When I was first contacted by a corporate recruiter on professional network/career website, the first thing I thought was: is this a joke…construction contract management at Microsoft? When I learned that Microsoft is heavily involved in constructing and operating data centers domestically and worldwide, I was hooked.
With my educational background (Juris Doctor & Masters in Business Administration with an emphasis in International Business, and an undergraduate degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Business Law), I initially dabbled in the labor law and entertainment industry, trying to find the right balance of using my legal skills/negotiation skills for a large, multinational company. Once I entered the Program/Project Management-Construction Management and Engineering industry, I knew I found the perfect fit. I was able to utilize my analytic skills (business and legal) on “cool” projects domestically and worldwide. Seeing projects you work on getting built from the ground up is quite rewarding. Now, all I needed was the right company to exercise my skills and full potential.
Enter Microsoft’s Global Foundation Services – Data Center Services group. In the competitive business of building data centers to support all types of services on “the cloud,” it only made sense that Microsoft needed the “bricks and mortar” infrastructure in order to support this technology and growth. With any major infrastructure/construction project, you need an seasoned program management team in order to coordinate, implement, and execute all active moving projects. With this, anyone in the PM-CM (Program/Project Management-Construction Management) and Engineering industry knows that you need a team of professionals to comprise the program management team. That is where the Contract Manager comes into place: this professional will lead the construction contracting effort through all phases of the program (from source/market survey, solicitation, selection, award, negotiation, administration/management, and closeout). In essence, the Contract Manager will do “cradle-to-the-grave” contract management for the project. Once I was made aware of this Contract Management opportunity was available with this highly respected, innovative, and fun organization, I could not say no….
A few weeks after my first round of interviews, my home was packed and I moved to Redmond, Washington to be a full time employee of Microsoft. In my first “sink or swim” month at Microsoft, I have welcomed all the challenges with open arms. Not only can I use my educational background, training, and experience Contract Management and Business Law at Microsoft, but I can use it to help the operations of a great organization.
If you are passionate about making a difference within the Data Center industry or want to get a bit more information about our world, simply click on the link – GFS Jobs