Dangerous Transitions + 1 Year = Shipped Already
Another year mark: Joe Beda's been at Google for a year. I think all former Microsofties at Google should probably celebrate their first anniversary by getting a cake with a flying chair blazoned in icing. Or perhaps a chair bouncing harmlessly off of the Google logo... hmm, there's a Google-doodle waiting to happen...
And most importantly for anyone looking to network with former Microsofties, Mr. Beda has the following note:
Oh yeah, and my non-compete and non-solicit contracts with Microsoft have now expired. If you are looking for new challenges feel free to send me a resume.
It is post review season and Labor Day. A double reason to contemplate more deeply if you really love what you're doing and whether a big change would do you good. Either you're going to work for change deep inside Microsoft (which has to be part of an outraged cacophony demanding accountability and cut-backs) or you're just going to free yourself up and see if you can rekindle the passion elsewhere.
Updated: formatting tweaks.
57 comments:
And what product does the ex-softie work for?
Google Talk, the crappiest, least innovative Google product of them all. I suspect in a couple of years there's going to be a Mini-Google blog too, because of all the cruft GOOG is hiring.
Touché. I should have addressed that as part of the post since I knew it was going to be pointed out. Let’s check-in yearly from now on to see if there’s a Mini-GOOG. In the meantime, though, there’s working and slipping and working and slipping and then there’s getting together a coherent strategy and shipping. Something.
I am still not getting what is so cool in Google software development. Let's say you are hiring someone and ask what kind of software s/he developed. The answer: Google Toolbar. My reaction: suppressed laugh and recommendation for junior dev position. Reason: there is nothing interesting/complex in this app. It is something average dev should be able to craft in a few weeks. Do you want to have "Web developer" on your resume? I don't - this position does not pay much. Maybe if you work on their core stuff, algorithms, high performance things, you'll have your skills up to date. But otherwise...
Actually, I would be more interested to hear what hours that guys worked, what kind of review, bonus, merit and stock did he get. Show me the money.
It is easier to keep going to the same place every day even if you hate it than starting a company, getting a new job, getting the same benefits, risking your family's income when you have kids, etc...
If you think Google products need to be improved, get a job there and fix it. Their organizational structure is a lot flatter and you can start projects on your own that could end up being products.
Or, you could go to work tomorrow and bitch about how you're getting screwed on your review, promotions, stock grants, salary, etc.
Why do you want to improve something that does nothing but abuse you? Why do you keep going back for more abuse? Have they eroded your self esteem to the point where you believe you are mediocre?
Do you stay because you love them and think you can change them?
Who loves you baby? -- Kojak
For you MSFTies thinking about Google, remember, you don't get your own office there.
Or perhaps a chair bouncing harmlessly off of the Google logo
I can picture a grunting Donkey Kong throwing a chair at the Google logo....
Or perhaps a chair bouncing harmlessly off of the Google logo
Or perhaps Steve Ballmer riding a donkey and dressed as Don Quixote trying to off Google with a chair.
It is funny how Google is getting some sort of a "glow" of a much better place while, in fact, nothing is known on their pay level, bonus, merit, stock, promotion system, etc. What is known is that "20% your own projects" and that Google has some sort of open-floor plan (btw - do they read books on peopleware? offices with doors have been considered superior to cubes since 15 years ago) and that they sit in CA (expensive and overpopulated). Otherwise Google looks like pretty much any other public company. Stock? With their P/E? Don't make me laugh.
Don Quixote
That's pretty funny. How about Ballmer as the Black Knight:
Oh, oh, I see, running away then. You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite your legs off!
It is funny how Google is getting some sort of a "glow" of a much better place while, in fact, nothing is known on their pay level, bonus, merit, stock, promotion system, etc.
If you want to know, you can:
1) Ask someone that works there
2) Get an interview or a job offer and find out. They have an office in Kirkland.
offices with doors have been considered superior to cubes since 15 years ago
If you're getting screwed on salary, promotions etc., at least no one can see you bend over 'cause you have an office.
1. You have to know someone and that someone should at least match your current level. Few people will disclose everything so you probably need to replace 'someone' by 'close friend'
2. Why waste time just to get a number? Besides, any company HR will try to lowball you unless you are really well known and they want you.
