We recently finished our development cycle - my first here. Since we are
using Scrum methodology, we call them Sprints.

In addition to work on the new version of the product, we had to urgently
work on some patches to the existing version. And that's where I finally
got a taste of what it is really like to work at MSFT. We had to routinely
stay until 8-9 PM, some at the office, some remotely logged in from home.
Manager would buy us some food and we would have dinner right at the office.
In other words - start-up deja vu all over again...

In addition to the normal programming work, I was also introduced to the
"company culture". In other words: Welcome to Corporate America! Not that
the culture of this company is any worse than culture of any other company
of comparable size (in fact they are trying hard to stay dynamic and fluid),
but I personally was totally unprepared for these corporate games. I kinda
understand that all these goals and reviews are probably necessary when you
have to manage thousands of geeks, but I find it very funny and very
reminiscent of USSR with its five-year plans and stuff like that... I
suddenly realized that I haven't worked at the corporate America proper all
that much. Just slightly over a year at FNANB, but even there I totally
tuned out from all the corporate games after watching Office Space :-)

Well, now has come the time of reconing. I have to play by the rules, just
like everybody else around me. Set goals, track progress, go through
reviews and hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel in the form
of nice bonus, salary increase and maybe promotion. I'm sure I'll get used
to it over time, but at this point I feel somewhat claustrophobic...

Another intersting fact that I've spotted, which I think is totally unique
to this company and maybe a few more others that are techy at their core.
Developers here are like golden children, and good developers are like
deities. To be fair, the average level of technical expertise here is VERY
high. But the level of snobism, especially among more accomplished
developers, is even higher. It really stinks, because they have so much to
offer to others in terms of help, mentoring and guidance. But seems like
many of them are only concerned with themsevles. In fact, they take
pleasure in the fact that they know more than others and have totally no
inclination in sharing that knowledge. Not all are like that, but quite a
few...

Generally, the cultue here is very self-centered. While they do have teams
and most products are now developed through team efforts, the culture got
carried over from the hey-days when the whole company was just a bunch of
geeks, each working on his/her own stuff. Sometimes I wonder how they ever
manage to deliver any software, especially as complex as many of MSFT
products are.

People here routinely complain about the low quality of mid-level
management, which is also evident on various blogs. But one has to feel
sorry for those poor middle managers - they are the ones that have to herd
these intolerable cats (a.k.a. accomplished developers). May the Force be
with them...

The weather here, after testing me with entire month of rain, has suddenly
changed its mind and gave us all a gift of incredibly sunny and warm week.
Since my temporary housing isn't that far from the office, I was able to
walk to work. What a great thing it is! Ironically, back in Ukraine when I
was a kid, most people walked to work (or used public transportation), and I
was dreaming of having a car. It was a luxury item back then. Now driving
a car to work is a routine thing, and walking to work is a luxury item...
:-)

We are now going into the next Sprint, which is supposed to be very intense
because the ship date is nearing. Stay tuned for more "insider info" from
the Empire :-)

Slavik