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International Development Center Series: Copenhagen
In my last post I mentioned that we would be touring the globe visiting some of our international development centers. Our third stop: Copenhagen, Denmark. Take a moment to find out more about one of the 'Softies that works at this location and what he works on. Some pretty interesting stuff happens on our campuses around the world! For a listing of all of our open development roles in Copenhagen, click here.
All the best - Anne‘Softie in Question: Christian Heide Damm
Job title: Development Lead on the Microsoft Dynamics AX teamChristian, can you tell us a little bit about what you do?
I work with a Dynamics AX team, which means that we build the backbone administrative system for many companies; managing their financials, production, inventory, trade and more.
Are most of the roles in Copenhagen in Dynamics or are there a good variety of other roles too?
During my 7 plus years here, I have had 3 significantly different roles on 3 different projects. It is very important to me that I am able to move around in the organization, to try out new roles and be on new projects.Fortunately, the Development Center in Copenhagen is large and varied enough to allow this; we have 600 people working in at least 4 major projects, so there are plenty of opportunities.
What is it like to work at a subsidiary office instead of Microsoft’s headquarters?
We are a relatively small development center – and that means that you get to know many of your co-workers. We feel closer to each other. You don’t feel lost in the crowd. But you still get to work directly on many projects that impact the world of software.Are the employees primarily from Denmark or is it a pretty international office?
About half of the employees here are non-Danes, and people come from 44 different countries. The multi-nationalism makes it possible for us to develop products that are good a fit with customers across the world. I also love the stories that people tell about their home countries. It’s funny and educational.Give us the basics of the Copenhagen campus.
It is located 20 km (12 miles) from Copenhagen. Most people come by car, some come by bike and many use public transportation. There’s frequent train service from Copenhagen, and Microsoft has arranged a shuttle bus from the train station to the campus, so it’s quite convenient.
The campus is really nice, with gardens, green areas, a small forest, and a lake. There’s even a large grass field on the campus. It gets used for all sorts of activities, like soccer and Frisbee. It’s almost calming to walk around campus.
Microsoft offers a large number of social and sports activities through its “Club Sport & More.” There are activities like wine tasting, golf tournament, SCUBA diving, cinema events, skiing trip, swimming lessons, badminton, running and biking.
Why Microsoft is one of the best places to work: Employees gift $100M to non-profits
This week Microsoft shared some news that’s especially heartwarming in this tough economy. Microsoft employees are making a difference in a big way: by giving to others. Not many companies offer a $12K per year match on Employee Giving. Microsoft does. It’s foundational to the culture. And it’s a benefit many Microsoft employees value.Through the annual Employee Giving Campaign, Microsoft employees raised a record-breaking US$100.5 million in 2011. This topped the previous year’s total with donations to more than 18,000 community organizations across the United States and around the world. Overall, more than 64 percent of the company's employees – about 35,500 – got involved in the Giving Campaign during the year.
Here’s what we heard from a few employees:
“To be honest, that number means more to me than any other statistic Microsoft releases,” says Joe Michaels, a senior director of business development in the Online Services Division. “I think that says more about who we are as a company than any earnings figure or any ranking in a Best Places to Work list.”
“Microsoft’s an awesome company to work for. I get to continually do new things, and with the generosity of the company I help raise money for wonderful organizations,” says Crissy House, a senior product marketing manager for SQL Server.
People who value giving and making a difference in the world have the opportunity to double their dollars with the Microsoft Giving Campaign. They can make a huge impact for the causes they love and support.
- Read the full Giving Campaign story on Microsoft PressPass
- Learn more about cool things employees are doing on the JobsBlog and the Facebook Fans page
- Apply for cool design jobs, development engineer jobs and more on the Global Careers site
International Development Center Series: London
‘Softie in Question: Mike Miles
Position at Microsoft: Principle Group Program Manager
Group: Bing
Location: LondonQuick rundown on you role, your team, and a bit about yourself:
I have a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics and have worked in the software industry for the last 20+ (yikes!) years. I started my career as a developer and worked my way up to a director level engineering manager at a medium sized start-up before joining Microsoft. Ten years ago, I joined Microsoft and helped lead some of our new STB projects in Microsoft’s then most recent acquisition, WebTV. I spent the next seven years in online services, primarily MSN (this when both Windows Live and Bing were still part of MSN) and three years ago, became the third or fourth employee of a brand new group within Bing – Search Technology Center (STC) Europe.
