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Signing on

I just got my blog up and running today, which - incidentally - is the three week anniversary of my employment with Microsoft. Only 3 days before my first day at Microsoft, my family and I took the fateful one-way flight from SJC to SEA. My role here is the Director of Partner Strategy for VC++. What that means in terms of job responsibility is that I work in the VC++ product unit, and I'm responsible for ensuring that we put out a product that large ISVs need to be successful and that large ISVs understand how the product and platforms can be used for their ongoing success.

I'm still getting used to life here at MS and enjoying it tremendously. So far I have no real complaints. You have some of the normal big company stuff -- you know, various policies and procedure, but that's to be expected. The thing that is perhaps different than most large companies I've worked for and with is that they treat employees like intelligent people. For example, rather than employing an army of administrative folks, each minding their own little fifedom and raising the alarm when his or her little form isn't filled out correctly, most "employee stuff" at MS is self-service on the web. Want to change your direct deposit info? Go to the website. Get a parking pass? Website. Execute an NDA? Website. Make travel arrangements? You get the idea.

At any rate, the job is going well. I'm learning the ropes, and I will update my blog as interesting stuff happens in the course of my job.

I'm also getting used to life here in the Seattle area. I live on the Eastside, 7 or 8 miles from the MS campus. The environment here actually reminds me a lot of the Santa Cruz mountains, where I lived when I worked for Borland several years back. Culturally, it's similar to the SF Bay Area here, although I think the people are perhaps friendlier here. The weather has been fine, so I have nothing of note to report there. Financially, houses are a great deal for we Bay Area refugees. Grocieries seem a little cheaper too. And there is no state income tax, which is nice, although I did recently discover how the state of Washington manages what outwardly appears as a free lunch: not only is the sales tax fairly high (about 9% in these parts), but sales tax is imposed on services as well as goods.

In summary, Steve: new; Job: like; Seattle: good; Taxes: suck. I'll make every effort to keep my blog updated as interesting things happen in my world at MS.

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