Microsoft Work Values

Daily Duties at Microsoft:

Maintaining, expanding, and monitoring a decision engine used to automate the flow of traffic across servers in enterprise-level data centers. I worked on the Exchange Online platform. Within Exchange, I was assigned to the Data Center division; these are the massive sets of servers ("data centers") which host the digital content of Outlook.com and Office 365. My team, Central Admin, wrote internal software (software used only by other software engineers within Exchange). We maintained and continually augmented a decision engine, the goal of which was to automate maintenance of the worldwide data centers. The Central Admin system would notify the appropriate alarm systems if a server was non-responsive, and take action to reroute all calls to that server to one of its replicants, as well as allocating another server as an additional replicant. If an operation failed because of a mismatch between the versions of Exchange on different servers, the system would begin updating the least recent server, as well as updating all servers which serve as its replicants. I dealt with a lot of bugs - memory leaks, usability features. I used simulated network topologies (remote environments which mimic on the logical level the resources of a data center server) to reproduce bugs, and analyzed the stack trace to discern which program was the source of the bug. Using VisualStudio to debug the relevant files, I resolved bugs through refactoring and rewriting code. I developed and maintained a set of unit tests for each batch of files I checked in. I developed the methodology of the tests and was tasked with investigating the cause if and when my test cases suddenly failed at any point after the check in. Collected vast quantities of analytical data in the context of the data center operations.

What they like about Microsoft:

A hiring company that offers alternative approaches to pay, performance bonuses, and/or equity in the firm is very attractive to you. You're generally less interested in working for an organization offering only traditional, salary-based compensation, one with limited opportunity to acquire equity in the firm, or one that does not actively promote skill development. In addition, you are more likely to choose a company that offers a variety of internal career options, with defined career paths. You view the learning of new skills and development of your expertise as key to your career advancement. These aspects of an organization may become even more important to you as you progress in your field, and are especially critical if you change career or occupation.

Tags

Software Engineer, Java, Hadoop, Linux/UNIX, data mining, C++, Software, Agile Methodologies, Agile methodology, Amazon Web Services

Skills

P&L responsibilities, Presentation, Ecommerce Strategy and digital marketing channels optimization - SEO, SEM, email, affiliates - for high-profile accounts., Technology Solutions, Sales Support, Software Implementation, Requirements Analysis & Specification, Leadership , Excellent written and verbal communication skills, Software, Agile Methodologies, Agile methodology, Amazon Web Services

These are some of the questions we asked our climbers about their experiences with Microsoft: