of their health, their families, and their lives because they didn’t have quality health insurance like Microsoft,” Murray said. “It’s really shocking to me that our experience is so unusual.”

Murray said he knows how complicated the issue is but feels strongly about health care nonetheless and hopes for a comprehensive solution. He called it a national scandal that 45 million Americans don’t have health insurance, that 11 million Americans who have health insurance still spent over one-quarter of their income on health-care costs, and that more than half of the personal bankruptcies in America are due to medical bills. “I don’t pretend to be an expert. All I know is that nobody should have to go through these kinds of health emergencies without the kind of support that Microsoft gave me and my family,” Murray said. “It feels almost criminal that in this day and age, in this country, there are so many people who are without health insurance and quality health care.”

Murray said it wasn’t just the health insurance that made the experience bearable—it was the flexibility shown to him by his managers and peers, especially during a period when the baby could have been born any moment. “I slept at the hospital on a little cot. I would get up, get my wife breakfast, and then drive into Microsoft. Several times I’d get a phone call in middle of the 520 bridge telling me to turn around; the baby might come now. I’d get off at the first exit, whip it around, and head back to hospital,” Murray said. “The way everyone helped me roll with those punches is something I’ll never forget.”

Rees with his dog-friend Jake

The geek in question: Gladys Kenfack
Title: Senior Marketing Manager, Unlimited Potential Group

I know a bit about Unlimited Potential, and it seems like one of those amazing programs that speaks for itself — what kind of marketing do you need to do?
Microsoft Unlimited Potential is the company’s initiative that enables sustained, social and economic opportunity for everyone with an emphasis in emerging markets. I’m responsible for the digital and social media marketing of UP programs and products.

What were you doing before this?
I was a software engineer here at Microsoft. I wrote and tested code, and mostly worked on the production side. I didn’t interact much with marketing, and so when I switched to this position, I thought, okay, moving to the un-geeky side of the company. But within UP we also cool develop technologies for emerging markets, and my technical background gives me an edge in understanding the technical architecture and value of our products to our customers.

So, I understand you were profiled in Marie Claire, which is sort of the anti-technical publication. As a tech industry person, what was it like to be interviewed for a froofy fashion magazine?
It was a great opportunity for me to share the great work that Unlimited Potential does in a very natural and simple way. I didn’t have to talk about algorithms or code – it was very relaxed. The most interesting part was that photo shoot … it took three hours and really emphasized that being a techie and being a model are two very different career paths; but I was glad to be able to cross them both.

…Sounds harder than a technical publication, in some ways! So, how long have you been with Microsoft, and how did you get here?
I’m going to my sixth year at Microsoft. I attended Brigham Young University where I received my undergraduate degree in Computer Science. I am from Cameroon in West Africa and my primary reason for coming to the U.S. was to be able to learn technology and use it to improve lives in Africa.

So, are you heading back to Cameroon at some point?
Oh, definitely, yeah. It could be as a Microsoft ambassador, or working for Microsoft in the field. But I want to be able to help make a difference back home because I believe that technology has the power to help solve some of Africa’s toughest problems – like health and education.

What are you’re doing when you’re not plotting to save the world?
When not at work, I keep myself very busy. I play a few sports like tennis and Soccer and I run frequently. I volunteer in a few local non profits, and am also part of a cultural dance group that promotes African dance and culture in the Puget Sound area. I grew up aspiring to be an opera singer and for the past 15 years, I have been singing in local choirs and taking voice lessons. I enjoy cooking and entertaining friends as well.

Sounds like you’re saving the world in your spare time, too!
I’m one of those people who is always working a project … it’s something that makes me happy. Luckily, many of my personal projects overlap with my professional interests, so I don’t actually view lot at a lot of what I do as work.

Links links links…
* Unlimited Potential: microsoft.com/up
* Become a Fan of UP on facebook: facebook.com/microsoftup
* Follow UP on Twitter: twitter.com/microsoftup
* Check out our World Update Blog - blogs.technet.com/unlimitedpotential/

So, you’re an acquisition employee. How’d that feel?
I founded a company called Seadragon in 2003 and we were around for only a couple of years before we were acquired. I think we had around 14 employees when Microsoft acquired us.

