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Microsoft Interns Still Feel the Love
theodp writes "Despite layoffs and a blip in earnings, the Chicago Trib reports that Microsoft's summer interns still enjoy the VIP treatment. Although there were 20% fewer of them this year than last, still 85% of the interns are offered full-time jobs. In addition to being paid $4,600-$6,000 a month, a housing stipend, and relocation costs for the summer, the 600 or so Microsoft apprentices enjoyed other perks — such as a police escort to speed their way to a private museum party where they screened the most recent Harry Potter movie and were given a free Xbox 360. 'You feel like royalty to be escorted by police,' said Joriz De Guzman, an intern working toward his MBA at Wharton. BTW, before he got mixed up with those MBA-types, De Guzman earned some fame as the Doogie Howser of computer science."
This version of the story has some more defensiveness that elaborates more on that:
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I think most of the interns are CS majors; they're actually pretty common among computer science students, probably 2nd only to the giant flood of Google interns.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
When I interned, I worked for free and I was working on projects myself.
It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
I don't disagree that it's a lot of money for an intern to make, but that doesn't really justify screeching at them for it.
And, you may be thinking of interns in the way most people do - some kid who doesn't know much and gets coffee for people an generally hopes to not fuck up. These guys are, I am going to say, likely a bit more advanced than that and have some serious skills/talents, and Microsoft is willing to pay to impress them and hire them. I think "intern" in this case is more like "possible potential super-stars" and they're giving them that money as a kind of 2 month job trial before investing any real cash in 'em.
For people who are very, very good at what they do, in pretty much any field, that kind of money isn't unreasonable, especially since it's likely they'll make it back in spades.
Sure, it'd be great if the money were used for people who are in dire straits, but I have a hard time getting pissed off that talented people are making money in a capitalist society. Also, I found it really funny that "Libertarian001" was pissed off - how un-Randian of him!
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
$6000 X 12 = $72,000. Depending on the profession and the education degree, that can be a reasonable entry point. Note that Microsoft only has to commit a few months of pay to fully evaluate the potential of these interns before offering a full time position. It makes sense to treat them nicely to create a positive image. Letting this blow out of proportion is a dumb, however.
Can't buy me love
I'll buy you a diamond ring my friend if it makes you feel alright
I'll get you anything my friend if it makes you feel alright
'Cause I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love
I'll give you all I got to give if you say you love me too
I may not have a lot to give but what I got I'll give to you
I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love
Can't buy me love, everybody tells me so
Can't buy me love, no no no, no
Say you don't need no diamond ring and I'll be satisfied
Tell me that you want the kind of thing that money just can't buy
I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love
It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
I'll post AC
I graduated from a MBA-school that regularly sends people to MSFT. The key to getting an MBA internship at MSFT is two things
1) Go to a college that is recruiting ground for Microsoft. Else it is very difficult to get into Microsoft. Networks matter a lot. MIT, Stanford are your best bets.
2) Convince them that your entire life was spend trying to get into Microsoft and that you dedicate the rest of your working life to Microsoft. They really do care about people who want to get into a fulltime career there and not just an internship. I personally know atleast one investment banker who was tired of finance and got a marketing job at Microsoft by pestering them and taking an unpaid internship.
Looks are certainly not a factor, neither is your ethnicity, nationality etc. Being an overachiever always helps.
Two basic things.
1) Your resume needs to get you an interview. This is easy if you're applying for an internship position at a school which MS actively recruits from. Not many secrets here. Try to engage a college recruiter in person at your school. Show an interest! Tell them about a project you've done outside of class. Tell them about that club you're an exec on (even if it is the nerdy math club or pot-smoking surfer's club!). Make yourself out to be well rounded and keen! That will get you an interview.
2) Interview skills! You need to ace the questions you're given. An interview for an internship is pretty short, less than an hour. Spend the first couple years of your CS degree doing http://topcoder.com/ competitions in your free time, ace your two or three algorithms/data-structures courses, and spend a day or two reviewing those same courses before an interview. Think of it as a programming competition. An internship question won't get into anything beyond those classes with the technical questions. If you have a friend who has ever taken any interview training, get him to run you through all the "so tell me about yourself" warmup questions half-a-dozen times. Learn to reference your past projects and experience while answering questions. Even if you know your shit (broadly speaking), if you're not prepared for the interview, you can only really blame yourself. If you've been focusing for the last year on your honor's thesis, review that 1st/2nd year material until you can teach it. You'll thank me :)
That's because at Apple, design is law. Engineering exists to support design.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
In general good advice (except for the pot club thing), but for a company like Microsoft (or Google, or to a lesser extent Amazon, and probably others of similar size) the initial interview is barely a foot in the door. It's usually under an hour long, conducted on your campus or over the phone, and pretty general - you're talking with recruiter types, not with the people who you would actually work with.
*IF* you do well in that inital interview, you get a second one on site with the business. Many of the larger companies will fly potential interns out to their location for this second interview. The second-round interview itself it pretty grueling - 4 hours (it varies by company; I've seen as short as 2 or as long as 6.5) of constantly being grilled by people who want to test not only your knowledge and experience, but also your intelligence and approach to problem-solving. The people you'll talk to are engineers, usually the ones who you may end up working with directly. The interview may take place long before the job begins (for example, interviewing during the fall for an internship that wont start until the next summer).
If you get the offer, and accept it, they'll fly you out again when the summer starts. Some companies (including Microsoft) also reserve and subsidize housing and transportation for their interns, who come not only from around the country but even from overseas.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
I interned for Microsoft in 2008 and for Google last summer.
At Microsoft, we got a police escort to the zoo. But, to be honest, while the story casts it as a VIP thing, it's actually set up to minimize traffic disruption.
Microsoft has 800+ interns in the Redmond area, which means about 20 buses if they need to go anywhere at once. Attempting to push 20 buses through already congested streets is a nightmare. Better to shut down the roads for a couple of minutes than risk an accident or clog up the streets.
The housing benefit isn't exactly a steal. You can share an apartment (with another MS intern) for about $600/mo, or they will give you $3000 to find housing on your own. I chose the latter.
Relocation costs are effectively plane fare plus a couple of days of car rental, or mileage if you drive.
I was offered a full-time job, but I turned it down because I was more interested in graduate school. The full time job is contingent on working for the same group that you interned with. I must admit that the package they offer is pretty tempting.
Google paid me considerably more than Microsoft. I worked in my home city (Boulder CO), so I didn't need relocation or housing. I did get to spend a week in Mountain View (paid for by Google) for orientation and training.
Google didn't have any major events in Boulder, but I'm not sure about Mountain View.
Google's interview process was considerably easier than Microsoft's, but that's because at Microsoft interns go through the full interview process (for me, two phone interviews plus 4 interviews onsite at Microsoft). Google does not offer interns full-time jobs unless they go through a conversion process that includes the full interview track.
Both Microsoft and Google had me doing real work that went into actual products. My code was reviewed, just like a normal employee. I went to meetings, had performance evaluations, and worked an 8-9 hour day, just like a normal employee.
By the way, if anyone wants to know about the interview process:
- Neither company asks 'brain-teaser' questions anymore. It's straight-up CS fundamentals, algorithms, and data structures.
- I was interviewed by actual developers from the teams that I ended up working for. These people know their shit and will see through BS.
There's no magic trick or great mystery here. Either you know your shit and can get hired, or you don't and it will be apparent.