Currently, I am a Group Program Manager for STC Europe and have two different teams and roles. First, I lead a PM team responsible for the global development of some Bing’s more interesting features - Auto Suggest, Related Search, Speller and ‘Combined Alterations’. Collectively, we refer to these features as Query Formulation and our core mission is to help refine and improve the quality of the user’s query and thereby increase the satisfaction the user has with their search session on Bing.
Second, I lead a team responsible for ensuring that Bing’s entire engineering team understands and prioritizes the quality and feature improvements that help make our international markets successful. It’s an interesting fast-paced role and I’ve been lucky to work alongside a tremendously strong SDE team to lead an outstanding organization of ~25 PMs and international SDETs who are passionate about Bing and the opportunity to make a difference to the 100s of millions of users word-wide and the 10s of billions of queries that they generate every year.
Tell me more about the Microsoft offices in London?
Our London office is one of 5 main offices for STC-Europe; others are in Munich DE, Paris FR, Wroclaw PL and Bellevue WA. All of our offices have a unique culture and product focus but all offices have a definite start-up feel and passion about the Bing product and search industry overall. The focus of the London office is on Query Formulation as mentioned above. The team is very diverse talent wise – we have Editors, Testers, Program Managers, Developers, Machine Learning and Information Retrieval expertise, and quite a few PhDs on the team. We are quite culturally diverse as well – in our London office, we have people who speak French, Polish, German, Italian, Spanish, Catalan and, of course, English. And the sense of team is very strong, we play football after hours, foosball during breaks and aren’t afraid to have a pint (or two) after work.
What is it like to work at Microsoft in one of our subsidiary offices compared to working in the US Headquarters?
Working in one of the Subs is a great experience. Team members are much more connected with the business and given the relatively small team size, it’s easy to influence product direction and make an impact. While we are well connected with Bing’s ‘core team’ in Bellevue, we maintain a fair amount of autonomy in terms of setting direction, pace and culture of our team. And of course, we also have strong relationships with other remote sites in Hyderabad, Beijing, and Silicone Valley and of course our other STC-Europe offices
What was the reason you considered applying to Microsoft? How did you find out about the specific role you are currently in right now?
I’ve been in Microsoft for almost 10 years now and what interested me originally was the breadth of products that Microsoft is involved in, the diversity of technology used across the company, the variety of disciplines and backgrounds across the company, the leadership position that Microsoft enjoys in a multiplicity of business segments and the opportunities all of that allows for career development.My first role for the company was leading the development of a new STC for MSN TV (Microsoft’s acquisition of WebTV). This was a challenging role for me since it was the first consumer focused product that I’ve been involved in and the project was quit complex, comprising hardware, embedded systems, client and server elements and distribution channel. I have had very diverse roles in the company since then and that career diversity is one of the things that keeps me excited about Microsoft. I was lucky enough to have good relationships with our then VP and who encouraged me to explore a role in our new offices in Europe. I spoke to a number of people about the role and plans for STC-Europe and was hooked. It’s been a fantastic role for me and has been a great opportunity for my family.
Any tips to job seekers around the world interested in relocating to London and working at Microsoft?
We are always recruiting and currently hiring in STC Europe’s London, Munich and Bellevue offices. If we don’t have a position that currently matches your interests and experience, it’s possible that we will again in the near future. We are looking for anyone with expertise, experience and passion to build a world-class Search product with a special focus on Developers who have Machine Learning, Information Retrieval or related Computer Science background. I need to provide updated contact information.Microsoft International Development Centers
I've got good news for International job seekers interested in Microsoft software development opportunities, but not ready to relocate Stateside: we have jobs in the places you live!
This is the first in a series to showcase some of our global development centers and development teams. They are working on a wide variety of different technology and products with the team sizes range from big to small. The one thing that they all have in common is that they have huge impact on products that are used around the world. I'm looking forward to sharing the interviews and pictures from these places around the world.
So keep an eye on JobsBlog for my posts over the next months as we go around the world - meeting the people who build the software we use. Our first stop next week will be in Oslo, Norway.
In the meantime, for a listing of all of our development opportunities – visit the below links. There may not be openings right now in all of these locations, but join the Talent Network and get notified as opportunities become available within your location and technology interests.