3. Kirkland office is small and if you don't like it there, or you want to work on something different, you'll have little choice but move.
Objective data, please. And who said I am getting screwed? Really good performers rarely get screwed, or they just move to another team which will be happy to see them. And I bet Google does not want lifetime 3.0s. So far all whining in comments has been from "ooooh, I am L60 and I am getting 3.0". Look, if you are unable to get to 61, which is really easy provided you know how to write code, it is really your own problem.
Why waste time just to get a number?
Who says getting a number is a waste of time?
If you get offered more than what you are making, unless your name is Karl Marx or you really like purple Koolaid, you would probably take it or use it to get a better deal at Microsoft.
The offer you get would indicate what someone other than your current employer thinks you are worth as an employee.
Besides, any company HR will try to lowball you unless you are really well known and they want you.
That includes HR at Microsoft.
If you do not like what they offer, try another company. There is more than one.
And I bet Google does not want lifetime 3.0s.
Try interviewing at another company and see if they think you are a "3.0" (a.k.a. "just doing your job" or "just dumb enough to believe everything you are told").
It seems you are getting wrong impression. I am lifetime 3.8 and I am getting pretty good money at MS so I don't feel like company is screwing me up. I also pretty sure that there are multiple companies I can join. I simply do not see any reason to waste any time on interviews.
As a matter of fact, the very fact of the interview means "we don't trust you" and "it is you who want the job and we won't tell you anything until WE think you are worth it". I know I am good and I am not looking for a job so far. Show me you are worth interviewing at.
How's 30% increase in pay rub you, the guy who "earns pretty good money"? I'm sure you'd know what to do with the extra cash. Maybe retire a few years earlier, or send your kid to Yale instead of UW, or buy a better house.
All of this assumes you truly are good, and lifetime 3.8 is not a surefire indication of that. You could be a somewhat decent guy in a low-performance team.
Yeah, promise from Anonymous. I guess it is Anonymous Google HR speaking. Right. Not even asking 30% of what amount.
Objective information, please. Former MS level, new pay, bonus, merit, stock.
As a matter of fact, the very fact of the interview means "we don't trust you" and "it is you who want the job and we won't tell you anything until WE think you are worth it".
How many times were you interviewed at Microsoft?
When you got a job offer, did they tell you how much you would be making?
Objective information, please.
You have the means to find out for yourself. Get an offer from one of the many companies in the area and compare it to what you have now.
If you are satisfied with what you have and are not interested in a promotion or an increase in pay, give Steve Ballmer a call and see what he says. I'm sure he'll give you a job repairing chairs.
>> Anonymous Google HR speaking
Ph34r them, they're out to get j00. :-)
I wasn't talking about Google specifically. I do know that some other companies around here pay 20% more to folks who at MSFT would be considered mediocre at best. So for someone who things he's "good" I think the figure should be higher.
The comment about a junior dev writing Google Toolbar makes me laugh. Man, I ***WISH*** Microsoft started selling software that could be written by a junior dev!!
Instead we get Indigo and Avalon and .NET and COM and WinFS when all we want to do is display a freakin' stock quote on the side of the screen.
Imagine Microsoft developing Toolbar or Dashboard... the incessant meetings, the late nights, the schedule slips, the security holes, and in the end it gets cut, only to be implemented by a handful of college newhires working for our competitor. So, why are you laughing?
>there's going to be a Mini-Google blog too,
>because of all the cruft GOOG is hiring
I pretty much agree with this - GOOG is going to hit the same issues that MSFT did when we rapidly expanded. I mean come on, they even hired Mark Jen. Yeah yeah, we hired him first but I don't know if he did anything dumber at MS :)
Anyone else see this story about Ballmer's reaction to Lucovsky telling him about leaving for GOOG.
Hilarious. Just think about that for a second, Mark Lucovsky - is willing to step up and provide evidence against Ballmer which will hurt MSFT. He must HATE Ballmer really bad to be able to fuck over MSFT after being such a key architect for over 15 years.
