Sunday, July 15, 2012


Sleepless in Seattle:  See you all back in school


So folks, this is my last note here. I have only 2 weeks for my last presentation and 3 weeks to my last day here. In order to be as ready as I could, I started working on the presentation a week ago. Next week I hope to circle the deck around the team to have as many corrections as possible. It is actually my 6th presentation this summer - so I must say that at least I learned how the Microsoft people like to have their presentation. Although people's characters is always to be consider while presenting, here in Microsoft most of the presentation are actually the documentation method for the entire project.

Since I networked and connected with so many people, right now there are more than 40 people invited to my final presentation and several more personal meetings with senior managers from other teams that can't participate in the schedule date with my manager (I believe it is also contribute to her network - so I'm happy with that too).

Looking back on my tenure in Microsoft this summer (although I haven't finished yet) it was a great adventure that started 7 months ago - during the recruiting time - continue through my MAP project with the IEB division (gaming studios) and the 9 weeks of internship. I got to know not only a great company that has the ability to change the world, but also amazing people who are smart and open, creative and fun to work with. Microsoft for me feels like a warm blanket of "coming back home" (since I worked in hi-tech before) and I felt in my first weeks here that I know how to hit the floor running.

I would say that there are several takeaways from the entire period (those 7 months):

1.       Go with your heart - do what feels good. If you have fun in your work (especially depends on the people around you) stay there, learn how to love it and put your heart to it.

2.       Be open to feedback. This is why we have two ears and only one mouth - listen 60%-70% of the time, that way you will learn the most.

3.       Smile. It will give you a great feeling and it is contagious so others could start smiling too.

But to be specific about the internship I know I communicate my efforts, needs, questions and results very well. I shared it with smart and key people, networked outside of my immediate environment and put the people around me on my first priority. On the other side I know I did some things not so well - I started to think on business problems with my engineering brain, I almost did some huge political mistakes that could affect my manager and haven't done a great job articulating the story in my presentation the way people in Microsoft use to.


                                                                                    Live long and prosper. Go blue.

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