Canada: Click Here
China: Click Here
Europe: Click Here
India: Click Here
Israel: Click Here
Japan: Click Here
For all other positions and locations: Click Here
Thanks all – hope this helps you find that job you’ve been looking for….it is possibly closer to home then you thought!
-AnneWhy work at Microsoft? International Microfilms Contest Shows Why
A few months ago we published a brief story on a contest we were running at Microsoft that challenged our employees to tell us why they loved working here in a video of 10 seconds. 10 seconds is not so much time when you think about it. But our US winners were impressive in their creativity.The contest was also run with our offices globally and we now have the exclusive video from the international winners. Check out the moving, hair raising, and downright heart felt submissions by the winners from our offices around the world. Congratulations!
After viewing the films, take a moment to customize your job search experience with us! You can sign up for individualized job agents and be notified of upcoming events. It only takes a few minutes and it's all here right now!
Emel Ozturk - Microsoft Dubai
Leo Shum - Microsoft China
Basar Guner - Microsoft Istanbul
Microsoft's DigiGirlz Program Ends Year on High Note
It’s hard to recap all the incredible projects ‘Softies dedicate their time to over a year in addition to their work commitments (though we do try!), but I wanted to take a moment to give a shout out to all the folks that spend time mentoring young women through our DigiGirlz program.2011 was an remarkable year for this program with over 5,100 participating students in locations around the US and the world – Spain, Ecuador, Singapore, Denmark and Jamaica – to name just a few.
DigiGirlz, if you aren’t familiar, is a program run by Microsoft that gives high school girls the chance to learn about careers in technology, connect with Microsoft employees, and get hands on with computers and technology through one day workshops and High Tech Camps.
It may come as no surprise, but women are still extremely underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). An August 2011 report by the U.S. Department of Commerce indicates that although women fill close to half of all jobs, they hold less than 25% of STEM jobs.
As Catherine Ashcraft, a senior research scientist at the National Center for Women & IT, said in an article about the Charlotte, N.C. DigiGirlz camp written for Diverse Magazine, “There are messages that girls get either subtly or not so subtly about who are the kinds of people who do technology. In popular culture it’s often not girls who do the inventing.” And, when they do develop an interest in technology, Ashcraft also talked about the lack of role models. “They find they are often the only girl in the class. It’s intimidating and difficult for them.”
That is where Microsoft’s commitment to DigiGirlz comes in as an early effort to change perceptions of women in STEM related careers.
This amazing lineup of guest speakers and dedicated Microsoft volunteers – all serving as role models, all making valuable contributions in the world through technology – are opening young women’s eyes to the variety of opportunities available in the high-tech industry and to all the things they can accomplish.
As one girl commented on her evaluation form after listening to a workshop session, “It really inspired me to do something extraordinary with my life.”
Tales from the MNC: The team behind Windows Phone’s breakthrough design
As I've mentioned before, the Microsoft News Center (MNC) is a great place to check out the latest official news about our company. But they are also running an incredible series about the engineers behind the amazing products at our company.James Drage, Ricardo Espinoza, Joshua Phillips and Sue Loh - who we profiled here on JobsBlog for her work with high school students - sat down with an interviewer at the MNC to talk about their groundbreaking work on Windows Phone's new look, Mango, and life beyond Microsoft.
Of course you can always read the full article here, but I can't help but highlight my favorite portion of the piece for you here. Especially since it goes to the heart of why I think working at Microsoft is so phenomenal; it's all about the impact. So get a little taste in this excerpt and then head on over and read the full story to see how else these engineers are creating extraordinary experiences every day.
MNC: What’s the thing you’re most proud of about your work?
Drage: I’m proud of the people I’ve managed and mentored to help make this a better company. While I’m not currently a people manager directly, I have been in the past, and that experience has always rubbed off on me. I feel you can always be five or 10 times more effective if you help other people to grow. I’m also proud of the products we’ve put together, especially Windows Phone. I talk to people a lot about their cell phone, and I always get really positive feedback about the Windows Phone that we’ve built.
Espinoza: I’d have to agree with that. I like to walk into the stores and see the Windows Phone displayed, knowing that I helped to build it. It makes me proud to see the phones out there in the field.
Loh: Yeah, the impact we’re able to have on other people’s lives is really amazing. From my years on Windows CE and Windows Phone, there are literally millions of devices out there running software I’ve worked on. I’ve loved the interaction I’ve had with OEMs [original equipment manufacturers], software developers and end users over the years. I’ve been proud to influence so many peoples’ lives.
