Mailbag: Put me in coach

As many of you know, I spend a fair amount of time trying to give a little back by working with University students, start-ups that while aren’t VC-ready, could use a break, etc.

I get lots of interesting questions and thought it might be useful to repeat some of them here along with my sortta expanded answer.

Question: What’s the best way to get hired at Microsoft?

Yeah, just when you thought everybody is pissed at Scoble and wants to go to Google somebody comes along and spoils it for all the MS death watchers. Sorry, couldn’t resist.  My answer actually applied to pretty much any company in the tech industry that is looking for great people. 

First, this answer is for coders directly and the answer is easy: code something that somebody will blog, wow, cool and that should get you a look see.

For example. I have skype running all the time and music blasting away. Here’s what I’d like. Hack me a behind the scenes gizmo that pauses my music when I start a call. In the options, you can auto-pause winamp when a call comes in, I know that. What I want is out bound and it should work with either I-tunes, Winamp or Media Player.  I’m making this up to make the point. Make something cool.

This next example is actually a variation of something Fred Wilson mentioned to me a ways back. I’d (He’d) like the Outlook contacts to auto-prioritize themselves by who I communicate with. I skype/email/IM my buddies Matt, Wendell, and William everyday, all day. I should be able to rank my contacts by my activity with them. And not for the obvious, but for the reverse of what you think. I have two people in Atlanta that I speak to often. If I go to Atlanta, what I really need to know is that James Shaw (CEO, DozingDogs Software) is there and I need to hook up with him. Anyway, you get the point.

There are a zillion things that could make Outlook more useful today. Not a VC business, features maybe, or a tip jar revenue source for you. But, in the age of bloggers, you’ve got an amazing shot at getting that “cool” thing in front of an Outlook person who might link to it, whereby you say thanks and off you go.

As I said, it applies to Google, Oracle, or anybody that you are targeting.  In my view, there has never been a better time to be in the code creation business. It is the one place where talent rules over dress style, bathing habits, and body art.

Go code something.

Comments

[Jim Courtney]

Want your Outlook contacts to auto-priortize? in real time? and then some... Check out Iotum at http://www.iotum.com/simplyrelevant/.

[Don Dodge]

Great suggestions, Rick. I work for Microsoft in the Emerging Business Team where we work with VC's and start-ups who build on Microsoft platforms.

Blogs are a great way to be discovered, show how you think, and what you can do. You can communicate directly with people like me on my blog The Next Big Thing at http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/

I would also suggest looking at the Microsoft website Careers section. Every job at Microsoft is posted on the website.

[Shelley]

Code something. What a crock.

[Larry]

What a crock? I dunno, sounds like pretty good advice to me. When I interview developers if they have an online portfolio with working code I bump them right up to the top of the list of potential hires. It's a great way to show what you can actually do over just have a laundry list of tech skills on a resume.

[gekkokid]

i personally think "go code something" is good advice, im a recent uni grad and feel the only way i can get a job is if i make a portfolio of projects to show my work, im currently working on a project from my final year at uni that i believe is a sound idea not currently on the web and really didnt get round to doing properly due to the partying uni life,

[Larry Borsato]

While I enjoy writing code, though I don't do it so much anymore, I will point out that anyone can write code.

I would hope though, that Microsoft would ascribe some value to those who can understand users' business problems and figure out solutions, even if they don't write the code.

I know lots of people who can write whatever code you ask them to, but few who actually know which problem to solve and how.

Perhaps if Microsoft has asked a few more questions, you wouldn't need someone to fix Outlook for you. To be fair, they do a pretty good job already, but I'd hate to think that they wouldn't have hire Robert Scoble just because he couldn't write code.

By the way, you used to work at MS. What was the last piece of code you wrote?

I hope that Microsoft can see the need for people who don't just write code.

[Alec Saunders]

It's good advice. If you're applying for a job at my company, Iotum, you need to submit code with your resume, and be prepared to write code during the interview.

And if you're applying for a product management job, or a marketing job, or... well, you get my drift. Problem solving is a core skill for the company, and we ask you to solve problems in the interview.

[Rick Segal]

Larry,
The last piece of code inside of Microsoft that I wrote is a set of MAPI sample applications and a really REALLY bad WinG driver. (don't ask).

The last piece of code I wrote, post Microsoft, is a web service piece for a portfolio company. Scary but usable..

[casey chesnut]

i disagree :
http://www.mperfect.net/blog/browse.aspx?bid=632638519937812500