My Time at Microsoft.

Welcome to Microsoft -

During my time at Microsoft I had a very interesting time.

On the second week of January 2016, I received a phone call from QA, which is a training provider in the UK. I was invited to an interview at Microsoft for a Traineeship program, which is a new scheme that Microsoft have recently started to participate in. I went to the interview and a few days later I was offered the place. Naturally, I accepted. I had my last few days at college and started on the 21st January 2016.

The program is six weeks at Microsoft followed with an extra week at QA (if needed) for an English and Maths Qualification. The program was run at the Microsoft UK HQ which is in Reading, Berkshire.

During the first week QA told us about the program, along with some basic information about computers. I had already taken GCSE Computing so it was a nice re-cap of things I had forgotten in the last nine months. Even though I work with computers all day, run a review website and have built computers, I still learnt things during this period, especially about the different configurations of hard drives and cable names (for example, RJ45 is the proper name for an Ethernet cable).

In the second week we had Microsoft’s team working with us. Each day we met different people and multiple teams worked with us. The departments we have had come talk to us included Marketing, Sales, Development, Surface Devices and Microsoft Lumia Devices.

At the time of writing we have had four projects in five weeks.

The first project we had was a marketing campaign, we split of into groups and were provided with a Microsoft product that we had to create an advert for. Our group made an advert for the Microsoft Band 2. The video we made can be found below. This project lasted forty-eight hours.

In the second project, we had forty-eight hours to make a new product or service. (We could modify existing products too) that fitted the Microsoft ethics and suited the company. My team struggled to come up with an idea at first, but we eventually agreed on an adoption of the Microsoft Band called the Microsoft Band 3R, which was a holographic mobile phone that was projected out of the Band. I created the website, and my team members created the PowerPoint presentation. We presented the idea in a Dragons Den format to the staff running the project and the rest of the group on the traineeship, which I found very interesting. Here is a link to our website.

The third project was a single day task in which we had to create an advert for the third intake of tech trainees. This was where the group was split in half. Each team had to make a blog and an advert to show off what we had done on the program so far, talk about our experiences during the program and how we have changed over the six weeks.

The fourth and final project at the time of writing is when we had to learn about the services team in preparation for an event that will be taking place next week. We were provided with the basic services available to consumers and other companies. This event is being held on the Microsoft campus and we will be running a stand at the event. We are going to be talking to fellow members of staff and potentially other customers. The event also means we can network with people in the industry which is also something that benefits people of our age as we can find out so much information from events like this.

Mentors –

At the start of the program we were assigned to a mentor. The mentor program is very useful because it means we have someone that we can talk to about what we want to do in the future. They can provide advice about possible future roles we might want to do after the traineeships, whether it be going into another apprenticeship or straight into work. The mentors are very friendly and my mentor helped me get meetings with some very interesting people because I wasn’t sure on what avenue of the technology world I wanted to follow. I am interested in marketing, development and IT Support, which is excellent because it means I have many options. However I needed to work out what I wanted to do very quickly because I was still unsure what apprenticeship route I wanted to follow after the traineeship. The mentors will also help you with your CV, Linkedin, MOS/MTA Exams and will always look out for you.

Meetings / Shadowing –

At the time of writing I have met four members of staff in a one to one meeting. These were invaluable experiences because each of these members of staff had a different role, giving me a well-rounded view of what they did.

The first person I met was a software developer intern called Andon. I talked to Andon for half an hour and he explained what he did in his role. I got to ask a few questions which definitely helped me think about what I wanted to do. I knew a few programming languages before starting this program, however I wasn’t sure what the main language for software development was. Now I do (it’s C# by the way), and now I am teaching myself this language at home so that I could have a little bit of experience with coding in C# if I ever want a role in software development in the future.

My second meeting was when I shadowed Elliot, who is an ADM Apprentice. This was also a very valuable experience because it meant I actually got to see some code in C# and I understood parts of the code straight away because of my computing GCSE work. I realised most languages have the same principle behind them, just with a few differences here and there. We also talked about what we both want to do in the future. Since meeting with Elliot I have applied for the apprenticeship scheme at Microsoft starting in September because I think that being on the program would be a very useful experience to expand on my traineeship.

My third meeting was with Grame Boyd, the head of Xbox EMEA Marketing. This was a meeting I was really looking forward too. I have always been interested in making websites, YouTube videos and I understand how important marketing is for a company. My website is based around gaming and technology, so meeting someone from the gaming industry outside of events was, to put it simply, awesome. When we met up we talked about what I had done on the program very briefly, what his role is about and how marketing and the industry has changed with the rise of social media and digital communication.

My fourth and final meeting was very spontaneous. I mentioned Jacob to my mentor as I had heard good things about him and a lot of people had suggested to meet up with him. Within 5 minutes Jacob came to my mentor meeting and we sat down and had a bit of a chat. Jacob went to the same college (UTC Reading) as me, but was two years earlier. We had the same course, same teachers and very similar interests. Jacob told me what he has been doing on this year’s apprenticeship scheme, and making an app and a website sounds like my kind of thing so I was very interested about how his time at Microsoft over the past 6 months had been. It has also provided with me a bit of another insight to the development side of the industry.

My Future –

So next week this program will end at Microsoft for my intake. Over the program I have definitely had an experience which I can’t forget, talking to so many people from the industry about so many different roles. I have definitely worked out what I want to do next. I am going to hopefully move onto an apprenticeship at Microsoft in September which would be 18 months long. I will get a level 3 city and guild qualification out of it, which is an equivalent to three A-levels, along with the ability to get Microsoft Professional Qualifications and experience in the industry. I have always been a practical learner so getting a qualification while working is something that would suit me.

After doing an apprenticeship I will have a bit more of an idea about what role I want to actually follow for my career. I think that I am leaning towards the marketing/development side of the industry, most likely gaming related but I am open to anything.

I would like to thank QA and Microsoft for this opportunity and all of the team that have worked with us. Also thank you for reading this long post.
See you next time,

Eddie Stubbington.