Microsoft makes a movie: Ctrl+Alt+Compete
Microsoft recently dove head first into the world of film making with our first ever in-house produced documentary entitled Ctrl+Alt+Compete.
As Darryl McDade explains it’s the behind the scenes stories of five startups and how they take their ideas and develop them into products we might end up using in our everyday lives.
But, it’s not always that easy. This documentary is brutally honest and shows all the highs and lows a startup and entrepreneur can go through during this process. Along with the celebratory fist pumping wins there are also the awkwardly painful face-palm moments to say the least.
I’m itching to see the movie myself, but have had to satisfy my cravings with the interview footage and deleted scenes that didn’t make it into the full length movie. You can check these out on Channel 9 or Facebook. Believe me, totally worth the watch.
Though if you don’t want to take my word for it you can always read Todd Bishop’s review on GeekWire.
In the meantime, here is the official trailer for the film:Microfilms challenge 'Softies to focus
Recently Microsoft ran an employee competition challenging 'Softies to create a short film showing why they loved working here. A really short film. I mean 10 seconds short. That's not a lot of time to convey a lot of information, but these three contestants managed to do it and do it well. These winners are from the US and we are waiting eagerly for the International winners to be announced. Until then we hope you enjoy these three short Microfilms!Cheers,
ZoeJordan Naftolin: What I Like About Microsoft Song
Hal Zucati: My Microsoft
Robert Deupree: Culture of Focus
Exploring the Ocean in Our Brains with Jaron Lanier
As a Microsoft employee we have access to this amazing internal website that is usually my first stop if I need anything. Whether that's a product related question, info about the company or what's for lunch in building 112. My favorite part of the site - no big mystery here - publishes stories about the incredible people and happenings from a 'Softie perspective. It's called Inside Track and it's a little like a suped up company newsletter. This week I feel really lucky that we are able to share one of the stories from Inside Track with all of you! Jake Siegel had the opportunity to sit down with Jaron Lanier - a true technological pioneer - and found out about his thoughts on Kinect, avatars, the Internet, and, most interestingly, why he chose Microsoft.Happy reading,
ZoeExploring the Ocean in Our Brains with Jaron Lanier
By Jake Siegel
Jaron Lanier has spent decades thinking about technology and the ways we use—and misuse—it. He also has been thinking long and hard about using avatars to access the untapped potential of our brains.
One evening last November, Jaron Lanier queued up outside a video game store in California and counted down the minutes until he could buy Kinect for Xbox 360. Jaron—a technologist, computer scientist, composer, and one of Time magazine's 100 most-influential people of 2010—was just as excited to get his hands on Microsoft's motion-sensing camera as the other gamers in line, most of whom he quickly realized were half his age. He was only slightly embarrassed by the observation."As a grown-up and as a father I can't believe I did that," said Jaron, a partner architect for Microsoft Research (MSR). "But I was just so amazed it was really happening."
He had been waiting for that moment for a long time. At MSR, he had consulted for years on the project that ultimately became Kinect. But in a sense, the story goes back much further. Jaron has spent decades scouting the frontier of human-machine interaction. In a Silicon Valley garage 30 years ago, he and some friends became the first avatars—movable representations of themselves in cyberspace. He has watched the computer science industry's adventures with avatars crawl along ever since.
Jaron sees Kinect as a breakthrough for those adventures, a rare instance where consumer technology leaps past what is happening in research labs. And that was precisely why he decided to join Microsoft in 2006 as a scholar-at-large in spite of what he calls "a long history of not holding down a real job."
"This is the only operation in the world of any kind—public, private, or otherwise—where some of the things that I've dreamed about could actually be brought out into the world," he said. "That's extraordinary."
Expanding the way we think
Still, it's difficult for him to define what the term means today or to say whether those early visions have come true. Virtual reality has probably had its biggest success as an industrial technology, Jaron said; surgeons routinely practice surgical procedures through simulators, and you can't buy a car today that hasn't been prototyped in virtual reality.
But the experiences Jaron and his friends had in a garage 30 years ago—transforming themselves into avatars in immersive environments—haven't become commonplace. That's because for years one needed to don a bulky bodysuit to become an avatar. Kinect changed that overnight, Jaron said. Its camera can instantly capture what the body is doing and map that to an avatar.
