As you probably all know from my last blog post, I spent this summer interning at Microsoft in Redmond. I was hoping to keep this blog updated with all my experiences and news, but being the lazy person I am… I did not write a single line.
This is a condensed version of what happened with me during my 12 weeks in Redmond.
- Microsoft organized a lot of events for the interns – from big scale ones (21 buses, 2 concerts, lots of food and a free 8 GB Zune for everyone), through smaller ones (a few buses to Mount Rainier) to family-scale ones (some ice cream and free t-shirts for the international interns)
- I was working in the Windows Shell Test team, integrating some UI automation stuff into a bigger framework (the details are covered by the NDA I signed, sorry…)
- Mark Russinovich signed me a copy of Windows Internals book
- I saw Raymond Chen’s office. Raymond was not there when I walked by…
- I had a read only access to Windows 7 source code and daily builds. Windows 7 is awesome and MinWin rocks :)
- Mario Hewardt signed me a copy of Advanced Windows Debugging
- I had access to Office 14 builds (yes, they are skipping Office 13)
- I saw Steve Ballmer from, like, 2 meters away
- I played bowling with Jon DeVaan
- My team was working on Windows Vista SP2
- Dave Cutler, the father of Windows NT kernel, had his office in the same building and on the same floor as I had. He signed me a box of Windows NT 4
- Dev10 (the next Visual Studio) will kick your behind
- I didn’t see Bill Gates, but I saw his house (well, I biked to the gate of his house, to be more specific; no fanfares and no warm welcome from Bill’s side)
- I had access to Microsoft Company store, where you can buy Microsoft merchandise and software for funny prices
- I had time to do explorations of neighborhood (Seattle, Vancouver,…)
- Microsoft paid for me a health club. The club (Pro Sports Club) was the best I have ever seen.
All in all, it was a great summer. Microsoft gave me an offer for another internship the next summer, which I accepted. If you are still a student, give it a try and we might see each other in June 2009 :).