What was that like then, going from a little team that you started of 12-14 people, to being absorbed by —
The Borg. Going from a start-up to working at Microsoft was a huge, huge step. I think the lowest point was at New Employee Orientation. I have to admit that a few of us Seadragon employees were basically throwing spitballs in the back of the room. We were totally bad kids, to the point where the guy running orientation actually separated us.

So, what are you working on now?
Well, summer of 2008 Photosynth moved over from a Live Labs incubation to become a part of the MSN world, and in particular Virtual Earth. Photosynth and Virtual Earth are like peanut butter and chocolate.

At the same time, I was recruited to become the new architect of Virtual Earth … but then suddenly the job became Architect of MSN, because MSN swallowed up Virtual Earth. That was a bit of a shock.

Welcome to management!
Exactly. Welcome to management, hide your socks.

Any principles guiding your work with MSN?
I don’t think Microsoft has prioritized design the way it’s needed to, and one of my big crusades is to try and change that. I’m not alone there. There is a whole generation of people now who are really pushing design at Microsoft.

Does it feel sometimes like turning a big boat around?
Yes, very much. It’s huge, the inertias are incalculable. Especially in my new role I’ve really been feeling the big barge effect.

So this may be sort of an enlarged question, do you feel like in your work with Photosynth and now MSN, you’re defining the future of the Internet?
Yes.

… And now you’re thinking, “Uh, this guy seemed reasonable…” but some of the work we’re doing is world changing. That’s the point.

Any of us who read science fiction as kids, or still read it, know that there are certain things that are coming just around the corner … and Microsoft is really a part of that. It’s one of the things that I love about that Office Labs vision video — there’s nothing in that video that isn’t in MSR or elsewhere in the company now. It’s all happening. This is not Jetsons stuff. This is the reality of 5 to 10 years from now.

I can’t wait. Anything else you’d like to add about working Microsoft?
Look, in some ways it sucks. It sucks that I’m in meetings all day, that I sometimes have my entire day divided into continuous meetings.

And it sucks that so much of my job is now about writing e-mail.

It sucks that I can’t get to the coding part until 9:30 when my kids are in bed.

I got used to working in Microsoft’s Pioneer Square office in Downtown Seattle, and it sucks that now I work in Redmond. I had to buy an espresso machine for my office, while in Seattle there were four excellent coffee shops within three blocks.

…But what keeps me happy, and what makes me not feel like okay, my handcuffs are expired, I’m looking around now, is that I feel like we really do have the chance to do something that is going to be totally world changing. I’m also getting to work with some of the most talented, ambitious coders and researchers in the business, hands down. It’d be really hard for a startup to attract this kind of talent.

So, okay it’s worth it. It’s all worth it for that.

Links?
• Fast Company names Blaise as one of the 100 most create people of 2009
• photosynth.com
• Blaise’s infamous TED talk about PhotoSynth
• maps.live.com

By Lou Gellos

Cecily Hall got the surprise of a lifetime on Mother’s Day.

Out to dinner with her three children, Hall, director of U.S. Health and Wellness Benefits, got a phone call from work. She would be meeting with President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

“I was thrilled that Microsoft was being recognized,” Hall said. Her children couldn’t believe their mom was going to meet the country’s most powerful person. “They were thrilled that I was going to meet the president,” she said. The dinner ended on a high note.

Hall got the call because the White House wanted to hear about the innovative and unique way companies like Microsoft are approaching providing health-care benefits while also keeping the cost of providing such benefits down. Representatives from seven companies were invited to sit on the panel.

“You’ve got terrific innovations at companies like Microsoft, where they actually have used home visits of doctors to reduce the utilization of emergency room care and are saving themselves millions of dollars,” Obama said.

Hall joined representatives from REI, Safeway, Johnson & Johnson, Pitney Bowes, Ohio Department of Health, and Hereiu Welfare Fund for what was to be a 50-minute meeting. Each participant was asked to present for three minutes.

