The final presentation.. finally :)

The very stressful last couple of days ended today with the delivery of our final team presentations. It was amazing. I know I'm supposed to be modest, but I really think we all did great :) We've gotten tons of positive feedback (actually, only positive feedback), which really made the long working hours worth it.

And here's the final presentation, unfortunately without the embedded movies or animations :(

Prezentare finala MS

Working at Microsoft.. as a woman

Mirela invited us (intern girls) yesterday to a very interesting session regarding Microsoft women employees. Mainly, she was asking for our feedback on how we enjoyed working in an environment which is considered very masculine, the IT. 

Well, I have to admit, the ratio between male and female employees is quite unbalanced in GTSC. Nevertheless, I haven't felt discriminated at all during this entire month, on the contrary. I enjoyed working in such an environment, and from what I've seen, so have my colleagues. 

Anyway, Microsoft is now trying to encourage more women to apply for a job in GTSC, and all I can say is good for them :) There is even a Facebook group, called Women at Microsoft, and on Thursday they organize a special event (which I'm going to take part in) for their female employees.

Working on weekends in MS

We thought we were the only ones at work on Saturday, and apparently Robert thought the same :D So this is how a Saturday at MS looks like, when you have projects to finish and really cool sound speakers :))

Days 19&20

At the end of the week we were invited to take part in the bimonthly site meeting, where we were given presentations about the new GTSC image campaign, as well as some other general topics.

On Friday we had our last training with Bev, mainly a team-building seminar, which we enjoyed a lot, as you can see below:

(we were trying to protect a raw egg while being thrown across the room)

(Catalin decorating the egg protection)

(we built our very own balloon chair - a chair made of balloons, that is)

(and here's Alin testing an actual balloon chair, well.. that didn't quite go as planned)

Days 16-18

We started the 4th week with intense work on our final project. And this is what I mean by intense work:

We came up with some really great ideas, so I really hope the presentation next week (did I mention the entire GTSC site will be there, including the managers?) will turn out amazing.

On Wednesday we had our first encounter with Bev Baker, one of the best trainers I've met, and she told us a bit about dealing with customers. Here is Bev talking, and then a nice group picture,

Ok, we kind of took advantage of the fact that she's actually a psychologist and we discussed topics like hypnose, cynophobia or hyperactive brains :D

Oh, and we all had lunch in the cafeteria, delicious :D

Days 11-15 (Week 3)

During week 3 we continued our individual study of Windows 7. Well, I have to say, the chapters on configuring and deploying system images were reeaaally difficult. But at least I know where I can get help from :)

Besides working with Win7, we had a visit from Gabi's puppy, a lovely French bulldog:

And we ended the really stressful week by going out in Silver Church on Friday evening. No pictures, unfortunately, but I can say it was nice, although very crowded. 

What else can you find in Microsoft

Firstly, when I got to the office, in the morning, I found this on my desk, and it sounded cool and mysterious, so maybe I'll check it out :)

During the afternoon I decided to go visit each floor, introduce myself to people and see what else can I find :)

So, as I was saying, I started walking around the place, only to find stuff like this training room,

a place where you can train your pool, Xbox or darts skills :D

But the best part is what people store on their desks, 

or on their walls..

Lastly, I also found some stuff about the internship program :D

Have a nice weekend, everybody! :)

Day 9&10 - Keep reading

On these particular days, we had self-study of the Windows 7 environment and did some shadowing. Since I haven't explained yet what shadowing is, well, it's just about watching closely and learning what an actual employee is doing. Sounds more like stalking, and sometimes it is :P

Since Camelia is working on an article about the internship program, we've taken some cool team pictures :)

On Friday we discussed some first details about our final project. I can only tell you that we have a very generous theme, "How to get 3 WOWs in 3 minutes from your client". The presentation will be held in front of the top management of Microsoft Romania, so we can't afford to be less than great :) Wish us luck!

Day 8 - the Exchange day

On Wednesday we were given a very important presentation by the Exchange Team in Microsoft GTSC. I say important because it's related to what I'm currently reading about, Outlook 2007, but also because it's quite a difficult topic to discuss.

I thought it was, by far, the most complex presentation we've had yet. But it turned out to be very interesting and revealing :) So thank you, Andrei, you did great :) The words Active Directory, Forest, DNS and many more will never sound unfamiliar again :P

It was during this presentation that I also got to play with the lovely Microsoft Roundtable.

Day 7 - What Ferrari, Volvo and Carlsberg have in common

Thanks to Radu and Corina, we were introduced today to one of the most successful Microsoft technologies. It was launched in 2001, but became a hit in 2007. The license for it is extremely expensive, so is the support package. It's used by the American, British and Israelian armies, by NATO, Cern, the EU and lots of corporations. With it, productivity goes through the roof :P

And I had never heard of it before :| Until today. It is what Ferrari, Volvo and Carlsberg have in common. No, it's not about DUI :P Their websites were built entirely using this particular technology. And these are just a couple of examples.

Since, by now, you are absolutely dying to know what I'm talking about, I'll just say it: Sharepoint. And yes, it's that great :D

My next post is gonna talk about some other cool ways of spending your time at Microsoft. Just wait and see. And don't be afraid to comment :)

Day 6 - self study

On day 6 I began studying for the Windows 7 certification. More precisely, I'm reading about x86 and x64 architectures, minimum hardware requirements, dual boot and other complicated concepts. I'm turning geek :D

I've also managed to sort of solve my first Outlook 2007 mock case. With lots of help from my buddy, but still :) And I found out that Exchange servers can go down even when you're working for Microsoft :)

In the evening a couple of us went for a drink in Control, where the bartender was particularly generous with the Cachaça in my Caipirinha :)

Since I didn't take any pictures, I'll just post an older picture of my colleague Andrei, who insisted that I make him famous. So this is it. For the girls out there, let me know if you want his phone number ;)) Ok, I'm just kidding :P

Day 5 - the feedback day

I believe this is the day I've learned the most on, so far. Not only have I received feedback from my acting TM, Micky, but I also got the chance to offer feedback and Alina (the German Outlook team manager) was really nice and gave me an insight on what a manager is doing at GTSC.

