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31 gennaio Microsoft is hiring (again)!
Check below some great job opportunities! []s SDET (Software Design Engineer in Test)
Do you have what it takes to create, release and support the security updates for the newest and earlier Microsoft products? Want to get into a highly visible security and patch detection release team? Are you interested in getting in on the ground floor of pre-release versions of Microsoft security bulletins and updates? Does playing a pivotal role in the release of individual and enterprise level deployment and detection technologies for critical Windows patches and helping customers solve real-world problems in today's security world sound like an exciting challenge? If so, join the rock-solid MBSA sustained engineering team and help us drive that vision. The MBSA team is looking for an individual with strong interpersonal skills, a logical mindset, an eye for detail and knowledge of Windows patches and patch management. We are focused on supporting a suite of engaging Microsoft security products and tools like Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer, Microsoft Update, the Systems Management Server (SMS) Software Update Inventory Tool and the Enterprise Scan Tool as well as other tools that help customers identify the need for patches and security updates in their environments. These tools work as standalone tools and are also integrated with other Microsoft and third-party products to provide customers the visibility, control and comprehensive view into their enterprise patch state.
PM (Project Manager) Do you have what it takes to drive the release of critical security issues each month? Do you enjoy managing cross-team partner relationships to ensure high-quality releases? Want get on the inside track for security patch releases for all Microsoft products? Are you interested in being pivotal to standalone and enterprise patch detection and deployment technologies for Windows patches? If helping customers solve real-world problems in today's security conscious world sounds like an exciting challenge, join us as a Release Program Manager on the MBSA release team. The MBSA team is looking for an individual with strong interpersonal skills, a logical mindset, an eye for detail and knowledge of Windows patches and patch management. We are focused on supporting a suite of engaging Microsoft security products and tools such as Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and the Enterprise Scan Tool as well as other tools that help customers identify the need for patches and security updates in their environments. These tools are used both as standalone tools and are integrated with other Microsoft and third-party technologies to provide customers a comprehensive view of their patch state and vulnerability assessment state.
UX Designer (User Experience Designer)
Come join one of the fastest growing businesses at Microsoft. The Management Administration Experience (MAX) team is looking for a User Experience Designer who is passionate about complex interaction design, interested in technology, and has experience in user experience design. MAX is a group of talented design and usability professionals whose goal is to provide easy, effective, and powerful tools for managing System Center and Windows Server products. Our products have a multitude of users who build and manage complex IT environments, and they need clear and direct tools to do this effectively. You will collaborate with User Experience Researchers to understand our customers and their specific needs, and propose design solutions to address those needs. You will work closely with Program Management to understand the technology and to define the products, features, and strategy for the user experience. Qualifications include a degree in Design, Human Factors, or related field. Technical knowledge of server administration, computer programming, or networking is desirable but not required. Other required skills include strong project management, cross-group collaboration, and written and oral communication skills.
UX Researcher (User Experience Researcher)
Microsoft’s Windows Server Group seeks a creative and driven entry-level user researcher/usability engineer who is passionate about using customer data to influence product decisions. Join an interdisciplinary user experience team of researchers and product designers. Help us understand complete customer scenarios, existing usability issues, and business opportunities related to the user experience of IT professionals. Work with a variety of products and employ a range of research methodologies including field studies, traditional usability lab studies, and survey research. · Someone who doesn’t mind rolling up their sleeves to learn how to use the products they work on. Qualifications: · Candidates will have an advanced degree in psychology, human factors (HF engineering OR HF psychology), or industrial engineering. Preference will be given to candidates with an empirical thesis.
SDE (Software Design Engineer)
Overall Scope/Impact Windows Server is the top-selling server operating system and is growing share in a growing market. Central to the success of Windows Server is the experience of the IT Professionals managing Windows Server. This has provided a key advantage to date and we are taking that experience to the next level making IT Professional more effective and more productive by shipping tools that they love to use. We work closely with design and a passionate PM team to deliver world beating user experience for managing Windows Servers. Today our team delivers Server Manager, Event Viewer, Task Scheduler, Remote Administration Toolkit, Server Migration and Computer Manager and works closely with many teams delivering in Windows Server. We are planning and building the next versions of Windows Server working closely with the PowerShell and Management User Experience teams.
