I looked up straight. The glistening snow on the peaks blinded me momentarily. I tentatively pushed a small pebble over the edge with my foot. Each second felt like an aeon as the pebble reached the ground hundreds of feet below. I looked at the clouds below. A deep breath.  I stepped forward and took the plunge. A moment of uncertainty and everything around me suddenly slowed down. And then I began to fly!

Business at Microsoft happens in cycles. Your cycle depends on the group that you are in. So what happens when you are an active B-school alum in the middle of a trough of the cycle and have some time to spare - the Microsoft Case Challenge is born.

December 2006 - I finally got the email congratulating me on my admission to the Tepper School of Business. I made it! A few weeks later and another email from a current student (Ramesh who will be a full time employee at Microsoft shortly) talking about why I should go to Tepper and about his Microsoft business leadership experience. A few more mails exchanged and I knew I wanted to be part of the phenomenon. Just about 8 weeks into the academic life and 18 teams and 90 students from Tepper decided to take the plunge. Within a short span of 4 weeks, we experienced a whole gamut of emotions - Ambiguity with more than enough data we could ask for, exhilaration over little wins, frustration when we felt stuck or realized that our basic assumptions were wrong, excitement about coming up with recommendations that actually landed, time pressure when we had to balance this with exams at school and much more!  All culminating in the business leadership experience  at Redmond - an experience that made all the effort every bit worth it. An experience that marked the beginning of my journey with Microsoft. Join me on my journey of self discovery.

- Deepthi