Besides that, my blog became really famous and I already have people offering to pose for it ;)) Today, Camelia and Alin:

Another nice thing was Catalin offering me the best mouse ever, a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0, with 5 buttons pulsanti, 9000 fps, scroll detents, max acceleration to 25G, max speed 54 ips, aaaand (drumrolls) legendary precision and comfort :P Plus, it's big and shiny and gets the work done :P Thank you!

Oh, and we got the documentation for our Windows 7 certification. Pfff, difficult, but not impossible. Keep your fingers crossed for me ;)

Day 4 - start reading

Thursday was my first day of actually working with Outlook 2007. It was fascinating, and I'm not kidding.

Well, Catalin (my buddy) gave me this introductory guide (no less than 1053 pages long) and in about two hours I reached page 18. Yey :P

Besides that, I got my really nice Toshiba laptop, with an equally nice wallpaper:

So, did you know that Outlook 2007 has an overlaying calendars feature, as well as different message templates and an included web browser? :) Me neither :P And I've only reached page 18, imagine what I'm gonna find out next :P

As I have promised, I'm gonna talk a bit about the coolest cubicle ever, that is Nic's cubicle (in the Exchange Team, hi guys!). So there's this helicopter landing on his monitor,

A Boeing 737 cockpit poster, a piece of an engine, some cockpit windows, a couple of triodes (no idea what those are exactly) and some speedometers. Coolness overload :)

In the evening we all went out to have dinner at City Grill, thanks to our lovely team manager, Alina.

Day 3 - or What am I doing here???

Today was the day of all technics. I'm serious. We had presentations all day long. Some from our lovely acting TMs, and I give you Camelia:

and Micky,

but also Adina, Costin, Michael, Sascha, and another German manager whose name I forgot, sorry :( We were given info about the GTSC structure and roles, so we already have a good insight on what a Microsoft support engineer is doing. And a support escalation engineer. And an escalation engineer. But let's not digress :)

We're starting shadowing tomorrow, weeee. And although it sounds like it, this is not a creepy voodoo ritual, so you're gonna have to come back to find out what it is ;) Tschuessie!

Cafeteria and other cool stuff

The work environment at Microsoft has made me realize why it is currently in the top most wanted employers in Romania.

Firstly, the cafeteria is a cool place to eat and socialize :) You get free breakfast and all sorts of drinks, plus you can play on the Xbox during breaks :D Or watch some Discovery documentary, one can never be too informed here :D

Besides that, you'll find funny/interesting stuff all over the building, but I'm just starting to discover that..

And obviously, you have access to the best equipment and software available, you're constantly surrounded by very smart people so at the end of the day you can say..

Day 2 - talk about the online reputation

We started our second day with a very interesting presentation on how to build and maintain your online reputation. It was held by Ms Paula Apreutesei, who, surprisingly enough, has been working for Microsoft Romania for 12 years!

Then we had to work on our teams' identity, and now I can say I am proudly representing the team called Greensoft (Noemi, Madalina, Alex, Bogdan and me) :) We still need to work on our logo, but we have a great slogan, it goes like this: Technology gone wild! It can't get any cooler than that :P

      this is Alex, satisfied with the results of our brainstorming :D

In the afternoon, Gabi the Helpdesk Guy held a presentation on different tools and platforms we're gonna be using. I have to say, it was intimidating (so much information..). And I forgot to mention, but this month we have access to any resource available to a real employee. Sounds great, but comes with a great deal of responsibility as well ;)

Day 1 - and counting :)

I was really nervous on my first day. I knew I was going to meet lots of people, in a totally new environment. Well, every new beginning is difficult, especially when you're dealing with a company this big.

After getting lost somewhere on the streets behind the National Theater building, I managed to find the Microsoft GTSC headquarters. Everything was easy afterwards. We had introductory presentations, and we were also asked to introduce ourselves.

Then each of us was assigned to a buddy (or a mentor) and we were split in two teams, the French and the German team (of which I am part).

Our main focus during the program will be the training sessions on the new Windows 7 OS, so by the end of this month, we will be able to take (and hopefully, pass) our certification exam on this particular product. Besides that, I'm going to learn more about MS Outlook, with the help of my buddy and his team (hi, guys!).

Btw, this is the place where I've seen the coolest design of a cubicle ever, I can only tell you it involves lots and lots of airplanes. Will come back on that, maybe with a picture :) Bis dann!

The beginning

It all started with this. Two interviews and two language tests later, I received the invitation to join 9 other interns for a one-month internship stage at Microsoft GTSC Romania.

As you're probably wondering about the advantages, here are just some of them:

• Paid internship

• Trainings and courses about emerging technologies

• Access to the best technology resources

• Accommodation in student campus for candidates from outside Bucharest

• Opportunity to work at Microsoft as Junior Technical Engineer

• MCP voucher(s)

Honestly, I didn't have high expectations. But so far, they've managed to exceed them by far :)

I'll try to post regularly and describe the main activities, but keep in mind this is a very personal approach, therefore very subjective. All of the pictures you're going to see are taken by me.

Welcome

I've created this blog in order to keep track of my activity as an intern at Microsoft GTSC. Hope you'll enjoy reading and please, feel free to comment. I welcome your feedback :)