He must HATE Ballmer really bad to be able to fuck over MSFT after being such a key architect for over 15 years.
Yeah, that's right, you can read MarkL's mind! Whether or not he feels any love for Ballmer is irrelevant - he was giving testimony under oath. If he truly hated MSFT, his blog would likely have reflected that. Why don't you grow the fuck up and not trash people you don't know before you have the facts.
re: non-compete
What exactly does this mean? Wouldn't working at Google be seen as working for the competition? Or does the contract just prevent you from starting a new company that competes with Microsoft?
I'm assuming that this kind of stuff can be talked about publically. If not, don't answer...
"What exactly does this mean?"
Technically, it means whatever MS legal desires to interpret it as. You'd be hard-pressed to find any producer of software (other than, say, an IT org) that doesn't compete with MS in some way. That's the lovely insidiousness of this clause, and why it is legally unenforceable in CA.
And don't forget about the "inevitable disclosure" aspect that Microsoft lawyers are using in this lawsuit. That is the really evil part of it.
he was giving testimony under oath
Yeah but sounds more like mark "volunteered" that information?
Yeah but sounds more like mark "volunteered" that information?
A smart lawyer, and Google can afford them, would have drawn him out. They're well aware of Ballmer's reputation, they probably had a good idea that he would have exploded in such a meeting and would have pushed Mark for specifics.
I worked in the Hailstorm Team. As far as I'm concerned, SteveB broke his word to MarkL.
Hell, that's half of why I left.
Meanwhile, in SBS, we say whuh?
http://blogs.msdn.com/mssmallbiz/archive/2005/09/07/462017.aspx
Microsoft is announcing Microsoft Dynamics™, the new brand of financial, customer relationship and supply-chain management solutions for small and midsize businesses, large organizations and divisions of global enterprises. The new brand will replace Microsoft Business Solutions going forward and represents Microsoft’s strategy to align its products with its research and development roadmap, formerly referred to as "Project Green," which centers on a people and process-centric design approach to deliver breakthrough innovation in two significant release waves.
View full details at: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2005/sep05/09-06Brand.mspx
Thank you and have a wonderful day,
Eric Ligman
Microsoft US Senior Manager,
Small Business Community Engagement
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
I am still not getting what is so cool in Google software development. Let's say you are hiring someone and ask what kind of software s/he developed. The answer: Google Toolbar. My reaction: suppressed laugh and recommendation for junior dev position. Reason: there is nothing interesting/complex in this app. It is something average dev should be able to craft in a few weeks. Do you want to have "Web developer" on your resume? I don't - this position does not pay much. Maybe if you work on their core stuff, algorithms, high performance things, you'll have your skills up to date. But otherwise...
You don't get it. Nobody cares about the latest Windows, word, excel, etc. releases. Same shit, different release. This isn't a race to see who can make the most complicated app - nobody cares. Who is going to make more money - the "junior developer" who made toolbar, which is used by jillions of people each day or you? Not gonna be you...
If this stuff is so easy, why didn't MS ship it years ago?
Good point on the little toolbar thing.
Noting that MOT/AAPL will probably have a $multibillion Christmas product with the Rokr.
We should be able to do shit like that in our sleep.
"Microsoft Dynamics"
i just love it. instead of fire every executive in that division, we spend yet another billion or so in marketing to give them 1 or 2 more years. is it too crazy dreaming about a company where everyone is measured with the same bar?
I work in MBS. This "Microsoft Dynamics" business is such a joke. The division has such serious problems, beginning with the complete lack of leadership from the executives. Solution: waste a bunch of time and money on rebranding. Great. Nothing solved. Customers more confused than ever.
You have to love this from the press release:
"Our branding and product-naming strategy is the next logical step in our evolution."
Yeah... wouldn't the next logical step in our evolution be building and selling *ONE* ERP product instead of *FOUR*? When is that going to happen? I know it's on the "roadmap" but *when*? How about *ONE* Outlook integrated CRM product instead *TWO*? How about *ONE* CRM product period, instead of each ERP having its own?
I think the next "logical step in our evolution" is firing the grossly incompetent executives and actually trying to have a strategy to *make money*.
