How To Get a Job At a Mega-Corp

Barence writes "'With the economic hangover starting to wear off, the technology giants are once again recruiting in earnest. Apple, Google, and Microsoft all have vacancies on their websites, and now could be the perfect time to land a job at one of computing's biggest hitters.' PC Pro talked to people inside Microsoft, Apple, and Google to discover how to track down the best jobs, and what it takes to get through the arduous selection and interview processes." With lots of experience both within and without, what other words of wisdom can be offered to those wishing to break into a mega-corp?

Comments

Re:anyone noticed the snide arrogance?

[Monkeedude1212]

It's totally like a list... Thats linked!

Re:Why would you want to?

[bmajik]

I've worked for Microsoft for almost 10 years, both in Redmond and in Fargo, ND.

I've probably worked fewer than 10 50 hour weeks in my entire career here. I can think of one big disaster where I was at work 40 hours straight, and I slept on my office floor for a few hours here and there as RAIDs were rebuilding. But that sticks in my mind as a singular event, not a way of life.

I've told my last few bosses exactly where I stand: I plan on having more employers than wives, and I prioritize my time appropriately.

I got an eyeful, when, as a fresh-out-of-college hire at Microsoft, I watched my skip-level manager with a zillion dollars after a 15 year Microsoft career lose way more than some of his money going through a messy divorce because his wife was, basically, lonely.

Microsoft does not require consistent 50 hour weeks. If you are someone who can do top-quality productive work 60 hours a week, you'll certainly be rewarded for it, and I think that's a good thing.

I'm not saying that there aren't people who feel they have to work too many hours, and I'm not saying there are no groups or managers that lean on people for more work and are abusive about work/life balance. But it certainly isn't pervasive across the company, and employees can get out of those arrangements if they really need to.

It's really an employee-driven thing. If you feel like you need to work too much, that expectation may be coming from nobody other than you. Talk it over with your manager and move to a different group if there is an expectation mis-match. Every year employees take an anonymous survey where they rate all kinds of 1 through 5 questions about their boss, bosses boss, work life balance, and people do actally look at that stuff and try to act on it.

On the MS Fargo campus, the parking lot is pretty empty by 6pm. Earlier on Fridays in the summer. Most of us have families.

The vacation and maternity/paternity policies are also fine. I have trouble using all my vacation in a year so I roll foward anything that isn't going to be lost.