3 ms·

As someone that has hired engineers in the past (and presumably again the future) the main concern I would have is what relevant programming experience you obta

by dotBen 16y ago

As someone that has hired engineers in the past (and presumably again the future) the main concern I would have is what relevant programming experience you obtained at Microsoft. Assuming you want to work in the future at a startup, very few startups use Microsoft technology as it makes little-to-no financial sense. If you go work at Microsoft you'll only be working on Microsoft .Net stack (unless you work in an edge project like Office for Mac etc, unlikely). Google, on the other hand, will probably be Java or Python work. That's imedaitely relevant, plus their development methodologies are much more start-up friendly compared to Microsoft. I think if you spent a few years at Microsoft it wouldn't be the end of the world, but I'd want to see that you kept up with Open Source languages in your own time if I was going to hire you. Otherwise I'd be concerned about the learning curve of learning a new language compared to hiring a different guy who can hit the ground running. (Also, consider editing your post as we don't do HTML formatting here on HN)

mpmpmp 16y ago
I certainly would not want to be stuck only in a .Net world, but I understood the Microsoft job would not be .Net-centric. (I had only put one newline between paragraphs, not two, so it inserted p-tags)
- dotBen 16y ago
  Well that's unusual, most are .Net centric. Be careful that you don't join MS to work on a particular project and then get switched to something else 6 months later because corporate priorities change/the project shuts down/you are better engineer then they expected and they want you on more commercially valuable project. The latter is true for google too, however. You can request to work anywhere but equally you can be told you are going to work on a different project at the whim of the management. That's corporate jobs for you. Why not just join a startup now?
  - mpmpmp 16y ago
    Very true points. As for working at a startup now, I could expand my search, however I have worked at startups the past years and would like something with more stability than the rocking horse ride I have been given so far.

by dotBen 16y ago

mpmpmp 16y ago

I certainly would not want to be stuck only in a .Net world, but I understood the Microsoft job would not be .Net-centric. (I had only put one newline between paragraphs, not two, so it inserted p-tags)

dotBen 16y ago
Well that's unusual, most are .Net centric. Be careful that you don't join MS to work on a particular project and then get switched to something else 6 months later because corporate priorities change/the project shuts down/you are better engineer then they expected and they want you on more commercially valuable project. The latter is true for google too, however. You can request to work anywhere but equally you can be told you are going to work on a different project at the whim of the management. That's corporate jobs for you. Why not just join a startup now?
- mpmpmp 16y ago
  Very true points. As for working at a startup now, I could expand my search, however I have worked at startups the past years and would like something with more stability than the rocking horse ride I have been given so far.