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 →
Aradia surveys her dominion from atop a mushroom shaped throne.
The geek in question: Aradia Correnti
The job title: Program Manager, Mobile Communications Business/Windows Devices Core
What are you working on right now?
I’m the program manager for the out-of-box experience, and the connectivity user experience. I also work on integrating Windows Mobile services into the platform.
What’s your favorite Microsoft benefit?
Getting to be who I am. I can have my blue hair and my crazy clothing and talk about my music and not feel like I’m violating some corporate policy about not having an outside life. Microsoft really gets that intelligence and passion can come in any type of package imaginable.
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I went on another field trip, this time to California, where I visited ‘Softies at three different Bay Area offices. First up: Palo Alto, where I visited the Danger — makers of my beloved Sidekick, and recent Microsoft acquisition.
Being a program manager, biking 9000 miles ... it's all the same to Carolyn
The geek in question: Carolyn Bierman
The job title: Program Manager II, Entertainment & Devices Division.
How long did you work for Danger before the company was acquired by Microsoft?
I was employee #17, and have been with Danger for eight years. I was an engineer for five of those years, and then after a three month sabbatical to ride my motorcycle around the country, I started doing program management.
You know how if your Sidekick gets run over by a bus, you can buy a new one and download all the information off the Danger servers? That’s the service I’ve been working on with Danger for the past three years — and now I’m doing something very similar for Microsoft.
So you went from working for a company of about 300, to now working for a company of over 80,000. Did you have an identity crisis when Danger got acquired?
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John Mulhausen can kick your butt at Super Mario Bros, and then tour across the country with his band.
The geek in question: John Mulhausen
The job title: SDET, Microsoft Game Studios
How long have you been with the company?
I started as a contractor in 2004, and then got hired on in 2005. I’ve been in my dream job with XBOX since July 2008.
Tell me about how you got this dream job.
I heard about a job with this central group, Microsoft Game Studios Test Org, that works with xbox developers, supporting every studio that Microsoft publishes. I studied my butt off and I had a lot of anxiety going into the interview. The day before I went to bed at like 9pm. I was like “I’m going to get 15 hours of sleep!” Getting this job was an obsession. Nothing but xbox games, and a new one all the time!
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Despite the skates, Michael says he commutes via bike
It’s my final day of working from Microsoft’s South Lake Union office, and after drooling over the commute and familiarizing myself with the building and neighborhood, I figured it was time to ogle my coworkers who get to call 320 Westlake home base.
And so I give to you five mini-Microspotting profiles, with just a few hard-hitting investigative questions. If these tales of 5 minute walking commutes and lakeside lunches make you jealous, remember the South Lake Union office totally has open jobs!
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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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