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9 years at Microsoft

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Today marks my 9th year at Microsoft. Next year, I’ll collect my second Final Fantasy crystal.

I thought it would be fun to share a few blogging statistics:

It’s tradition to recap the teams you’ve worked on over the years…

  • QA on the Environment SDK (also known as VSIP, VS SDK, VS Extensions). The first feature I ever tested was “devenv.eve /safemode”
  • Learned how to do Accessibility Testing – worked without a monitor for 3 months (seriously, I listened to a screen reader) when i first joined Microsoft
  • QA on the Profiles feature (Tools – Import / Export Settings) – my first feature I worked on from design to launch
  • QA on the Extensibility team (add-ins, macros, recording macro).
  • QA on the Core IDE team (Window Management)
  • Started blogging here in October of 2003 (content was moved a few months later here)
  • Drove the Accessibility Effort for Visual Studio 2005
  • Assisted driving the User Experience Consistency Effort for Visual Studio 2005
  • QA on the Editor team (core Editor functionality)
  • QA on the Project / Solutions team, completing a tour of all the Visual Studio feature areas (okay, okay, i didn’t own Help, but i helped analyze test case failures when those owners were out of office)
  • Program Manager on the Developer Solutions (aka Power Toys) team, releasing 3 of the first 28 projects on CodePlex.com when the site went public back in 2006.
  • Kicked off the Visual Studio Tip of the Day series
  • As a hobby, I assisted teams within Visual Studio in releasing to CodePlex by authoring a framework for what sorts of releases go where and how to get them to the outside world.  Even received a ThinkWeek review by Bill Gates.
  • Program Manager for CodePlex.com. First got my CodePlex.com account back in early 2006. Joined as PM when site had 2800 projects.
  • Achieved 4 of my childhood dreams: Rode on a Mardi Gras float, Held a Koala, Got To Be In That Number When the Saints Went Marching In!, and got my 2nd degree black belt. Only 2 dreams left to go: Buy a DeLorean and Do an Ironman.
  • Achieved 2 of my professional dreams; Wrote my first book and started a college scholarship for folks back home; Got to be in a TechEd Keynote (in Australia)
  • Overcame 1 of my biggest nightmares: Jumping from a Tall Building
  • Left CodePlex.com after watching 10,000 Open Source Projects get created as the Program Manager
  • Finally moved to California after 81 months without seeing the Sun. No joke! 9 months of gray * 9 years = 81 months.
  • Now a Developer Evangelist for Silicon Valley who can demo 101 Visual Studio features in exactly 55 minutes ;-)

It’s also tradition to bring in a pound of M&Ms for each year at MSFT. Since my team is scattered across the west coast, I’ll bring my 9 pounds of M&Ms to SuperHappyDevHouse on Saturday.

Thanks everyone for a fantastic 9 years!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    September 17, 2010
    Congratulations! :)

  • Anonymous
    September 17, 2010
    Congratulations! It is always a pleasure to check RSS feeds and note you and other microsoft insiders sharing valuable information about their company's products. Let's wait another year and a decade has come.

  • Anonymous
    September 17, 2010
    Thank YOU for almost a thousand entertaining and informative blog posts! You were the first MS blogger I started reading regularly, and your VS tips have saved me countless hours. But it's the personal side you put into your posts that make your blog worth subscribing to. GooBling will find you if I just need technical help, but you add a human face and passionately geeked-out voice that keep me coming back. Go, Sara, Go!

  • Anonymous
    September 17, 2010
    Congratulations!  Wow, you've really been busy.

  • Anonymous
    September 17, 2010
    Follow you blog avidly, hope you stay many more years. Saludos from Panama.

  • Anonymous
    September 20, 2010
    Been following your blog for a while - congrats on the 9 years.