Tuesday was my second day at Microsoft and the first day of "real work". I'm working at Building 27, Office #2000-something with two other interns and, after spending a few hours in the morning in more orientation, I met the manager that I'd be reporting to and my mentors. I was really surprised by how helpful and inviting everyone was; people from the Windows 8 "HDX" (Hardware Development Experience) team that I'm a part of really made an effort to introduce themselves and talk with me - the lowly intern.
After eating lunch with some of the HDX team at Microsoft's newly opened cafeteria 40, my pod mates (the two other interns on my specific project) and I began the arduous task of assemblying our desks. For those tech geeks out there, I've been converted to Microsoftism simply based on the lavishness of the machines they gave us: Each one of us got two machines - one for development and one for testing. The development machine had three hard drives (2 1TB drives and 1 500 GB drive) and the machines were equipped with 6 gb and 12 gb of RAM respectively. We were also given two wide screen monitors, a telephone, and a switchboard for our monitors/machines.
About two hours and a several boxes later, we got our systems up and running and began downloading the latest pre-release of Windows 8 that hasn't launched yet. (because of this - I'm not allowed to show you pictures of my desktop, instead above is the "mid-way").
That day we also found out about our project, which is to create a diagnostic tool for Windows 8 metro-style device app developers that pinpoints potential problems with the app on a macro-level (i.e. issues of connectivity and communication between the various actors - device, driver, metadata, and app). I'm really excited about it because we'll be working on an ambitious project that device companies like HP and Cannon have been requesting for a while. I'm also fairly nervous about it because it's pretty "big" and we're still working out how exactly we're going to tackle it.
@Microsoft Commons - collection of buildings with stores (from guitar to bike shops) and plentiful cafeterias (much better than the average college fare)
This past two days (Wednesday and Thursday) have a bit a whirlwind with highs and lows. I've basically been a sponge with a firehose pointed at me, trying to absorb a wealth of information about my project and related parts. At times, I'm thrilled to be sitting in on company meetings and even running a few myself. Other times, I'm overwhelmed with the task at hand and work to do. I've also been enjoying continuing to meet other Microsoft employees and finding out what they do. After attending an extended orientation session this afternoon about "10 Intern Tips", I realized that my mentors - while purposely vague in order to challenge us - have really gone above and beyond the call of duty to prepare and think through an awesome project for us.
Coming off of college, where you spend 24/7 with your peers, the greatest adjustment to life here for me has been forming friendships with other interns. Microsoft is a huge ecosystem and besides New Employee Orientation on Day 1, the interns are scattered throughout the campus. Being the socially awkward person that I often can be (circumstance-depending), my "ramping up" of friendships has been a slow yet steady process. Nevertheless, I'm grateful for the people I've become acquainted with so far and am excited to continue to meet people.
As a three-day weekend approaches, I'm psyched to go out to Seattle and explore more of the city (plus, the forecast is sunny!). There's a great folk music festival going on downtown then and hopefully, I'll be joined with a college friend in the festivities.
Hope all is well with you and your family wherever you all.
Over and out,
Ruth
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