It's too early to imagine all the possibilities Kinect will unleash, but Jaron believes it's the start of something profound. What's really exciting for him isn't the ability to see yourself in an immersive 3-D environment ("though it is cool"). It's the fact that you yourself change. He wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Kinect represents a new wave of technology that has the potential to expand the way we think. Ask him what he means, and he'll excitedly start talking about nonhuman avatars and somatic cognition. (Somatic means "of the body"—Jaron often apologizes when he tries to explain it in the context of his research. "Even when I have lots of space to write about it, it's still hard," he said.)
Essentially, he believes there's some kind of untapped potential in the brain that we might be able to access when we play with nonrealistic avatars. One possible area of application is education, where students could transform themselves into a molecule during a chemistry lesson, for example, or become a triangle to study geometry.
"What I'm trying to figure out is if there's another channel to intelligence, if there's this whole other ocean in our brains waiting to be explored," he said. "That's the long-term topic I'm really interested in exploring, and I think Kinect could be the first step toward understanding it."
Advocating 'techno-humanism'
Jaron is many things—computer scientist, musician, author—but he is not a machine. Last year he wrote a book reminding everyone that they aren't, either. It caused a bit of a stir.
"You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto" explored the power and limitations of human interaction in a socially networked world. Jaron believes deeply in the promise of the Internet, but he laments the way we're using it today. The book's chief target was Web 2.0 and what Jaron sees as its celebration of online collectivism. Jaron believes Web 2.0 principles of collaboration and sharing have spawned what he calls "digital Maoism," where the individual is trumped by collective groupthink, content creators can't make a buck, and open forums are taken over by rampaging, anonymous mobs.He's particularly critical of the belief that all content on the web should be free. He contrasts that view with the PC revolution of the past few decades, which he says helped create wealth for tons of people. Today everyone champions the advertising model that in his mind is "the computational equivalent of heroin."
"The notion that it was OK to look to PCs as a way to make living but you shouldn't expect the same from the Internet is a total abrogation of our duty to society," he said. "And I really feel if this sort of advertising model of the Internet hadn't become so dominant around turn of century, I think we would have created enough new wealth in the middle classes to avoid the recession we're going through."
Jaron instead advocates a form of computing he calls techno-humanism, where the individual is celebrated and the Internet offers a path to creativity and economic growth. He wants web designers and network engineers to think about ways to value people over information.
"I think there has to be this kind of reemphasis of a sacred faith in people being special that has to be emphasized over and over again at every level of computation, both in the user experience and the way networks are designed," he said. "Because if computers provide this other worldview where everything is just information, computation can sort of erase people."
The technologist as skeptic
In the wake of "You Are Not a Gadget," some people read Jaron's views as "antitechnology." He waves off the charge. Jaron believes a critical component of his work as a technologist is taking a hard look at the ways we use—and misuse—technology.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Jaron is a prolific writer. In addition to his books, he frequently writes op-ed articles that appear in publications such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. He views that public life as essential to who he is, and before he joined Microsoft he made sure that everyone was OK with the fact that he spoke his mind frequently.
"I asked what if I say something that upsets someone at Microsoft?" he said. "They said 'we're grown-ups. We'll live.' I thought that was great."
"I think it's hucksterism to be working on technology without also being a skeptic or being cautionary about how to misuse it," he said. "So I view being a critic, being tough on us, on myself, on our technology, as part of my responsibility of being a technologist."
As he researches the future of computing at MSR, Jaron will also sound the alarm whenever he sees technology take a wrong turn. Despite that skeptical eye, he firmly believes technology is essential to humanity's future. He bemoans the dystopian visions that Hollywood typically offers when it portrays technology in the coming decades. Jaron himself has dabbled in the movies. He was an advisor on 2001's "Minority Report." As much as he enjoyed the experience, he disagreed strongly with the film's "back-to-nature" end.
"You can't turn against technology to find a meaningful future," he said. "If that's what you think is a happy ending, we're all going to starve to death."
At the end of the day, Jaron proclaims he is an optimist. He believes technology is our hope for a better tomorrow.
"Of course I'm an optimist—otherwise, what are you doing here?" he said. "Find yourself another planet if you don't want to be optimistic about this one. We've hit the limits of the earth as we understand it, and now the pressure is on technologists to come through. And I believe we will."