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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."
I was one of Microsoft's interns some time ago and I can tell you that it was nothing like they described in the article. I was actually very poorly treated (and my boss was a big jerk). Amongst other things (mostly Denmark related, and not directly Microsoft), my boss was one of the reasons I didn't want to stay there and why I made sure I wouldn't.
But, it was in Denmark (Microsoft Development Center Copenhagen), so it seems to be something localized.
Onda Technology Institute
I'm sure Microsoft has evidence that the money they're investing in the various internship programs nets them something tangible in the long term - otherwise they wouldn't do it. I've known a couple people who've been MS interns, and they were both pretty happy with the program. I'm not sure why people here are giving MS such grief over this (yes, I'm new here, thank you for asking) - this is pretty standard stuff for most large tech companies.
But I must admit I still smile whenever I walk into the Paul Allen Center - home of the University of Washington's CSE department - and see the disproportionate number of students using Mac laptops there in the main atrium. Looks like the Beatles were right on that score...
#DeleteChrome
Quite correct. Buying a permit, plus officer costs, plus vehicle rental, plus officer OT will get you your very own police escort. It's not that expensive. Probably around $600-900/per hr officer plus permit. You too can feel like a big shot, of course some companies to that just to feel big. Some companies also hire in clothes police as extra protection when their regular duty security can't cut the slack. Because even a cop who's on duty there is still a cop.
This is quite common in Canada for a lot of bars in University towns, they'll hire cops to patrol the floors/entrances just for the extra security. And the cops will send out their own as well just to show the flag(officer presence) to keep the peace.
Om, nomnomnom...
Yeah. Tell me about it. I was a MSR intern last year. Non-Research interns got the red carpet, while Research's got the shaft. On day one, HR told us, "We have several intern events planned this year, but not every group will go to each event. So if you hear that some interns are going rock climbing and you're not, don't worry. It will be made up with some hiking or wine tasting event. Same thing with baseball tickets. Different groups go on different days, so don't worry."
That police escort was to a private concert with Vampire Weekend, and like three other bands. Every attendees received a free Zune. (Granted, it's a Zune, but it's home electronics rather than a damn sweatshirt. and at the very least you can sell it on eBay.) The Research interns were pissed. HR's response "We told you not everyone will go to the same event. You have a boat cruise." My response: "They better be passing out free XBoxes at the dock."
On the bright side, I used my corporate discount and corporate debit card to buy this sweet 17" MacBook Pro. (Right back at you BillG and SteveB!)
Take the raw numbers with a grain of salt - we (interns) don't get health insurance or stock offers, and most certainly don't have any job security. The seemingly high offers are simply what the industry values us at - Microsoft is far from the only company making internship offers like that, and they all have to compete with one another to get us. I can get cheap insurance through my university now, but in a year that kind of thing will be a big deal.
As for the salaries that Microsoft pays in general, that information isn't terribly hard to find online. If you've got experience* and preferably a degree (not strictly required, but most employees seem to have at least one), go ahead an apply. https://careers.microsoft.com/ (or https://careers.microsoft.com/careers/en/us/collegembahome.aspx for internships).
* While I don't deny that interns typically don't have a lot of experience, we pretty much all had some. It might be previous internships at other companies, or high school internships, or volunteer work, or research, or even something like a significant contribution to open source or something you'd developed independently, but I think we all had something. As for lack of credentials, I think one could argue that simply getting into the university programs we were in says something.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
No offense, but as an MS intern from this past summer (who doesn't have a slashdot account), I disagree a bit with what you said.
MS does most of their recruiting from a few universities: Harvard, Stanford, MIT, CalTech, UT Austin, UW, etc. I attend one of these schools.
The MS interview process is fairly extensive, with several different weeding stages:
1) Resume. They'll take a quick glance at your GPA and decide if they want to interview you. There isn't much else they can look at since they get flooded with applications.
2) On campus interview. You'll spend 30 minutes talking to an engineer from MS.
3) Redmond Interview. You fly to Redmond to interview with potential teams. You'll have anywhere from 3 to 4 1-hour interviews in a single day. The questions can be varied, but expect to have to know more than data structures and be prepared to use some theory. They won't ask what the runtime of quicksort is.
Assuming you get through 1-3, accept the internship, then you'll essentially have a summer-long interview at the end of which they'll either offer you a full time job or another internship if you do a good job.
General Tips when Interviewing:
-Dress casually. I gave a presentation to several high-ups this summer wearing t-shirt and shorts. I was not underdressed.
-Think out loud. They're more interested in your thought process and approach to problems than they are in your solutions, much like showing your work on school work.
-Have fun with it. If you're at ease and relaxed, you'll do better.
Come, now, it was only one other performer (Ben Folds, if you're curious, doing a sweet solo gig).
The irony of course is, that I don't even care about any of the bands they had. But it was the lack of the invite, and the cavalier attitude University Relations had about it that upset me.
I'll grant you that MSR interns sound like they get a pretty different summer than the rest of us, but on the flip side you also work in much nicer buildings
Building 99 is pretty damn awesome.
I am somewhat surprised you didn't do the Intern Summer Celebration thing, though - they flew interns in from other campuses for that one.
Don't get me wrong. I liked my time at MSR. Cool people. Interesting problems. Foosball. It was great a experience all the way, and I would recommend it to anyone without reservation. I can't stress that more. It's the double standard that University Relations has that I can't stand. The only conclusion you can draw is that they consider Research interns second class. MSR is great, but MSUR can suck it.
That was my only negative experience with them.