Anyone who thinks the MBS executives are not complete idiots needs to ask any MBS person about Doug Burgum's rambling, incoherent speech at the MBS Open House a few weeks ago. This is the guy that's leading us.
This would all be funny if it weren't so fucking depressing. Time to get out of that division while the getting's good.
In other news, poor Kai-Fu Lee says that Bill yelled at him and used "the F-word"...
God, thank you for punishing the evil empire. I am so happy to see MS sinking into the muck of mediocrity. It is awesome.
>In other news, poor Kai-Fu Lee >says that Bill yelled at him and >used "the F-word"...
Of course Bill should yell at him. "Poor" Kai-Fu Lee earned more than 5 millions USD in 4 years, not bad huh? Microsoft has put a huge bet on this guy and strategy in China, and this guy actually fucked up that strategy. Bill is right IMO.
"Anyone who thinks the MBS executives are not complete idiots needs to ask any MBS person about Doug Burgum's rambling, incoherent speech at the MBS Open House a few weeks ago. This is the guy that's leading us."
No, they are completely useless but not idiots. Idiots are Ballmer and Gates who continue to leave these assholes in place so that they can continue to earn exhorbitant salaries and exercise $M's in stock while simultaneously fucking up on virtually every dimension that might reasonably be applied to assessing their "progress" to date.
In the words of salesforce.com's CEO - a CRM company that actually is taking share - "[Microsoft's] CRM efforts to date have been a major failure, perhaps the worst in Microsoft history," he told CRN via e-mail. The company's "enterprise activities" also have failed, "especially the purchase of Great Plains,"
http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/breakingnews.jhtml?articleId=170701391
And how about that about-face on offering a direct hosted service? MSFT mgt = Keystone cops.
Wow, I was considering applying to the 'soft with a view to starting work after I graduate next year, but I don't think I will after reading this stuff! It sounds really genuinely written by an insider, but could it conceivably just be a very well informed shareholder or journalist?
What do you guys think of Scoble's Bill Gates interview? Another softball one, to be sure, but then I suppose it had to be.
PS is anyone else having trouble connecting to the comments on Scoble's weblog?
This and other candid Microsoft blogs ARE putting pressure on management
Yeah, well, the Tiananmen Square protesters looked like they were making a difference too but look what happened to them.
Bash Ballmer, Gates, any exec you want, odds are they are worth hundreds of times what you are. Who's the real idiot?
STFU and go fix some prefix bugs that the code brahmins filed against you.
PS is anyone else having trouble connecting to the comments on Scoble's weblog?
Umm..maybe you could ask Scoble himself (he's listed like 200 ways you can get hold of him).
If this stuff is so easy, why didn't MS ship it years ago?
Well, for the record, we wrote it in 2000, localized it into 27 languages, got it ready to ship and then cut it because of internal politics.
Honestly, Microsoft is one of the coolest companies to work for, but all too often, when someone at the VP level gets involved in decision making the company takes a shot into its virtual foot.
Who are the Code Brahmins?
What is Microsoft Business Solutions? Obviously it's some solution for businesses...
What is Microsoft Dynamics? Is that something in Longhorn...? Who knows?
Sounds like a brilliant branding decision to me.
Who are the Code Brahmins?
The disproportionately Indian contingent within Windows and probably other orgs who think they know better than everyone else how to write code, and have managed to snowball execs into sharing this misguided opinion, who have unleashed said Indians on the creative developers in those organizations. Once unleashed, these Indians write all sorts of nominally useful code analysis tools and because of their elevated status, get to file scores of must fix bugs which randomize the creative developers.
As an added bonus, these code brahmins are also given a pass to write complete crap like WTT and also force that on everyone else who is trying to actually ship a product. And they even win engineering excellence awards for that garbage, continuing the vicous cycle which perpetuates their destructive influence.
Ouch but it is true. "Oh look, another 500 prefix bugs arrived the day before we merge VBLs!"
"Do you want to have "Web developer" on your resume? I don't - this position does not pay much."
I love the arrogance. Most of the "cool stuff" happening on the internet today is being done by "web developers" -- Google Maps would be a great example of this. Most people these days really don't care about client code vs. web code; they just want it to work. But good luck with that attitude, hope it works out for you.
