Reddit reviews A Microsoft Life

I am a Microsoft "orange badge," also known as a vendor or contractor. I am a huge Microsoft fan boy and have worked in enterprise level IT for 12+ years in Houston. I got my job with Microsoft out of the blue, a headhunter found me randomly on LinkedIn. Like HanumanCT, I too do not have a college degree.

As HanumanCT stated, knowing somebody gets you nowhere in Microsoft other than the fact that they get a referral bonus if you get hired. I have two friends who were hired on 6 and 4 months before me (as blue badges), they just applied at http://careers.microsoft.com. The only thing their employment gave me was a little insight in to the culture.

The beauty of Microsoft however is that it is a giant corporation, and they love to promote from within if you are worthy. So, just because you don't get hired as a marketing guru straight out of college doesn't mean you might not end up there. Also, many vendors/contractors are eventually hired on full-time so don't fear the orange badge. I do not feel like a vendor or contractor, and with the exception of some legal and additional training stuff I have all the rights of an FTE and am treated as such.

Starting out at one of their retail stores may be a fantastic opportunity for someone like yourself, submit your resume and see what happens. Also be proactive and visit the store and ask about openings if they don't respond, sometimes a little initiative goes a long way. Come up with some ideas or promotions for the store, or anything to get your foot in the door.

One thing I learned during my early days at Microsoft (I am an Active Directory Premier Field Engineer), is be prepared to be humbled daily. There are so many brilliant people working there, that even though you may be the smartest of your friends or the best employee at your previous jobs, it takes a lot of hard work to stand out at a company like Microsoft.

I felt overwhelmed in my first few months, and I had over a decade of experience in my field. Heck, a year later and I still feel frequently humbled any time I'm on a conference call with senior engineers.

EDIT - I see you're from Houston. If you want to meet up for a beer or coffee and talk about it one on one PM me. I'd be happy to help anyway I can. I also highly suggest Stephen Toulouse's book "A Microsoft Life." It is a great inside look at Microsoft the corporation.

stepto book plug! http://amzn.com/B004J8HQTC

I really enjoyed his book. If anyone's curious about some of the internal workings of Microsoft, this is a good book to get. He talks about his time on the Xbox PET team, and others. The bit on office numbering and signage is spot-on.