The Interview
Not only does Microsoft fly you out to Seattle/Redmond for the 2nd round interviews (all expenses paid), they also give you an extra day to tour the city. Which is very nice of them.
Each interview tends to last 1 hour, like Rafi said and questions vary between positions. For Program Managers (PMs) questions are more scenario based, for Software Design Engineers (SDEs) the questions are almost all programming and algorithm questions. Most questions do not tend to have the "right" answers but the interviewers are looking at how the candidates think.
The Internship
Once an offer is accepted by the intern, MS takes care of all the traveling details. From the plane ticket, to the apartment, to the subsidized car rental (I'll talk about this more later), to shipping your computer and stuff to Redmond. Perhaps the most interesting perk is that MS will help you rent a car. Normally, a driver has to be at least 25 years old to rent a car, but with MS interns as young as 18 are able to rent cars. This eventually leads to many accidents a year, the costs of which are all covered by MS.:)
Interns and recruiters also team up to sponsor lots of activities to keep the geeks happy. Activities range from a Puzzle Day, a full day of team-based puzzle solving, to a scavenger hunt through Seattle, to a ski trip to Whistler (only a 3-4hr drive). Other perks also includ free membership to the posh Pro Club gym and a corporate card that offers special discounts to all the sights and attractions across the Pudget Sound area.
Personally, I had a great time as an intern at MS and would do it again in a hard beat. The only complaint I had was male intern to female intern ratio.
GEEZER ALERT! Psssssh. Everyone knows Blink 182 or (to the old folks Blink 42) is no longer in. That band Sum 41 is totally hot and was even cooler when they performed on TRL! OH MY GOD!!!! And the Bizzy D is like a total hottie! *faints*
What was I saying? Oh yeah, like all of my friends are on AIM. You don't have to use AOL to use AIM, I'm no computer dork and even I know that! Only losers use all the other stuff! DUH! Like all those geeks that surf for porn in class use MSNMessenger or IRC, I'm not even going near that! And since I don't get my own cellphone like Amy or Kelly, my stupid 'rents are forcing me to use AIM to talk to all my friends. This 3degree thing could really make hanging out online like totally easier. It's not like we have cars or anything that we can drive to our friend's houses with.:(((
Dang, gotta Brenda is having like a total breakdown over her break up with Steve. I never did like Steve...
Q: What exactly are these businesses? What are the services or products they provide?
A: Please read the article. One of the companies is Alertus, which caters to a niche market that requires emergency news. Their product is a wireless alert device that can be used practically anywhere. Another business is ran by "Manny Herrmann, a sophomore political science major, who said his textbook-sales business has already generated more than $300,000 in revenue this year." - WashPost
Q: Of those, which ones are turning a profit?
A: See above. Also keep in mind most product based technology companies do not turn profits until their 2nd or 3rd year, if they're lucky (unless you're talking about consulting). Since these businesses just got started, you can't expect profits to be rolling on day one. There's a product development cycle, marketing, and R&D that needs to be paid for before a single a cent is made.
His almost 100% right except that Hinman students are allowed to operate businesses from the dorms. I guess we are the exception. ALSO, even if everyone in the apartment is 21 and you throw a party, you will still get written up and the cops will be called.
The first and 2nd floors of the building have wireless points spread across the halls, so we do have access.
First off...WOAH...I can't believe that just got/.'ed. And shocked that I got quoted 3x in there too.
I think I can answer some of the questions you guys have about the program, I was interviewed by the reporter and a current participant of the program.
Question: Who owns the IP of the products and company?
Answer: The students and their supporting professor (if any) own the IP. The program has special arrangements with the university to leave the companies formed in Hinman as independent entities. If such an arrangement didn't exist, the program would not be here today. In fact, we even have servers that use the university's bandwidth. The School of Engineering and School of Business have been incredibly supportive of the program and we have the Deans' full backing. So if any companies become successful the only thing they expect is for us to donate back to the school. However, this is not true for non-Hinman students or if the technology used by the company was researched by a professor on the university's dime.
Q: Why the 3.0 GPA requirement?
A: While the application does say 3.0, the director has made many special exceptions for driven students. I myself had a 2.9 GPA when I enter the program (I'm a CompSci, so sue me). It's mearly there to scare off people that only want to join the program to take advantage of the extra nice housing.
Q: Where's all the money getting spent? Why buy all the nice furniture?
A: Because we often have very prominent CEOs and corporate execs giving speaches, it's important that we appear professional. For example, we've had the CEO of Webmethods, Polycomm, Microstrategy, and a host of many other local and national CEOs swing by for talks. We also use the conference rooms as shared conference space for client meetings. If you think about it, one very nice conference room split among 6 companies is pretty cost effective.
Q: Porn companies?