“The president was quite serious about it,” Hall said. She said it’s impressive that Obama wants to hear from the private sector and said that each panelist shared creative steps his or her company has taken to keep health-care costs down. “The president was very interested to hear what Microsoft and other employers are doing to help their employees improve their health, which in turn can help manage costs,” she said.

Hall arrived at the White House about a half-hour before their scheduled meeting and was escorted to an assigned seat at a large conference table. The CEOs of REI and Safeway were seated next to President Obama. Hall sat to the left of Safeway’s CEO.

Obama specifically called out the creative lengths each company has gone to in order to make sure its employees have health coverage that is extensive and affordable. In particular, he noted that employers win when they help their employees stay fit because the cost of providing health care then drops.

Hall told Obama about Microsoft’s HealthVault, weight management, and mobile medicine programs. It was the mobile medicine program that caught the president’s ear. He asked Hall if it was similar to programs in France. She said yes and told him that the mobile medicine program keeps Microsoft’s costs down by having a doctor make a house call when an emergency room visit is not necessary but care is needed. Three years into the program, the home doctor visits have turned into teaching moments that often lead to the employee and his or her family making lasting changes to improve their overall health, Hall said. What’s more, their health data and electronic medical history then can be loaded into HealthVault and shared with primary care physicians. The goal is to encourage a personally controlled cycle of healthy living. In three years, participating doctors have made nearly 10,000 house calls in the Puget Sound region.

Hall told Obama that the program saves Microsoft more than $200 every time a visit to emergency room is avoided, or about $1 million a year. She also described to him that employees who use the service often get more personalized care and that they don’t have to wait for hours in a hospital waiting room.

Obama also heard about a weight management program that has helped employees lose a collective 50 tons of weight, and thanks to clinical oversight, has led to behavioral change and helped them keep the weight off.

Finally, Hall told the president about Microsoft’s division focused on using innovation to improve the way health care is delivered to people across the globe. She told him how Microsoft HealthVault lets employees personally store copies of their health records from sources across the health system and then use them to manage their health.

Hall said she tried to stick to her allotted three minutes but said the president would not let her, asking questions and taking advantage of the only benefits person in the room. She estimates her conversation lasted 10 minutes.

“President Obama was very cordial and warm. He really engaged in the discussion, he asked good questions, and it was clear he has an interest in health care and innovative benefits,” Hall said. “It was an honor to be with the president. It’s great he is interested in hearing about how employers are using some innovative approaches to improving employee health and reducing costs. I think he appreciated hearing some of what we are doing.”

Read Hall’s blog entry on her day at the White House on the Microsoft on the Issues blog.

No, the reason things have been quiet around here lately is because Microspotting is only part of my job (and I’m a part time employee!). The other part is working on Microsoft’s new Global Career Site which will be launching this summer, and it’s been taking up all my time. I’m in charge of wrastling up a bazillion profiles and photos for the site, and so to keep y’all tided over until my next profile (coming in 2 weeks!), here are a few of the shots I’ve been taking for the Global Careers Site…

Click the photos below to see larger

…I miss you Microspotting. We’ll be back to geeking out together in a few short weeks!

The geek in question: James Lyle
The job title: Program Manager in Windows International Globalization Services.

How long have you been here?
I just passed my 9th anniversary at Microsoft. I got my PhD from the University of Washington in the late ’90s and my full intention was to be a professor of linguistics. But I knew some people who were working here who had come out of linguistics and came to check it out.

I had been looking at language in a very academic way with all these abstract theories about syntax. And when I got here, I started seeing the real thing. Once you start trying to build a grammar checker, you’ve got to know what all kinds of language real people are using in the real world every day. I felt like one of these 19th century biologists boating down the Amazon just looking at thousands of un-catalogued species with no time to even stop and say, “That’s what that is, and that’s what this is.” I was seeing so much language every day!

Microsoft is known for all of its acronyms. As a linguist, do you feel like there’s a whole separate company language?
There’s definitely some different language at Microsoft, and acronyms are a part of that. Sometimes that’s challenging because you get lost in your own communication style. But I think that’s true of any workplace — although we’re pretty special in the amount of acronymification we have.