30 gennaio Valuable IT job interview resourcesThe Carrers and Job Resources at Office Online are great. There you can find templates for documents such as resumes and thank you letters, articles, tips and many other things. I'd like to emphasize the following:
Have a nice interview! []s 29 gennaio Hello, Bill! - Part #2Diary of a Brazilian Microsoft newbie in Redmond "Initial arrangements" - Friday, Jan 18, 2008 So why is one supposed to arrive in Redmond 4 days in advance from its actual work starting date? Part of the answer is to get used to the place, part is to previously start some operational actions once working for Microsoft. That's why a relocation consultant met me in my temp house this morning (as previously scheduled by e-mail): he explained to me some details of the (many) things I need to do/know, such as housing, bank account, social security and obtaining a Washington State driver's license. Oh, it's been less then 24 hours that I'm here and I already have a 100-page book to study to my driver's license tests! Now I'm sure I have something (serious) to do in my spare time. Then the consultant took me to open a bank account, helped to find where to buy stuff such as international phone cards and, finally, dropped me at Bellevue (city between Seattle and Redmond) to get my car. No, I didn't buy any, but Microsoft rents a car for you during the first 30 days of your stay. Sweet!
And here comes the first pathetic bits of my relocation. After entering in the car, I found no gear box, no hand brake, but a strange lever raising from the right side of the steering wheel... an automatic car! But how can I set the reverse gear? I pushed the lever up and down, but it was simply making no effect at all. After 15 minutes fighting with the stuck car, pressing every button in front of me, I was able to... turn the radio on! Then I gave up, went back to the rental desk and said something stupid such as "sorry, could you please help me to drive the car I've just rented you?". Then the woman told me that I should simply step on the brakes while moving the hand lever to change to R (reverse) and other gears. Today's lesson: don't be ashamed, the situation can always get worse. And it got! When driving back to my temp house, I almost lost the entrance to it. When I realized I was about to miss the entrance, I instinctively tried to brake, but I mistakenly stepped my left foot into the brake as if it was the clutch (pt-BR "embreagem"). As a consequence, the car braked in a very hard way, almost spinning out from the road. If other cars were behind, probably an accident would happen. A few days later, I can say I'm finally getting used and driving safely... Lesson #2: patience is the mother of the virtues. In the rest of the day I unpacked my things, received a maintenance guy who fixed the heaters of my living room (I was glad to know they were broken, because it meant that the cold I was feeling there was in fact not normal) and the brazilian guys took me to dinner in a Mexican restaurant. There, other XSQ (eXtremely Stupid Question) from me took place, and I discovered that the "D" gear in an automatic car stands for "Driving"... That's the end of my second day in Redmond. Drive safely! []s Hello, Bill! - Part #1Diary of a Brazilian Microsoft newbie in Redmond "The Arrival" - Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 Many thousands of kilometers later (or should I say miles?) here I am, in Redmond, WA, where it all started. In this and some of the following posts, I'm going to share my experience in relocating to work for Microsoft. I know the content of such posts may not be technical at all, but I believe it will help some interested people to better understand how it feels to move away from home to a foreign country to work in the IT industry at one of the hearts (if not the biggest one) of the business. I emphasize that such posts are personal experiences NOT made on behalf of Microsoft. The first thing I'd like to mention is the relocation support itself. Microsoft works with different companies and assign a lot of professionals to provide you the so called "seamless relocation experience". This includes paralegals to help you in bureaucratic processes such as obtaining a visa, movers to pack, load, store and unpack you household goods and personal belongings in the move, relocation consultants and specialists to help you to set up your new life once you arrive here, etc. So the day after XNA Challenge Brazil my plane left São Paulo, towards New York, where I’d get other plane to finally reach Seattle. Unfortunately (of fortunately, as we’ll see later) the flight was delayed in more than 1 hour and I lost my NYC-SEA connection. Since the next flight to Seattle would take 8 hours to leave, I faced the situation in a positive angle and took a bus to downtown New York, to do some sightseeing. Since I’ve never been to NYC before, it was a great, yet short experience. I took a sightseeing bus ride that took 2,5 hours and was able to check some key city places such as the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center site and Times Square.
I wish I can go back to NYC in the future, since due to time constraints I was not able to properly digest the city and visit some other key places including Central Park and the Statue of Liberty. Anyway, I believe it was a quite good afternoon, thanks to flight delays! So my plane left NYC at 5 pm. It took six hours (!) to fly from the east coast (NYC) to the west (SEA). That's more than half of the time from São Paulo to NYC! As you can imagine, I arrived in Seattle completely wasted. Fortunately, a friend from Recife, Angelo Ribeiro, was there to receive me. We went to a supermarket to by some food supplies, got the keys of my temporary house (which Microsoft rents on your behalf for 2 months) and finally arrived there.
