A Media Center for $749. That’s a good deal!
This could be the koolaid talking but after two weeks here I can honestly say that I’m loving it.
(But I guess we’ll see how I feel after I really start working).
Omar hacks his Media Center’s front panel display.
I just got my Media Center working at my office on Friday and hopefully I’ll be getting one at home soon and then I can geek out and hack the thing to pieces. Though I don’t own a TV… Or a couch…
Random reflections after two weeks of being a new hire straight out of ‘college’ PM at Microsoft:
- Things will start slowly even if everyone else is super busy
- Eating your own dogfood is good but it doesn’t mean it tastes good
- Find your peers and start sitting in on their meetings
- Schedule short one on one’s with a broad range of people in your division as well as all the people you’ll be interacting with on a daily basis.
- There is a surprising number of Waterloo grads here
- The benefits are great
- You don’t really need a SSN straight away. I thought I wouldn’t be able to do anything until I had one but I was able to get a cellphone, open a bank account, get a credit card,.. without one
- Get up to speed with all the potential tools you will be using as soon as possible
- The intranet is a vast resource though I wish there was more
- I wish the personnel directory had everyone’s photo (Amazon has a nice HR org tool with photos and all)
- Mailing lists are your friends.
- In two weeks only one MS person has called me on the phone
- Voicemails show up as emails. Why can’t my cell phone work like this??
- You’re free to leave a meeting if your issue has been addressed
- Cell phones do not work in our part of the building
- It’s okay to watch TV at work
- Everyone really is 31.2 just like from Microserfs
- Microsoft cares about saving money. They have these turn off your unnecessary equipment posters in the elevators.
- Everyone is very friendly. I’ve already been invited out mountain biking and sailing
- I’ve seen no evidence of Bill Gates worship. I don’t think anyone has even mentioned him.
- Having an office mate is great (whether he feels that way is another question). He’s a great resource and is teaching me lots of bad habits and filling me in with the backstory.
If you have questions about me moving to Seattle/working for the devil maybe I have answers so go crazy in the comments.
From The Waterloo Tech Digest which if you live/study/work in Waterloo you should be subscribed to.
* Matt Goyer, the former UW student from Winnipeg who founded Fairtunes (remember the website where you could donate money to the musicians whose work you downloaded?) has just moved to Seattle and been assimilated. He is now a program manager for Microsoft.
I wouldn’t say I have been assimilated yet but we’ll see :).