I understand you’re a part of the Microsoft Theater Troupe. How did you get from a PhD in linguistics to acting?
I did theater way back in high school and got away from it for many, many years. But lo and behold, Microsoft has a theater troupe — quite a good theater troupe, actually, with all of the ticket proceeds going to charity. Incidentally, our just-completed season of two shows raised more than $37,000 for charity!

So in 2004 I showed up for an audition there thinking I’m going to rekindle this love of theater a little bit since I have this opportunity right here. Turned out to be one of the best things I ever did. The people who are involved in it turn out to be very enthusiastic and professional and cool and full of talent.

How does the theater troupe affect your work, and vice versa?
One great benefit of being in the theater troupe is just the connections that you make with people professionally. I’ve met very interesting people doing a wide array of jobs that I never would have met otherwise within the company.

And as for linguistics informing my theater work … I keep getting cast as Englishmen. Since I was a kid, I’ve done accents and dialects obsessively. So, I don’t know if it’s the accent or talent, but I keep getting cast as people who have different kinds of English dialects.

Let’s hear some examples!
[Click here to hear James rocking his accents]

James Lyle will not only globalize your software -- he'll write your alien name pronunciation guide!

As a linguist, I’ve also made myself responsible for the pronunciation guide for all the alien names.

What surprises you about working for Microsoft?
I was surprised at just how cool the corporate culture was here. I knew that things were very relaxed, that there was a lot of opportunity to sort of explore intellectual growth and meet and talk to interesting people and do projects that were cool and kept you excited and interested … but the extent to which that was true was shocking to me.

The fact that I really could do interesting things using my background every day, new and interesting stuff just kept coming along … there’s just never a time when I’ve been intellectually unstimulated.

LINKS?
• GoGlobal Developer Center
• Microsoft Theater Troupe
• Star Trek Phoenix

The geek in question: Jennifer Shepherd
The job title: User Experience Designer II

Tell me a bit about your job.
I have kind of a hybrid role; I’m a jill of many trades, and do Web design, UI design, graphic design, writing, content management, and project management. So, I wear a lot of different hats. My title keeps changing back and forth between Program Manager and Designer. This year it’s User Experience Designer II.

I’m in Windows International, a team of about 350 people. We’re the ones that enable all the functionality that underlies the different language versions of Windows. Windows is available in 98 different languages, and that involves stuff like sorting & collation, fonts, globalization APIs, stuff like that.

Where’s your team based?
Mostly in Redmond and Dublin, but we also have people in over 30 different countries worldwide. And the people that are here in Redmond largely come from other countries. It’s a diverse group. We have people from more than 44 different countries on my team, and we speak more than 33 different languages.

So, are you excited for Windows 7?

Jennifer says 'It's nice to just be able to be who you are and focus on doing your job.'

A big part of my work was in acquiring desktop photographs for our 20 markets. I worked with thousands of professional photographs, but I also organized a photo contest for Microsoft employees because I especially wanted employees in all the international subsidiaries to be able to participate. Over 2,000 photographs were submitted from employees all over the world, and then as part of the selection process I had the employees in each local subsidiary vote on all the photographs for their region.

Wow, so each region really got to voice what images worked for their area.
Yeah, employees in Brazil voted on the photos for the Brazilian Portuguese version of Windows 7, which included some of the photographs taken by employees, many of whom were in or from Brazil.

In the end, out of the 270 photographs that were selected, forty were taken by Microsoft employees in a dozen different countries. I thought that was really cool, considering they were up against professional photographers. It was actually fairly competitive.

Anyway, I’ve been living and breathing this project for 2-plus years, so yeah, I’m really psyched about Windows 7. It’s been a lot of work – but incredibly engrossing and fun, too.

How long have you been here?
Fall of 2009 will be both my official 10 year anniversary as a permanent employee and also the 20 year anniversary of when I first started at Microsoft in my very first “real” job out of college. During that 20 years I spent about 7 as a permatemp. I also worked at other companies for a few years, but I’ve spent most of my career at Microsoft. It feels like home to me.

