So by now it's probably pretty obvious
that I interviewed at Microsoft. Truthfully, I haven't been looking for
a job, and I tend to like where I'm at right now. That said, I had a
series of casual conversations with various people at Microsoft, and
out of the blue I got a call asking me to come interview for a program
manager position.
The PM position kind of reminds me of the gig I
had at Penton Media, basically where you provide the vision and
direction for something, and coordinate the development of that
product. It's a neat mix of development, architecture, some degree of
project management... really a little of everything.
Since
Microsoft was paying for the visit, and, well, it's Microsoft, how
could I not go? It's hard to say how I think it went, for a lot of
reasons I'll talk about at some other point. Truly I think that this
was as much about me seeing what the company was like as it was the
company seeing if I was a good fit.
So regardless of the
interview itself, I was actually quite surprised at the scope of the
campus. I mean, I know Microsoft is fairly substantial, what with $50
billion in the bank, but it's amazing at how big the many buildings
are, with their parking garages, shuttles driving around, etc. From the
outside perspective, it seems like an enormous amount of overhead.
But
when you get inside, it doesn't strike me as a company of excess, the
way I perceive a lot of technology companies. They seem to be a lot
more invested in their people, which is, I think, the right thing to
spend your money on.
Like I said, I don't have a good read on how
the interview went, or even how I feel overall about the entire
experience, but there is a lot to think about if they do make an offer.
If not, I'll continue working at Insurance.com, where they continue to
give me more responsibility and more opportunity to meaningfully impact
the business.
Wow, I can't believe I just wrote that. Sure is a different scenario than that of eight years ago.