I did 5 1/2 years in dev support myself before burning out. I got to touch tons of different technologies and had a lot of freedom to develop tools and ways to support my customers. When I decided to leave it was quite easy. I was already commuting cross state and staying in town during the week and my manager knew that, so my leaving wasn't a complete surprise to him. I came in on a Thursdays morning and told my manager we needed to talk. When I told him I was leaving Microsoft he said "if you give me a few minutes to make some calls I can get you out of here by lunchtime so you can head back home." I asked him to let me stay and actually be processed out the next morning so I could spend the day saying good-bye to everyone. He agreed and helped me line everything up. I spent the rest of the day walking around the site, saying good-bye, and snapping a few pics of my friends. Everyone was gracious and very cool about it. I couldn't have asked for a better leaving experience.
Say what you will about MS as a company, but I can tell you that there are some wonderful people who work there.
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I did 5 1/2 years in dev support myself before burning out. I got to touch tons of different technologies and had a lot of freedom to develop tools and ways to support my customers. When I decided to leave it was quite easy. I was already commuting cross state and staying in town during the week and my manager knew that, so my leaving wasn't a complete surprise to him. I came in on a Thursdays morning and told my manager we needed to talk. When I told him I was leaving Microsoft he said "if you give me a few minutes to make some calls I can get you out of here by lunchtime so you can head back home." I asked him to let me stay and actually be processed out the next morning so I could spend the day saying good-bye to everyone. He agreed and helped me line everything up. I spent the rest of the day walking around the site, saying good-bye, and snapping a few pics of my friends. Everyone was gracious and very cool about it. I couldn't have asked for a better leaving experience. Say what you will about MS as a company, but I can tell you that there are some wonderful people who work there.