"Bash Ballmer, Gates, any exec you want, odds are they are worth hundreds of times what you are."
Odds are they pay themselves hundreds of times more than me but worth more? Let's see now, what kind of review score would you get for this performance?:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?t=5y&s=MSFT&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
And gee, how much corporate credibility has been lost and $ paid out due to their support for what proved to be illegal behavior?
And then lets get to their unwavering support for Burgum/Alchin/etc despite YEARS of the latter's overpromising and underdelivering.
Wake up. MSFT management is no longer a competitive differentiator and in many cases it's actually an impediment. Responsibility for that has to lie at the very top. At this point, to take this company to the next level (and maybe even to ensure survival), MSFT needs new [outside] blood at the top.
Just read about the MBS comment, on the rebranding exercise.
I work in Operations.
We have a similar major rebranding exercise for release.
This division has such serious problems, beginning with the complete lack of transparency from the executives.
Solution: waste a bunch of time and money on rebranding.
Great. Nothing solved. Customers more confused than ever.
Looks similar doesn't it?
MBS is such an abortion. We have to can Doug Burgam and Satya Nadella and all managers one level below Satya. Doug has been a no-op from day one, protecting his hatchlings in Fargo instead of doing the right thing for the business and culling the dead wood. The fact that Burgam is even in an exec VP position smacks of nepotism (of a sort?), he and Ballmer are old school buddies you know. Satya is a charasmatic useful idiot. He has as much business sense as an old boot. The new branding campaign is the 4th time they've renamed the grand unification of the disparate code bases we bought. Um, hello, we failed for 5 years to make something happen in MBS. How much longer do we let a 2.5 billion dollar investment in Navision, Great Plains, Solomon dilute the stock? Time to cut bait. Instead of whacking execs from across the company, pull in some of the cronies from Windows who have at least shipped real products (valentine, alchin) to fix up MBS, make them work for a living, and hold them accountable to revenues generated. Longhorn doesn't need the cadre of execs that it currently has. Fire all managers in MBS at the director level and above, reorg with real talent from the company, sell the Fargo and Vedbaek campuses (give people there a one time option to be *interviewed* for a job in Redmond), really write a single ERP solution and quit fucking around with branding campaigns.
On a related topic, maybe I'm being an msft elitist or whatever but I'm always cynical of new execs being hired directly into VP positions (eg Belluzzo) versus the folks who've actually worked "real" positions at msft and then got promoted up the ranks (eg brianv).
who have at least shipped real products (valentine, alchin)
Allchin? Are you crazy? Spend 5 minutes in a meeting where he's present and you quickly realize that he's a delusional megalomaniac incapable of rational thought.
MBS needs to spin off again.
For the record. I do not hate Steve Ballmer or Microsoft. See below for a copy of my resignation email sent to Steve, Jim, and Eric.
Steve decided to take this issue to the courtroom where a different set of rules are in effect. You can not lie, you can not hide the truth. Those are the rules.
After Steve's explosion, I discussed the situation with Sergey, Larry, and Eric asking if they still wanted me to join knowing that the war Microsoft is waging on Google will likely intensify as a result. All agreed that we should proceed and allow me to help Google do whats right for our users.
As someone said earlier in the comment stream, if I hated Microsoft, you would see a reflection of that in my blog. I loved Microsoft for a very long time and made significant contributions along the way. I did not often agree with decisions made by the senior leadership team (SLT) and was very vocal from time to time. I did all that I could to effect change from within and when I finally decided that it was a lost cause I left.
I love what I am working on at Google, but more importantly, I love the energy, the ability to quickly deliver compelling value to our users. The ability to dream up an idea, rally around it, and deliver it.
In accepting the position with Google, I wrote: "I like your corporate values and ethics. I like your passion for delivering value to your customer base. I like your vision, your people, your technology, and the electric work environment."
Google is a great environment for me. Very similar to the environment at Microsoft long ago. It might be right for some of you, but who knows. I don't know what you are really looking for in your careers.
