I was following Microsoft as a hobbyist programmer ever since I was a geeky teenager. I always thought it would be an incredibly interesting company to work for and indeed it is. In the past I felt that Microsoft had lost some of the focus as it became very big and tried to do too many things. However, in recent years I’ve started seeing signs of Microsoft going back to its origins and getting back to being a leader rather than a...
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Yep, I have an iPhone… it’s true. While I’m loyal to Microsoft, I’m also loyal to all things trendy, and the iPhone is no exception. And if you have an iPhone you should stop reading this right now and download the free Bing app from iTunes. Really!  And if after using it once you have not permanently moved it to your front page screen I will publically apologize right here for misdirecting you.  The fact is that...
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A whole lot of jobs opened this week in Bing.  You might be busy with your holiday shopping instead of looking for a job, but it’s a good time to head over to the careers page if you haven’t visited in a while.  New jobs in Boulder, Colorado, new roles for Ph.D.-style researchers, and a slew of new senior opportunities make this a great time to check it out.   The holiday season can be an unique opportunity...
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Want an inside secret?    Everyone wants to study for their upcoming interviews, but with all the information out there, what do you choose?   In a meeting today with the executive leadership at Bing, they were discussing all of the online learning options. And one (very-senior-not-to-be-named) executive raved about the machine learning series from Stanford professor Andrew Ng. And it seems that for free, and in a variety of...
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I visited my parents this week and I asked if they were using Bing.…   “Bing?, What’s Bing?”      I was shocked.    How is it that Bing is being advertised on every networking television program,  and my father (who is permanently glued to the TV), has no idea what it is. I explained it was a search engine and he was still confused.  And it wasn’t until I told him the...
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Everyone has a few good secrets. Nowadays companies guard their most valuable strategies with code names, segregated decision making, and a general policy of secrecy. In the world of recruiting we often recruit for jobs we can’t discuss, and sometimes know little about. And if you presently work for a competitor and interview with us, rest assured you will learn little about what we have up our sleeve. So how do you decide if this is...
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I’ve been at Microsoft a long time, and worked in a variety of businesses from Windows to Online and everything in between.  I know what it’s like to pitch the winning story vs the underdog story. And whether you are on top with market share (Windows) or fighting your way towards to middle (Bing), the sweet spot is all a matter of perspective.   This came to light for me again this week, while working on some of the details...
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In the battle for Search market share, a small war was being waged over at local newspaper “The Stranger” when local  columnist David Schmader reported that due to Microsoft’s 100K donation to approve Washington’s Referendum 71, he was switching from Search giant Google to rival Bing. And as a continuing show of support for the largest single donation to the Ref. 71 cause, other readers backed the grassroots movement...
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With all the stir this week about the Bing/Facebook/Twitter announcement at Web 2.0, most people don’t know that Qi Lu (President of the Online Services Group) also spent his time in the Bay Area meeting with students from Berkeley and Stanford. Qi chatted with a group of about 150 students, and then headed to dinner with many of them. You might think that in a company of this size that Qi doesn’t spend time on the little stuff, but...
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