What keeps you here?
A lot of reasons… I love the work I do and I work with great people. But one of the reasons Microsoft feels like home is something that seems pretty trivial and like it shouldn’t matter, yet it really does. Basically I’ve spent a lot of my life feeling like a misfit — I was always the artsy introvert who never fit in, and people would think I was just a weirdo. I worked for the State for a while and I felt conspicuously weird. I wasn’t trying to be weird! I don’t have massive facial piercings or anything. But somehow I often felt uncomfortable and like an outsider.

But when I came to Microsoft I felt I was respected for what I can do. You’re treated like a grownup here. Your work isn’t micromanaged. I just feel like people can be themselves, and it’s what you can do, what you can bring to the team that really matters, not whether you went to the right college or if you’re buddying up to the right people or dressing for corporate success. It’s nice to just be able to be who you are and focus on doing your job instead.

Links please?
• www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7
• windows.microsoft.com/Windows7/Personalize
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/default.aspx (the Go Global Developer Center – Microsoft’s global development portal)
• Jennifer’s personal site: jenithea.com

‎‎How’s it going getting settled into NERD, aka Microsoft’s New England Research & Development center?
i haven’t done enough nesting yet, but so far, so good. mostly, it’s a crash course in setting up computers, balancing meetings, figuring out hierarchies, learning the intranet … a radical change from the last six months of never leaving my couch writing writing writing.

‎Right: you’re not only transitioning into a new job and new city — but also out of dissertation mode. How’s that going?
Yup. new city, new job, far far far far far more human interaction. i mean, in the last six months of my diss, i really didn’t see anyone but my partner. i was a COMPLETE hermit. mandatory isolation is required training to be an academic.

that said, i’m loving the people at NERD so it’s a welcome re-intro into civilization. i mean, they’re just as geeky as i am!

So, give me a glimpse into the range of researchers on your team.
well, we have 7 full-timers including physicists, a mathematician, a cryptographer, a game theorist, and a theoretical computer scientist — or at least i think that’s what they are. they label me a sociologist which always makes me giggle so i can’t imagine how badly i’m doing labeling them.

‎‎You research social interactions on the web, but aren’t a sociologist. Do you identify more with information systems?
scholarly labels come with a lot of baggage — they mean specific things about method, theory, framing. i’m pretty darn interdisciplinary in my approach to scholarship. my work in the last few years would be closest to anthropology, but most anthropologists wouldn’t count me in their club. Rick Rashid calls me a computer scientist which just makes me ROFL. honestly, i avoid those labels like the plague, but here, it’s kinda tricky.

So you avoid labels like you avoid capital letters? :)
i avoid capital letters in IMing out of laziness, but my name has its own historical quirks that are more intentional. in short, my name has typographical balance which i hated as a kid but appreciated as an adult.

danah is now part of the empire. Photo by Gilad Lotan.

Which was rougher: defending your dissertation or defending your choice to work for Microsoft?
honestly, i can’t even compare my diss or job. . . both pale in comparison to defending the Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies Task Force Report that I put out. it’s been complete hell trying to get politicians to accept data that doesn’t match their worldview. made everything else feel like cake.

What do you like about working here?
what i really care about is that the company values wrt research. Microsoft Research is handsdown the most impressive research institution i’ve seen. even though my research has product implications, i’m not a product person but i love being in a place where my work funnels into product.

i also think a lot of folks underestimate the role that MSFT plays in shaping policy, both explicitly and implicitly. i hope my research also shapes policy going forward.

Interesting. What policies are you most curious about impacting?
well, right now, the policies related to youth and the internet … but in general, policies and practices that involve information sharing and communication. there’s always an interaction between companies and policy. at the most mundane, companies have to figure out how to implement policies that are put into place. but companies also shape how those policies are formed, how they are thought about, and how they are implemented. MSFT has played a major role in many different policies and it’s been shaped by them too.

