(The following are based on my opinions and conclusions based on my observations while working at Microsoft. I've done my best to avoid revealing any confidential information, and attempted to steer clear of ad-hominem attacks on anyone who has worked there, past or present.)
I was an IT Test Engineer, who became a Software Test Engineer (STE), then a Lead, and finally a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET). I think it's rather funny that within the software industry, the term 'engineer' is commonly used in job titles for software developers, even though there rarely are actually any real engineering principles followed. Granted I don't think it necessarily applies to software testing either, though the concepts of independant software verification and validation do conform to some key systems engineering principles.
In the first Microsoft group I was in, I came to observe that management didn't really respect the ‘Test Engineering’ discipline. They saw individual contributor (IC) IT testing roles as a merely a stepping stone for people to move to other areas (over to IT development, or program management (PM), or to business IT groups), and not something that was important on its own. None of those avenues were available to me anyways. My visa prevented me from moving to PM, and I wasn't interested in being an application developer. And while I wouldn't have minded moving into IT test management, there were too many people in front of me that were too wired into the aformentioned management team.
So, despite getting a promotion and some strong reviews, I moved to a product group.
In the new area, and over time I worked my way into a Lead track. It was a lot of hours and a lot of effort. Over time, however I saw the writing on the wall in with test team I worked with. I knew it was a matter of time before they would be slowly absorbed into the development team.
(I found out later that this in fact did happen.)
I joined a great team in helmed by a great manager. We did meaningful work on v1.0 of the product. It was new and exciting, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was doing something important. We delivered our results. The other teams involved evidently didn't like what we reported, as our management’s response to them was to shut us down and dismantle our team. I got moved out the track I was on, and into an IC SDET role with one of those teams. That would've been something I could've survived ...
Except right around this time, our team was reorganized ('re-orged') into a larger one. One of the demoralizing things that happened was listening to the new Senior Vice President talk about his idea of success. After listening to him speak, talking about 'must-have software' and 'delighting our customers', and knowing what groups he was responsible for, the question I kept asking myself over and over was, "Was this guy really responsible for that product's success? He just doesn't seem to get the problem space, or the market they exist in.").
Even to this very day, this guy is hailed as a genius in the industry. But, I found out later that I wasn't the only one who came to the same conclusion.
It didn't matter though, as all the work that I was a part of was considered poison to the new management. I was now on a team where the development lead was essentially running product management. It slowly but eventually became a dead-end job.
I saw the signs of being 'managed out', and knew if I stayed, I was going to receive a bad performance review, regardless of what work I delivered. Knowing what was to come, I started looking for actual Software Quality Assurance (SQA) roles outside MS. I knew leaving on my own was better than being forced out so I took control and left. It's been a wise decision for a number of reasons.
Since then, I've been tempted to comment about what's been going on there.
In that time, Microsoft has cut jobs -
- And again, recently in November 2009
I've remained silent, as I felt some time needed to pass as it was always possible my point of view might change. Facts remain constant, but certain kinds of observations can vary depending on point-of-view and perception and time.
Is that the case for my views?So what's really going on?
(Part II to follow)
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