Compartir a través de

Big Companies

  • Artículo

When I started at Microsoft, I thought it was a pretty big company (near 15,000 employees worldwide). These days, it's huge (pushing 90k employees or so).

There have been some growing pains over the last decade. Communication across teams is harder, and haring tools and processes is harder. Decisions sometimes take longer, and there are more layers of management between the top and the bottom of the organization.

There are some advantages as well. If anyone ever wants to work on a different product - or even change fields completely, it can be done without leaving the company. I know HR folks who have become testers, and developers who have become marketers. I don't think I'll ever leave test, but it's nice to know I could.

Another advantage of a big company is that it's everywhere. I'm in New York this week for futuretest, and the wireless internet at my hotel is horked. I have a ton of work to get done today, and about 75% of it required access to files and data not on my laptop. I knew MS had a Manhattan sales office, as well as a small R&D shop in the village. So, this morning after I gave up on the wireless, I went to my hotel lobby to talk to the concierge and asked for a copy of the white pages. I found the Microsoft entries (there were several), and wrote down the address of the biggest one (the one with several phone numbers listed). If you haven't been to Manhattan before, one of the most important things to know is that the street numbers, while ordered, have nothing to do with the numbers of the streets. For example, 340 West 8th is between 8th and 9th, and 660 Madison Ave. is near 60th street. There's a method to the madness - or at least a convoluted algorithm here. I don't mind the confusion, and can usually get to where I'm going without any problems (or ask a taxi driver to take me there).

Anyway, as I was looking up the MS addresses, I saw that there was an office about two blocks from my hotel. I figured it was something small, but I was hoping there would be a table somewhere where I could set up shop. I walked in the building, flashed my ID card and followed someone else with a similar badge to the 6th floor. Within minutes, I was set up in a small conference room and drinking a familiar cup of coffee. The office itself is nice sized. There are a few training rooms, and at least fifteen conference rooms (sales people and their meetings ...).

Now, I just need to find a Microsoft office in Paris or Italy.

Comments