So, once you get settled in, what are you must excited about sinking your teeth into, research wise?
mostly, i’ve been puzzling about boundaries, especially around the notions of public/private and how people manage tensions of audiences online. everyone’s up in arms saying that the kids don’t get privacy. and of course there’s the old battle cry that privacy is dead. but i think that both are dead wrong. i think that privacy is playing out in new ways that are connected to the dynamics of social media. so i want to explore that. in the short-term, it’ll mostly mean looking at things like Twitter and Facebook Status Updates and whatnot, but i’m more into the bigger issues than those particular technologies.

LINKS links:
• a longer interview with danah: research.microsoft.com
• danah’s website: danah.org
• danah’s blog: zephoria.org/thoughts
• danah’s research: danah.org/papers
• danah’s twitter: twitter.com/zephoria

Charlie found me on Twitter, where he sent me a message saying “Speaking of diversity at MS- How many native Cherokee speakers do you know of? At least 1-me :-)” A native Cherokee-speaking dev? Must! Know! More! So here’s the interview…

Charlie absolutely believes that you can work for a start-up within a 90,000 person company

The job title: Lead software development engineer, Last Mile Innovation (a subgroup of Consumer and Online)

So what is that last mile?
We’re almost like a startup group within Microsoft. The LMI group sees the last mile as that final gap between the incredible platforms we build, and the Microsoft OEMs, and product teams across the world that need to customize and deploy applications on them. We’re using Messenger services, search services, social networking services as well as a host of other applications and tools across all divisions of Microsoft to help teams present our products in a way that can hopefully make money. I primarily build software development kits, assist in creating technical documentation, create prototype software and advise teams on how to use existing Microsoft services. In fact our work will likely be presented by at least 2 groups at MIX09 this year.

You mentioned being a start-up group. Do you feel like it’s actually possible to have a startup environment in an enormous 90,000-person company?

Absolutely. With the web you have a lot more ability to be innovative. We’re trying to forge new ground here. With a huge company you would think you would just become a cog, and I have never felt that way here, not even for a moment.

Did I hear that you grew up speaking Cherokee?
My dad is full blood Cherokee. My Native American family are all in Oklahoma, and although I haven’t really spoken Cherokee much since I was a kid, when I listen to people speak, I can almost always tell if they’re a native speaker whether it’s Cherokee or not, because of the way they speak English.

Are there ways you apply your Cherokee background to your coding?
Absolutely, it’s a cultural thing. It’s all about family, and it’s about getting along and getting together and accomplishing things. Teamwork has always been important in my life. Learning how to get along with people and how to achieve a common goal, and how to listen to other people, has been really important to me, and I think it’s been really helpful for me in my role at LMI.

So you’re not into that stereotype about devs where you’re just heads down and doing your own thing.
There’s a time for that and a place for that, but it doesn’t really work all that well in modern programming. In the last five or six years, development has become highly, collaborative. For example, I use other people’s APIs. I have to work with other developers a lot. The heads down stuff, I still do that once in a while, and I get kind of grumpy when I do that.

How long have you been at Microsoft?
I’ve been a permanent employee for two years, but I had my first contract here 12 years ago.

How do you feel like the company has changed since that first contract?
I knew a lot of people then that were having problems because of the work-life balance. It was really tough then. Contractors weren’t very well regarded in most groups. It was a huge difference coming back a few years ago to work at first MSN and now at LMI — I just feel now that you are valued as a person, as a contributor, whether you are a contractor or full-time employee, which is really great.

And the work-life balance has been really, really good. The people here completely respect and support what you do for your family. And that seems to be a solid priority in all the groups I’ve worked with. Not that sometimes you don’t work a little bit later, but it’s not a common occurrence.

One of Charlie's paintings

What do you do with your work/life balance?
I paint. The creative side of myself that I express when painting has been a huge help in my career as a developer. In fact, most devs that I know tend to be very creative in nature. I’ve known musicians, writers, painters, poets and actors who also happen to be great devs. Many of them work at Microsoft!

Links, please?
• Charlie’s blog: charlesesmith.spaces.live.com
• Charlie’s Twitter: twitter.com/ces614
• Charlie’s Paintings: twitpic.com/photos/ces614