Channel9 did what I was unable to ever get done: filmed some of the interview process. It's not an actual interview, but Gretchen Ledgard and Zoe Goldring, both Central Sourcing Consultants at HR for MS, lead you through what to expect at a Microsoft interview, providing a wealth of wonderful MS interviewing tips.

I’ve spent the last 8 months driving me wife to get rid of a ton of her stuff so that we could use more than the front 2 inches of every drawer, cupboard and closet in the house (of course, it’s her stuff that I find to be extraneous : ). Yesterday, while she was on her 2nd night of working 3 12-hour night shifts in a row, I sent her the following email (yes, that’s just the kind of nerd that I am):

 

The “shiny” stuff above the fridge is all kinds of silver and pewter that we never, ever use but must keep because someone in one of our families looked at it once a long time ago. Plus, who knows, the Pope could visit to try to convert us back. This was her complete reply after 25 hours of work, 6 hours of commute and 6 hours of sleep over 2 days:

 

From: Melissa Sells [mailto:msells@sellsbrothers.com]
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2004 8:27 AM
To: ‘Chris Sells’
Subject: RE: Moving the shiny stuff above the frig?

Is there something that you feel you need to put above the fridge? Are you planning on letting a midget live up there? Because I think that if you are going to let a midget live in the house, they have a right to have a room with a window or something. In that case, you should have them move into the cupboard under the counter in the laundry room and we can knock out a space for a window. It would also be a lot easier for them to get to without having to rig up some sort of ladder, as that would just take up more of your precious space. On the other hand, living above the fridge would give them easy access to the food, and we could have a string with a roll up ladder rigging. Although having easier access to the fridge may make them over eat and they may get wedged up in the space over the fridge, be unable to escape and then we will have to explain why we have that strange odor in the kitchen.

 

Is there any doubt why I love her? : )

Channel9 did what I was unable to ever get done: filmed some of the interview process (part 1, part 2 and part 3). It’s not an actual interview, but Gretchen Ledgard and Zoe Goldring, both Central Sourcing Consultants at HR for MS, lead you through what to expect at a Microsoft interview, providing a wealth of wonderful tips, e.g.

• MS is casual, so it doesn’t matter so much what you where (i.e. don’t feel you have to wear a suit, but don’t show up in flip-flops and headphones around your neck [still playing!]). Regardless of what you where, it’s what’s in your head that’s important.
• Interact a lot of with the interviewer. Ask questions, think out loud, etc. The questions are meant to be vague and again, it’s about what’s going on in your head, so verbalize it.
• Bring water if you’re thirsty, not coffee, as spilling coffee is going to leave a much more lasting stain/impression.
• MS rarely asks logic/riddle questions anymore. They’re not a good indicator of a good employee.
• Expect coding questions if you’re a dev, testing questions if you’re a tester and passion questions no matter what.
• If an MS recruiter calls, don’t expect them to have a specific job in mind. Instead, expect to be asked what you’d like to do at MS.
• If the first interview doesn’t take, it may well be that you’re right for MS but not right for that job. It can literally take years to find the right job for you at MS.

BTW, I have to say that I never got a ride on an HR shuttle. I guess they save that for the “good” hires… : )

Rory has posted his MSDN speaking schedule. I’m already signed up for the Portland, OR talk on August 26. I can’t wait to hear Rory regale us with “a demo-packed afternoon” where I will “gain valuable insight into .NET development.” Plus, we get “a sneak peek at what’s coming in ASP.NET 2.0!” What could be better? Come one, come all!

Arun Bhatnagar found Longhorn on Mars today:

“I am a software developer who is currently working on C#/.net in Canada. Like so many other developers I am really excited about the features in Longhorn. I am waiting for it and so it is really good to know that Longhorn already exists on Mars. Yes, that’s what USA Today reported today. Read the caption beside the image in this story.”

Apparently NASA’s in the early adopter program… : )

It’s easy to forget the real people behind any given project, especially one the size of Indigo with Don as the pretty figure head. In this video, Don (via Robert and Channel9) shows you a fraction of the people that work on the team and they reveal their deepest past implementation shames and triumphs. Put a face on CoInitializeSecurity and enjoy.

While not nearly as extensive as Christophe Nasarre's 3-part look at MSBuild (part 1, part 2 and part 3), Klaus Aschenbrenner has provided a nice 3-page overview of MSBuild, including the major elements, a "hello world" .proj file and even a quick look at building custom tasks.

In his piece Software Practitioner Triad (I know it’s old, but I just got pointed to it by Phil Weber), Alan Cooper points out three different folks needed to design and build software:

• Architect: responsible for determining who the user is, what he or she is trying to accomplish, and what behavior the software must exhibit to satisfy these human goals.
• Engineer: technical problem solving via experimentation, not fettered with the demands of producing release code.
• Programmer: producing a shippable product, consisting mostly of protective code that rarely—if ever—executes, but is dedicated to supporting obscure edge cases, platform idiosyncrasies, and error conditions.

I’ve done all three, but am happiest with architect and engineer. Where are you in your current job? Where do you want to be?