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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Getting to know 320 Westlake
For those just joining me, let’s get up to speed here: I’m on assignment this week, working from Microsoft’s South Lake Union office in Seattle. I’m being all jealous because the teams here are totally hiring, but I love my job in Redmond.
Yesterday I wrote about my amazing 10 minute non-520 in-city commute (!!!) and today I’m sniffing around the building to get a feel for what the space is like.
A picture is worth a thousand words, so get yourself ready for lots of ‘em…
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So, I’m doing something a little different this week. Normally I keep Microspotting focused on the sexy geeks of Microsoft, but this week I’m obsessing over Microsoft’s South Lake Union office — the new, totally non-Redmond, totally Seattle home of a growing development team. I’m going to work here for the week, and tell you how it goes.
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Sara's not working on much ... just, you know, making a first class center of innovation.
The geek in question: Sara Spalding
The job title: Sr. Director of Microsoft’s campus in Cambridge, MA
What are you working on right now?
I’m working on making Cambridge a first class center of innovation for Microsoft.
That’s all? …Slacker. ;)
I think about how to help groups from Redmond build development teams here to take advantage of the local talent pool. I’m working to make sure that we have a great presence in the local community. I make sure all our teams here can be really successful, and I also oversee the renovation of our space and amenities for the campus.
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Reed rocks
The geek in question: Reed Sturtevant
The job title: Managing Director of Microsoft Startup Labs
What are you working on right now?
Hiring in Boston! Our group is in start-up mode. The first of us got hired last fall, and now there are 12 of us. We’ve got seven people who’ve accepted who haven’t started yet.
What kinds of stuff will you be working on?
The idea is to create an internal, Boston-based development group that can build products and launch them to market the same way that start-ups do. We want to do a whole bunch of products at the same time, put them together from scratch. We’ll take ideas and concepts from within the company and figure out how to move these products through the early stages of creating a new business. Evaluate them. Work on prototypes. We’re focused on the early stage, but with permission to ship.
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(spouse)x(spouse)+foocamp=D2R2?
The Geeks in Question: Jennifer Chayes & Christian Borgs
The job titles: Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director of Microsoft Research, respectively. Also: spouses.
You guys are heading to Foo Camp later today, right? I hear that all attendees had to answer a few questions for their bios, including “Which Star Wars character are you?”
Jennifer: I said Luke Skywalker, because I’m always seeking.
Christian: And I said, “I’m D2R2!”
Jennifer: …It’s R2D2! Forgive him, he’s European.
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