Then, by a complete coincidence, we met other friend from Recife, Julio Lins, who was just walking back home and properly assigned to help us with carrying the luggage. I'd like to register here my gratitude to all of them (Angelo, his wife Hevila and Julio).
This ends my first day in Redmond. []s 28 gennaio Imagine Cup Korea 07 Embedded PresentationsMy great friend and Microsoft Student Partner, Ricardo Guerra, was able to publish the videos of the presentations of my team (Trivent Dreams) which won the Imagine Cup Korea 07 Embedded Development Invitational. Here you have it:
First presentation (direct link here):
Final presentation (direct link here):
Much more content can be found at Channel 8.
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-- AFurtado 26 gennaio What are the keys to a successful job interview? (by billg)Check Bill Gates' answer here (Silverlight required). His answer is quite comprehensive: previous experience, passion, flexibility, open mind and techincal skills, among others.
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-- AFurtado 16 gennaio Where's Waldo?
Just sharing how fun it is to discover yourself almost by accident in a "less than one second appearance" in a web video...
Check the video ("The Ingenuity Point"): http://www.theingenuitypoint.com/main/default.aspx []s XNA Challenge Brazil 2008 Final Results
[Updated 28/01/08: Alice's screenshot is now with the right colors] What a tough competition! The difference between the first and the second places of the Microsoft XNA Challenge Brazil 2008, which happened yesterday in São Paulo, was only 0,048 points! The judges gave grades from 1 to 10 considering criteria such as innovation, fun, theme adherence, production quality, consistency and live presentation. So we have a winner: "Recicle" (portuguese word for "recycle"), by Vitor Antonioli from UNICAMP. In the game, you should control a series of recycling baskets in order to collect specific gargabe in a flowing river. The game innovates by providing a very ambitious input system: in some advanced stages, you control the baskets by using both Xbox controller sticks, the D-pad and the triggers... at the same time! Sounds simple and insane at the beginning, but it is actually fun and challenging.
The winner was awarded with an all-paid trip to the the Third Annual Microsoft Academic Days Conference on Game Development in Computer Science Education, that happens in a cruise leaving from the States towards Cozumel, Mexico. The game also won the "People's Choice" award, whose prize was a kit containing a Xbox 360 wireless controller with a PC wireless receiver. In the second place, the game City Rain, by Guilherme Campos from UNESP. It is a creative mix of Tetris and Sim City, in which available constructions fall from the sky and you have to properly select and place them in an isometric grid, considering key environmental aspects such as pollution. The prize was a kit containing Windows Vista Home Premium, a Microsoft mouse and 5 Microsoft games for PC.
Finally, the third prize winner was the game "Alice, os Parasitas e o Livro do Tempo" (Alice, the Parasites and the Time Book), by Bruno Evangelista from UFMG. This is a very beautiful game in which Alice, the main character, should free the population of small villages from evil environment-destroying monsters, using special powers. The prize was a kit containing a Microsoft mouse, a finger print reader and 5 Microsoft games for PC.
