Now this is funny, Microsoft wants to hire me as a Flash Developer, what about Silverlight???

Author: scott

14 Feb

I recieved an email yesterday from a Microsoft technical recruiter wanting to hire me as a Flash Developer, or as they called it, a Media Author. After I laughed out loud, sent it to a few colleagues who also laughed out loud, I thought about this for a second. Not about taking the job, I would rather be probed by aliens than work for Microsoft. I thought who in their right mind would take a Flash job at Microsoft? It would be like sitting on death row. Talk about a dead end job!

It is obvious Microsoft is trying to kill Flash, it will never happen, but when they do start to push hard, and Silverlight penetration reaches, I don’t know, double digits, why would they employ anyone using a competing technology. Probably because they know Flash is superior and it is going to be a severe uphill battle to even compete. Maybe they would hire me and brainwash me to be a Silverlight developer, then slowly hire every flash developer out there and “convert” them. Ok, maybe a bit far fetched, but would you put anything past Microsoft? I also find it humorous that they don’t even use the word Flash in the job title.

With that said, here is the recruiters email to me. My favorite line is “I am sure you would be interested in working in the Microsoft campus on exciting, challenging projects.” They couldn’t be more wrong.

Hello,

This is [name removed to protect the innocent] , Technical Recruiter with [name removed to protect the innocent], Seattle and a preferred vendor for Microsoft, Redmond in Seattle for contract and some full time positions.

I came across your resume online and as I was going through it, I would like to know more about what kind of roles you are looking for, what skills, areas you would like to work on, what you are passionate about and try to find suitable challenging positions for you . We do long term contracts which are generally extendable beyond a year, we do full time positions, we do contract to hire positions too. Depending on what you are comfortable with and what you are looking for, we will look, and help you find the right positions. I am sure you would be interested in working in the Microsoft campus on exciting, challenging projects.

Currently I have a long term contract position with the MSN Media Solutions Team at Microsoft, Redmond and they are looking for Flash developers.

1. Position: Media Author (Flash Developer)

Requirements:

Experience developing Flash site, components, and/or games. Proficiency in Flash, Photoshop, ImageReady or Illustrator.

Experience with Flash ActionScript

Some JavaScript experience, working knowledge of html, and web based design experience.

Experience in driving work through the software development process.

Experience in audio and video encoding and editing is a plus.

Do let me know if you would be interested and send your latest resume ASAP

Thanks and Regards,

[name removed to protect the innocent]

Does anyone else find this as funny as I do?

Filed under: Microsoft sucks, Whatever

11 Responses for "Now this is funny, Microsoft wants to hire me as a Flash Developer, what about Silverlight???"

Geoff February 14th, 2008 at 12:46 pm 1
Y’know, this might not necessarily have been to set you up as a Silverlight convert (well, only as a Silverlight convert), but to help figure out where the gaps are.

Find a strong Flash developer who has a considerable amount of experience. Get them to come in and work with Silverlight to determine what’s missing in the system. The idea being that they can use your experience to cover the gaps, and make the hurdle of getting Silverlight into the hands of existing Flash devs a lot easier.

Because your direct input is having impact on the Silverlight project, you start to become attached to it. Soon, you start to like it because you had a hand in its development. And … uh oh … you’re a proponent.

Personally, I think you dodged a bullet.
scott February 14th, 2008 at 12:57 pm 2
@Geoff

I don’t know, it seems like a pretty junior position, not sure if that would be the case, if it were I think Microsoft would use their own recruiters to find someone like that.
zwetan February 14th, 2008 at 1:04 pm 3
LOL I think you got it wrong

“position with the MSN Media Solutions Team” sound more like
we have clients who want to do advertising/banners/micro-site/whatever
using flash
and so we’re looking for a flash dev

hence why it sound like a junior position
Natalia February 14th, 2008 at 1:08 pm 4
It does sound pretty Junior, If it was 4 years ago, I might have applied for it not knowing any better.
Geoff February 14th, 2008 at 2:17 pm 5
Hmm.

Good points.

They’re idiots.
Jeremy February 14th, 2008 at 3:49 pm 6
Probed by aliens eh?…
Isn’t that a requirement for getting a hotmail account now?
Freddy February 15th, 2008 at 10:34 am 7
“Maybe they would hire me and brainwash me to be a Silverlight developer”

Actually, they have done that in the past, there was a well known Flash guru who took a job with MS to work on Silverlight development and started to talk about it on his website… that’s the last time I heard about him with Flash related stuff and now, I can’t even remember his name, for real!
polyGeek February 25th, 2008 at 12:11 am 8
As someone who did work for the Evil Empire and live to tell about it I can say that it’s not all that bad. But this isn’t even a job working for MS. It’s working through an agency as a contractor/vendor for MS. And let me tell you it’s a joke.

When I was there I would told point blank that I would never be an MS employee as a Flash developer. I’d have to switch to UX design which many others did but that means no more programming.

My response was somewhere along the lines of, “What makes you think I’d want to work for MS?” Not something your manager really wants to here.

But you know what? My manager quite not long after I did because MS has become a dead end career wise if you stay there too long.
daniel March 18th, 2008 at 10:41 pm 9
“a preferred vendor for Microsoft, Redmond in Seattle for contract and some full time positions.”

it just says that they are the preferred vendor of microsoft, not that you’d be working for microsoft, for all you know, they could be shipping you to Delphi.
(by the bad grammer, I wouldn’t be supprised)
ActionScribe April 6th, 2008 at 11:30 am 10
Actually, Microsoft does a lot of work with Flash. You’d be surprised.

The whole “not invented here” mindset is just not as prevalent on campus as people think, at least not in the groups I’ve worked with. I’ve yet to encounter a situation were I was mandated to use a MS technology just for the “sake of keeping it in the family.”

Curious who the “well known Flash guru” was. Which group is he in?
Winston April 18th, 2008 at 10:02 am 11
“Media Author” is a mid-level position in the “Media” category of positions. Only two vendors in that category are Filter Talent and Sakson & Taylor both of whom can be decent companies depending on who you deal with.

Aside from a couple of teams, I wouldn’t work at MS again for all the money in the world. Way too many whining babies with an inflated sense of entitlement. On the other hand I have friends who love it there. It’s a massive organization and has it’s share of good and bad people - just like Yahoo, Google, Apple, Adobe, etc. I’ve met incredibly arrogant people who work for all five and incredibly nice people at all five.

“It is obvious Microsoft is trying to kill Flash, it will never happen”
Don’t be so sure of that!! I’m old enough to remember when people said Windows would never beat Mac OS, Exploiter would never beat Netscrape, X-Box would never beat Playstation, and SQL Server would never catch on. Reality is when the MS juggernaut gets behind something they can get it accepted. The problem with your statement is it assumes that decisions are made solely on the merit of how good a product is. Sadly, that’s not usually the case. All Microsoft has to do is go out to their major customers and offer them a pricing incentive on Expressions/Silverlight. It won’t matter if the product is better or not to the developers because they don’t make the purchasing decisions in larger organizations. That’s the ugly truth of the matter. The larger organizations will adopt it which in turn means all the smaller companies that work with them will be forced to make the switch.