A: No. Not yet;)
Q: What kind of technologies do you guys have?
A: The first and 2nd floors of the apartments have full wireless access and all rooms have access to IP-phones donated by Avaya. We also have tele-conferencing units donated by Brian Hinman. On top of that, we have a 5 computer tech lab that's accessible to all Hinman students. The computers are brand spankin' new Dells all with flat planel monitors. The sys admins had to put screen guards on the damn things to keep the business majors from poking at the screen.:)
Any more questions?
Slashdot Mirror
Not only does Microsoft fly you out to Seattle/Redmond for the 2nd round interviews (all expenses paid), they also give you an extra day to tour the city. Which is very nice of them.
Each interview tends to last 1 hour, like Rafi said and questions vary between positions. For Program Managers (PMs) questions are more scenario based, for Software Design Engineers (SDEs) the questions are almost all programming and algorithm questions. Most questions do not tend to have the "right" answers but the interviewers are looking at how the candidates think.
The Internship
Once an offer is accepted by the intern, MS takes care of all the traveling details. From the plane ticket, to the apartment, to the subsidized car rental (I'll talk about this more later), to shipping your computer and stuff to Redmond. Perhaps the most interesting perk is that MS will help you rent a car. Normally, a driver has to be at least 25 years old to rent a car, but with MS interns as young as 18 are able to rent cars. This eventually leads to many accidents a year, the costs of which are all covered by MS. :)
Interns and recruiters also team up to sponsor lots of activities to keep the geeks happy. Activities range from a Puzzle Day, a full day of team-based puzzle solving, to a scavenger hunt through Seattle, to a ski trip to Whistler (only a 3-4hr drive). Other perks also includ free membership to the posh Pro Club gym and a corporate card that offers special discounts to all the sights and attractions across the Pudget Sound area.
Personally, I had a great time as an intern at MS and would do it again in a hard beat. The only complaint I had was male intern to female intern ratio.
What was I saying? Oh yeah, like all of my friends are on AIM. You don't have to use AOL to use AIM, I'm no computer dork and even I know that! Only losers use all the other stuff! DUH! Like all those geeks that surf for porn in class use MSNMessenger or IRC, I'm not even going near that! And since I don't get my own cellphone like Amy or Kelly, my stupid 'rents are forcing me to use AIM to talk to all my friends. This 3degree thing could really make hanging out online like totally easier. It's not like we have cars or anything that we can drive to our friend's houses with. :(((
Dang, gotta Brenda is having like a total breakdown over her break up with Steve. I never did like Steve...
ttfn! ^_^
Q: Of those, which ones are turning a profit?
A: See above. Also keep in mind most product based technology companies do not turn profits until their 2nd or 3rd year, if they're lucky (unless you're talking about consulting). Since these businesses just got started, you can't expect profits to be rolling on day one. There's a product development cycle, marketing, and R&D that needs to be paid for before a single a cent is made.
The first and 2nd floors of the building have wireless points spread across the halls, so we do have access.
I think I can answer some of the questions you guys have about the program, I was interviewed by the reporter and a current participant of the program.
Question: Who owns the IP of the products and company?
Answer: The students and their supporting professor (if any) own the IP. The program has special arrangements with the university to leave the companies formed in Hinman as independent entities. If such an arrangement didn't exist, the program would not be here today. In fact, we even have servers that use the university's bandwidth. The School of Engineering and School of Business have been incredibly supportive of the program and we have the Deans' full backing. So if any companies become successful the only thing they expect is for us to donate back to the school. However, this is not true for non-Hinman students or if the technology used by the company was researched by a professor on the university's dime.
Q: Why the 3.0 GPA requirement?
A: While the application does say 3.0, the director has made many special exceptions for driven students. I myself had a 2.9 GPA when I enter the program (I'm a CompSci, so sue me). It's mearly there to scare off people that only want to join the program to take advantage of the extra nice housing.
Q: Where's all the money getting spent? Why buy all the nice furniture?
A: Because we often have very prominent CEOs and corporate execs giving speaches, it's important that we appear professional. For example, we've had the CEO of Webmethods, Polycomm, Microstrategy, and a host of many other local and national CEOs swing by for talks. We also use the conference rooms as shared conference space for client meetings. If you think about it, one very nice conference room split among 6 companies is pretty cost effective.
Q: Porn companies? ;)
A: No. Not yet
Q: What kind of technologies do you guys have? :)
Any more questions?
A: The first and 2nd floors of the apartments have full wireless access and all rooms have access to IP-phones donated by Avaya. We also have tele-conferencing units donated by Brian Hinman. On top of that, we have a 5 computer tech lab that's accessible to all Hinman students. The computers are brand spankin' new Dells all with flat planel monitors. The sys admins had to put screen guards on the damn things to keep the business majors from poking at the screen.