Zeke's aha moment
Geek in question: Zeke Odins-Lucas
Job title: Principal software developer on Internet Explorer
How long have you been with Microsoft?
I started contracting in 1994, and was hired in 1996.
How’d you get here?
Well, that goes back to 1993. I was working at the gas station that’s on 148th and 51st, here in Redmond. I was managing that little hole, and I was miserable and commuted an hour and a half each way by bus from Seattle. At least I had a job, but yeesh.
Then one day at a friend’s piercing studio in Seattle, I met this guy — he was like 7 feet tall and 300 pounds and shaved head, had a big tusk piercing through his nose and was getting his nipples pierced that day. We started chatting and realized we both worked on the East Side. This guy was like me (23 at the time, and no college), and he says, “Yeah, I work out in Redmond, too. I work at Microsoft.”
And I was like, “Oh, that’s just like a few blocks away from me. What’s it like to work there? ” He said, “Just come on by and see…”
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Dan doesn't think you should have to chose Mac or PC. (Photo by MSFT employee Rob Vreeland of MurphyDogStudios.com)
The geek in question: Dan Wittmer
The job title: Senior Software Development Engineer, Macintosh Business Unit (Silicon Valley Campus)
How long have you been with the company?
My hire date was 2/25/2002, so it’s been almost seven years now entirely with MacBU. Prior to being hired, I interned twice with the Entourage team here in SVC. As a full time employee, I started on the Network library / MSN Client for the Mac, moved to Mac IE for the last patch, and subsequently moved Entourage, the email / PIM application that ships as part of Office for the Mac.
You’re an Apple dev working for Microsoft a few miles from Apple’s corporate headquarters in Cupertino. Why do you work for Microsoft instead of Apple? Continue reading →
Richard and Elaina Newman both work for Tellme, which is a Microsoft subsidiary. Bono does not work for Tellme.
The geeks in question: Elaina and Richard Newman, both of Tellme, A Microsoft Subsidiary
So, what are your jobs?
Elaina: User Experience Engineer.
Richard: Software Development Engineer II.
Elaina: …I have a II, too! I just didn’t say it.
What does Tellme do?
Elaina: When you call 411 from most phones nationwide, you’ll usually get us. If you call Microsoft customer care, that’s us.
Richard: We have an appreciable portion of all the phone calls in the US toward automated numbers — which is kind of scary.
Elaina: Well, it would be scary if we weren’t good at it.
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Microsoft developer Vijaye Raji spends his free time working on software designed to help beginners learn the principles behind Basic, programming’s original language.
By John Van Vleet
August 5, 2008
The way Vijaye Raji sees it, future developers need to get back to the Basics—literally and figuratively. That explains why Raji, a senior software developer, has spent a large chunk of his free nights and weekends over the past year working on a pet project he calls Small Basic, a language variant of Basic designed to teach beginners the principles behind programming.
“If you take a quick poll around Microsoft of all the developers, and you ask them what they started programming with, it’s usually some kind of variant of Basic,” said Raji. “When MS-DOS came around, they introduced QBasic, and it became very popular. Everybody started programming in QBasic. The interesting thing is that everybody who is a super developer right now at Microsoft started with the same humble beginnings: Basic.”
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Hoop has excellent taste in music
I first met Zune developer Hoop Somuah last summer, after a colleague on the Zune team suggested that he might make a good profile for the ViewMyWorld website. We covered all sorts of topics in his profile, including the ways that the small team felt like a start-up, and the ruffled feathered from a coding retreat that some regarded as a coup. More than six months (and a Zune release) later, I thought I’d catch up with Hoop again to see how things were going.
Hey, Hoop. So, what’s changed since we spoke last summer?
Last year was all about building the base for the Zune service. This year, we’re working on building cool stuff on top of that infrastructure. Last year we were much more hard pressed for schedule, trying to make the release date for Zune 2.0.
Summer and early fall of 2007 I worked harder than I have ever worked in my life — harder than college, even harder than when I had two jobs simultaneously.
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Think you can always tell the difference between designers and devs? THINK AGAIN!
He’s a legend among Microsofties: the dude on the Segway wearing a glittering gold helmet. I’ve been stalking him for months, collecting sighting reports from breathless ‘Softies who’ve seen him at Target, seen him on 40th, seen him in elevators! And finally FINALLY, I tracked him down. Meet Stephan, aka The Golden Helmet.
A top speed of 12.5 mph!
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I’ve always wondered. And now the truth comes out!
Video: Israeli foodI grabbed this from Declan’s awesome blog all about International MSFT tech jobs:
So what do software engineers eat in Israel?
So for a bit of Friday fun check out Lisa, one of our SDEs in Israel, telling us a little about free food and in particular”diet” food that they all eat in the Haifa break room… :)
