Reckless

Rebecca Dias - Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation

Am I a Sell Out?

Recently there was an article by Daryl Taft on MS' aggressive recruiting tactics.  In my mind, Microsoft has always been an excellent recruiter.  This is demonstrated by the strength of the many employees that I am surrounded by that have been here 1,2,4,10,20 years.  This past weekend a friend said to me, "all of the smartest people I know went to Microsoft."

 

Don Box is always trying to recruit awesome folks because he likes to be surrounded by people that challenge him to think in new and innovative ways.  He was first to tell me about Glen and Miguel not being ready YET to join our clique.  BTW:  Don isn't the only one, it was my idea to grab Colleen ;).

 

A thread of discussion around this topic has abounded.  Are we all sell outs?

     What, eh, you talking ta me?

 

What are you calling me a sellout for?  Because I no longer working for a company that produces Java based software?

So, does this mean I am a sell out because I started programming basic when I was 6 and gave it up for Pascal when I was in high school; somewhere between high school and college I gave up Pascal for C; I was forced to do 8086 and ADA in college but never joined either bandwagon; and my Freshman year at Santa Clara University I did a research paper on Java and later helped change the curriculum to include it.  All of the applications that I wrote that went into production systems were in C++, but I wouldn't start building a new app with it today!  I helped evangelize and educate folks on CORBA to the financial, government, and other industries.  Am I a sell out for abandoning Motif?  And J2EE, well, I don't think I ever fully jumped on this bandwagon no matter how much I loved Java.

Guess I am a sell out for appreciating the innovations of new languages and platforms and wanting to work with the best in my industry.  Well, if you are interested in knowing the reasons why I joined Microsoft outside of the obvious desire to work closely with great minds like Don Box, Tim Ewald, and Keith Ballinger, come join me at the PDC this year.  It will all be disclosed.

For more information on how to become a Microsoft employee, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/careers/default.aspx

No idea is original, what is original is the ability for one to execute and deliver an Idea! 

Little Love letter for Glen...

 

Dear Glen, I thought you were moving to Seattle so that I would have a partner in crime when going to see so many of the awesome live shows that Seattle has to offer: Wilco, Brandi Carlile, Interpol, Kinky, Longwave, Nada Surf, MS Led (oh boy the list is too long).  Has the love affair ended?!  Nope! cause we speak WS-* so we will always get along very well ;) Tell David that I got him his Microsoft Jacket and I need an address to mail it to.  p.s. Congratulations to you in your new role.

Published Thursday, September 04, 2003 6:59 PM by rdias

Comments

 

David McNamee said:

Wow. I think that is a great response. l never considered my progression from BASIC to Pascal to COBOL to C to C++ to Visual Basic to C# as various forms of selling out. If that is selling out, then great! I can't wait to sell out again at the PDC!
September 4, 2003 9:41 PM
 

BobDotNet said:

Sell Out? To What? Dont believe that garbage. These sell-out accusers long to be recruited by MSFT but are not. Personally, my career got an explosive boost because of .Net. This one MSFT really got so right. It is very easy to be productive in .Net. The only major thing left to do is a CLR in non-Windows and all the pundits will be silenced. Game Over. Since your a MSFTy now, make sure you share what is in store for Web Services. I am so into it for our next project at work. Its the coolest thing.
September 4, 2003 9:45 PM
 

Jeff Berkowitz said:

Hi, Becky, I was sitting behind you at XML DevCon in Portland. No, you're not a sell-out. I don't believe that is Taft's point. To me, the article does not read as any kind of personal attack, and I don't think you should have taken it as such; he named you and others because in order to make his point effectively, he needed concrete examples. I believe his point is that it's bad for the computer industry as a whole to have such a preponderance of talent concentrated under one umbrella representing a single unified economic interest. That's why the U.S. has the Sherman act, which appeared to be working in this case until the Bush administration chose to pull all its teeth from an enforcement standpoint. So the bottom line is that you are not "doing anything wrong." You have merely chosen a career path that makes you an effective and visible representative of Microsoft, an organization that has been found to be a monopoly and is viewed by many people as a threat to the normal functioning of the free marketplace in computers and software. And this is a concern worth voicing. [Personal note: I am not affiliated with MS. I am a 100% pure Microsoft .NET C# developer and I love it. I wouldn't trade this programming environment for anything else.]
September 5, 2003 6:32 PM
 

Rebecca Dias said:

Thanks Jeff! Yes, I remember you. I was actually referring to the discusson that resulted from Daryl's article, not the article itself. Relative to the Sherman act --- I did CORBA on Windows for years. I don't believe that MS has a Monopoly in the area of distributed computing. What I think is awesome is that MS is hiring folks in Industry that really believe in open specifications. I think that the lack of respect in Industry around Intellectual Property and the value of software is far more of a threat than Microsoft. Currently there is a very socialistic mentality related to software. People seem to think it should be free... and then they wonder why the economy is depressed. Intellectual Property and Digital Rights Management will be my next topic of choice.
September 5, 2003 7:04 PM
 

Glen Daniels said:

I don't think you're sellouts at all, Becky - read my reply to that poster on Dave's blog and you'll get my opinions on the matter. Y'all are a scary-great group over there, but we have to make sure that the whole ecosystem stays diverse too. The intellectual property thing is a HUGELY interesting discussion, which I've been having pieces of in the past few weeks by talking with friends who work at places like RedHat (a company based on open-source software), some really smart folks at Macromedia, and also by reading "The Transparent Society" by David Brin, in which he talks a lot about the patent system, its original goals of encouraging the sharing of ideas in a commons, and how it has changed over the years. I am pretty much a centrist, feeling the strong pull of that socialist viewpoint (not to mention the growing difficulty of trying to protect any given collection of bits), and also definitely wanting to be rewarded materially as well as intellectually/emotionally for my work. Big conversation, like I said, which I think requires cocktails. On a more personal note, sweetie - the love affair is *so* not over. :) You make me smile in a big way, and I look forward to lots more WS-*-ing, not to mention great tunes and great food, when we next meet! (I saw Kinky at Sundance in January, btw - they were great!)
September 6, 2003 10:43 PM
 

Glen Daniels said:

(oh, and I'll convey the msg to Dave - and thanks much for the congrats!)
September 6, 2003 10:45 PM
 

Dave Chappell said:

Hi Becky, Thanks for the jacket! (does that make me a sellout?). Perhaps I'll see you at the reliable messaging summit? Dave
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