XNA Challenge Brazil 2008 was a very impressive appetizer of what is up to come in Imagine Cup 2008. We had 2D games, 3D games, isometric games, action games, strategy games, casual games... definitively a very rich mix enabled by the powerful XNA! So, this is it. Below, the judge board. It was a pleasure to be part of this team, and now I can finally say that my last "mission" still in Brazil was completed. Tomorrow my flight to Seattle takes off, where a new cycle of my life starts. Hello, Redmond! So long, Brazil! []s 15 gennaio XNA Challenge Brazil 2008: top-5 finalists
Alice, City Rain, Gariman, Ted or Recicle: who's going to be the winner? These are the top-5 finalists of the XNA Challenge Brazil 2008, whose finals happen today (and I'll be one of the judges). I've compiled a list of the finalist games, please help yourself: Competition news will come very soon! []s 10 gennaio Deadline approaching for CoGames 2008 (January 15 2008)
The 1st International Workshop on Collaborative Games (CoGames 2008) Submission Deadline: January 15, 2008 Call for Papers This Workshop on Collaborative Games - to be held as part of the 2008 International Symposium on Collaborative Technologies and Systems (CTS 2008) - will focus on the area of collaborative gaming, with emphasis on new game concepts, new technologies, technology evaluations, new usage areas of collaborative games, and games prototypes. The aim is to have a dedicated session that fosters closer interactions among researchers, industry and users communities, providing an excellent opportunity for them to meet and discuss their ideas. We invite original contributions from researchers in academia and computer industry on these emerging and important areas of information technology. Topics of Interest include (but are not limited to): * Collaborative games, game technology and game frameworks A complete call for papers for CoGames 2008 can be found at: Instructions for Authors: Electronic submissions are encouraged and should be sent directly to alfw@idi.ntnu.no and heri@idi.ntnu.no. Paper reception will be acknowledged by e-mail within 48 hours. The format should be compliant with and follows the CTS 2008 format (instructions available at http://cisedu.us/cis/cts/08/). Papers drafts submitted for review should not exceed 10 pages. Some papers can be accepted as short papers, with a total length reduced to 5 pages. If accepted, the final manuscript must follow the CTS 2008 format that is to be made available on the conference Web site. The format is similar to ACM/IEEE conference formats. Submissions should include the title, authors name, affiliation, e-mail address, fax number and postal address. In case of multiple authors, an indication of which author is responsible for correspondence should also be included. All submitted papers and posters will be rigourously reviewed by the technical program committee members and the reviewers they invite. Papers will be selected based on their originality, timeliness, significance, relevance, and clarity of presentation. Initial selection will be based on full papers. Submission implies the willingness of at least one of the authors to register and present the paper, once accepted. All accepted papers are required to be presented and will be included in the conference proceedings. Workshop Organisers The technical program committee of CoGames 2008 is co-chaired by Alf Inge Wang, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Heri Ramampiaro, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Harald Øverby, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Technical Program Committee The members of the program committee are: * Louise Barkhuus, University of California, San Diego, USA Important Dates: Paper Submission Deadline January 15, 2008 For information or questions about the full Symposium's program, tutorials, exhibits, demos, panel and special sessions organisation, please consult the conference web site at URL: http://cisedu.us/cis/cts/08/ or contact the symposium co-chairs: Bill McQuay at AFRL/IFSD, WPAFB (William.McQuay@wpafb.af.mil) or Waleed W. Smari at the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Dayton (Waleed.Smari@notes.udayton.edu). []s 09 gennaio Job interview tip: build a "possible questions list" (PQL)
However means you are interviewed in a job application process (by phone, personally or even by e-mail), it is always useful to create a document containing a list of the questions that might be asked during the interview, together with their answers. I call such a list the “possible questions list” (PQL). The idea here is not for you to act like a robot reading or memorizing pre-defined answers, but to better know yourself when thinking about possible questions and writing down the answers, as well as to not be surprised by some questions. Moreover, it is always fun to play the role of the interviewer, trying to think what would be happening in their minds. Some questions may include some classical (or not so classical) human resources question, such as:
Other questions may be more technical, such as:
Instead of writing tons of paragraphs to answer such questions, I suggest your PQL actually containts only the main thoughts/steps (in bullet points, for example) to guide you. Once the list is ready, read it at least once a day before the interview. []s [UX Pitfalls] Inconsistent information
[This post is part of a series. To see the previous, click here. To understand the context, click here.] I bought online credits for my mobile phone. Just after competing the purchase, I've received a SMS: "transaction succedded, you have now $X credits that expire in 30 days". (This expiring information was not available at the website where I have done the transaction, but ok, I can live with that) Then I dial a special number from my mobile that shows me the amount of credits I have and for how long they are valid until expire. Then it says: "you have now $X credits that expire in... 4 months!?" Inconsistent information! So, who's right? I don't know. I'm afraid of calling the helpdesk, they may give me an expiration date completely different from the two others... []s 08 gennaio Which are your New Year's (Tech) Resolutions for 2008?
Hello, 2008! I've never given much attention to "New Year's Resolutions", but after writing down some of them for 2007 [pt-BR] (at least technical ones), and checking them back today, I think they are a cool way to assess the (evoution of) expectations about yourself and, most important, to check you competency and focus to achieve them. Looking to the past, to sum up, I was able to partially satisfy some of the resolutions:
Looking to the future, these are my 5 goals for 2008 (and hope you'll hear a lot about them in this blog):
I hope you all succeed in your New Year's Resolution. Good luck and an even better 2008! []s |
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