My Position

So, I guess I should start off with some information about what exactly I do at Microsoft.  As I mentioned, I started almost four months ago as a software development engineer (SDE).  I work in the Windows Core division in what is known as Windows Fundamentals.  And, within Windows Fundamentals I work with the application compatibility group.

 

My group is the one in charge of making sure that your applications keep running across operating system upgrades.  There are several components to that: testing applications with new versions of operating systems, serving as a resource for other Windows groups to ask about the impact of operating systems changes they are considering, and finding ways to help companies detect and fix compatibility problems in their software (after all, companies have a lot of internal-only software that they rely on).

 

I was hired to focus on low-level issues.  A large portion of the group I work on focuses on user-mode components (although they of course know a lot about the internals of the OS).  My job is to become an expert on the kernel mode components of the operating system and to be the go-to guy for any kernel mode components that need to be written.

 

Now, someone might ask why someone fresh out of college with only a bachelor’s degree would be in the position I am in, but that’s something I will address in a future post.  For now, suffice it to say that I have a decent background in Windows kernel development despite being fresh out of college.

 

I will write more about what I do later, but that’s the high level view for now.