Scott Morgan

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?

Tags: Flash, Microsoft, Silverlight

Well it says a lot about Silverlight when Microsoft is still rolling out Flash sites (only targeting Flash Player 8, AS3 must be too tough for them ;). I know Silverlight is still in beta and obviously not ready for primetime, but I still find it a some what humorous, maybe you will too, maybe not. I am sure I will get flamed for this post, but isn’t that part of the fun of having a blog? http://www.syncmyride.com

I will admit they have almost implemented a nice SEO (Search Engine Optimized) Flash site. If you view the source you will notice all of the content is written in xhtml, the swf then parses that same xhtml and uses it as its datasource. I said “almost implemented a nice SEO’d Flash site” because if you turn off javascript the content is not displayed. Certain Search Engines will still parse the mark-up but others won’t. They should of made the site fail more gracefully and display the raw XHTML for those Search Engines who ignore javascript like Google.

As a side note, another thing I found interesting is they show an image of an iPod on the site next to their (crappy) Zune player. Understandable I guess since iPod is the number one portable music player. Microsoft isn’t going to deny that.

Tags: Adobe, Flash, Microsoft, RIA, Silverlight