And finally, my resignation letter to Microsoft leadership:
All,
Thank you for spending time this week with me discussing a very difficult topic. I have carefully thought through all of your comments and advice. I have come to the conclusion, that what is best for me, professionally, is to move on.
We have been family for that past 16 years. While we will now compete on a professional level, I hope, that on a personal level, the relationships we grew over the years remain strong, and that we can still be friends.
-markl
The 'Code Brahmins' thing tells me one of this -
a) All MSFT coders (Indians and otherwise) are so perfect that their code needs no analysis - this can't be true for majority of the MSFT programmers given they need to have a patch Tuesday
b) All MSFT programmers were busy creatively producing loads of innovative products before the 'Code Brahmins' started cutting into their time with the 'useless' bugs - there is no evidence to the former part, MSFT has always shipped mediocre products or bought the good ones
c) 'Code Brahmins' are so influential and MSFT is such a closed company where you are forbidden to voice your analysis and propose corrective action - and so the great non-Indian, creative programmers are forced to be incompetent by not discussing the uselessness of the 'Code Brahmins' with the management and get rid of them and their tools - Is this the case? I can't tell.
d) The 'creative' programmers are in fact incompetent enough to be able to out-smart the dumb 'Code Brahmins' - This one makes immediate sense to me.
I cannot understand that it would be so hard to dump such a counter-productive concept after discussing it on a drawing board and providing facts and figures - Hey, here is how much time we (the creative) developers spent of fixing these 500*1000 bugs. Here is what benefits or disadvantages they brought in, the sum of which is negative - and so we got to dump this like we dumped the beer vending machine from the floor - it caused productivity and money loss and brought no benefit so it has to go.
Being a programmer is it that hard to qualify, quantify and present things objectively to people who matter? For some one who wants to actually do something, I would think it's not. And practically I work for a mid sized service company where this is certainly possible - we have forums for doing such things and people have to logically take decisions on such conflicts and explain/justify them before they choose to go one way or the other.
In the extreme case if these bugs are so much repetitive and fall in the same pattern, I would have written a bug parser and a auto fixer and would have just reviewed the auto-fixes made by the tool instead of whining, or better yet simply avoided creeping those bugs in the first place.
To MarkL: from this former Microsoftie, I can say that for Bill and Steve, there is no such thing as "friends", but only "interests". Once you are gone, you are now either the enemy or a potential enemy.
I was recently interviewed at Microtsoft. The interview went fine but I have to say some of the interviewers(were Indians & I am an Indian too) were really didn't come across really smart. There was one guy who I really think was smart(Indian again). But rest were not so great. I still haven't accepted the position.Someone from MS told me to see this site. I really think that majority of you guys hate Indians - probably because we are not white-programmers- or maybe you somehow believe that Indians are not asked hard problems during interview. But how can some Indian join your company when you have so much hate for indians. I used to think that since you are all intellegent and bright people,you will be color blind too. But that is not the case. I may or may not join MSFT but I will keep checking out this blog. Looks like I made a right decision by looking at this site and *saved* you people from one more "towel-head" Indian
-an indian programmer
Code Brahmins?
I'm more offended by the attitude to push back on fixing bugs.
If it's a real bug fix it, otherwise file bug against the tool.
Take some pride in the quality of your code. Jeez.
There are quite a few blanket comments made here - useless bugs? crappy products? hate for indians? Where is this all coming from?
If that's the case one your team, speak up. The first question I would ask people who post something like that is "did you bring this up at your last 1-1?"
Im a 10+ year vet of msft, Ive held in there, and have been fortunate to be a part of history, this WAS a great company. Today, I along with 12 of my groups dev are ill-inspired(to put it mildly).
I have to admit, we are NO longer productive in a critical component of Windows. 8/40+ have left for other opportunities, 5 or which outside of Microsoft.
...they pretend to pay us based on contributions, we'll equal that with pretending to work.
I dont Hate Bill or Steve, I think its unfortunate how delusional our senior leadership is... they had something good for so long, and remained paranoid at that...Now, it is all slipping from underneath.
And we start a new FY, there seems to be way TOOO many confused leaders at the helm.
"your potential, our confusion" might bode well for a new slogan
Post a Comment