Matt’s Blog

At Microsoft’s newest datacenter in Chicago you’ll see evidence of a new trend in datacenter design and deployment. While the upper floors are more traditional computer-filled rooms the ground floor consists largely of parking spaces for these:

It’s a new concept detailed more completely elsewhere, but the gist of it is that you use self-contained multi-modal containers packed with servers as modular units that can be moved and configured to meet changing demands. There’s also a pretty strong case for disaster recovery and deployment in developing countries as well.

Here’s a video detailing the concept:

Microsoft Generation 4 Data Centers

And another video detailing the actual implementation in Chicago:

Microsoft Chicago Data Center Container Bay

Normally, when it comes to technology, I would agree with this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXStPqhLmIk

But recently some statements by AT&T likening data-hungry iPhones to Hummers, combined with my increasingly awful service, have driven me over the edge on this issue. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s being patronized. It’s rant time.

So AT&T is riding pretty high on its horse these days, now that they’ve finally announced the release date for their new cutting-edge iPhone feature… MMS. Yes, fellow iPhone users, only a few more weeks and you too will be able to do what you were doing for years before you purchased your iPhone and your fellow non-iPhone owning friends have been doing all along; that is, send and receive picture messages.

To announce the feature AT&T has trotted out their venerable spokesperson, the geeky Seth, who assures users that they’ve been “working around the clock” to address the issues. After a brief overview of how cell phone data networks work, which I can only assume is designed to impress the average non-technical user with how “complicated” what AT&T is doing is, Seth goes on to chastise iPhone users for being what is essentially the “Hummers” of the cell phone network guzzling down all of the bandwidth. According to AT&T you, yes you the iPhone user, are to blame for AT&T’s network problems.

You have got to be kidding me.

Is AT&T actually insinuating that iPhone users are to blame for the piss poor coverage that they have provided thus far? Please raise your hand if you thought that the iPhone would be anything other than a complete data hog. Waiting…. oh, I see no one has raised their hand, how surprising! EVERYONE knew that the iPhone would demand massive amounts of data, that’s probably one of the reasons that Verizon turned it down. AT&T have only themselves to blame for not adequately forecasting the needs of their customers.

In case you want to see the video of Seth, you can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5yIVgj0VVA

My favorite line: “We have heard you and we are on it.”

That’s rich; Seth, if you were actually listening to us at all you would’ve delivered MMS back in July with the REST OF THE WORLD. AT&T has forgotten the cardinal rule of technical service, one that Microsoft has also learned the hard way: The customer is always right. I don’t care how hard it is to make it work, if you (or your partner, Apple… remember those slick iPhone commercials where people find restaurants in 5 seconds) promise something then you better be prepared to deliver or compensate your customer for lack of functionality. You must recognize that there are going to be hard decisions to make, and that those need to be disclosed to the customer beforehand so they can make a decision in full knowledge of the limitations they will face. Instead, like a fat kid on a treadmill, AT&T is always whining “it’s really difficult.” Really? THEN HIRE SOME SMARTER PEOPLE!

What’s happening now would be akin to my cable company telling me that there’s a high demand for NBC’s The Office on Thursday nights, so they might not be able to deliver, while also suggesting that I should keep paying them and keep trying and maybe I’ll get to watch a little of the show. After all, this whole broadcasting thing is really complicated.

The bottom line here for me is not that what AT&T is trying to do isn’t difficult or complicated. In fact it is quite difficult and complicated and completely amazing when it does work. My point is that you shouldn’t promise what you don’t know you can deliver. And you should recognize that customers don’t give a rip about how hard it is, they just want it to work; yesterday. Instead of chastising their existing customers for using too much data and complaining about how difficult it is to deliver service, AT&T would have done well to apologize profusely for not delivering and revise their marketing to be in line with what they can actually deliver. This would have gone a long way towards mending fences with customers like me who have yet to complete a phone call that does not get dropped at least once.

Switching to Verizon, there’s an app for that.

“…give it a second… it’s going to SPACE!”

Brilliant.

A few months ago I began searching for a job. I cast a pretty wide net because I wasn’t quite sure what I was interested in doing after I finished grad school. As the weeks passed the number of companies under consideration dwindled to a handful. I was careful not to “rank” the opportunities as I wasn’t sure where I’d end up getting offers and what the terms of those offers would be. It wasn’t until the past few days that I actually had all the offers in hand and was able to objectively consider where I really wanted to work. Now, after a great deal of prayerful consideration I’ve decided that I will be accepting the offer to move to Seattle and work for Microsoft.

I’ll be working in the Program Manager role on the team developing Microsoft Project. Project is a program that is part of the Office suite and is used for managing well… projects. The Program Manager role is basically a project manager so essentially I will be a project manager for a project writing software that helps manage projects. Confused? Don’t worry so am I. The bottom line is that I’ll be managing the development of features for an application that’s used by thousands of people across the globe. Awesome.

If you had told me when I started this process that I would be moving across the country to work for Microsoft after school I would have thought you were completely nuts. My degree is not in Computer Science, I had no interest in moving out of Atlanta, and there was no way I could see getting an interview (much less a job) with Microsoft. But here I am. I actually approached the Microsoft booth at the career fair on a whim, kind of a “what if.” I never expected to get a first-round interview, and certainly not a second-round, on-site interview. The entire process has been so odd that I really can’t credit anyone but God for the way things have turned out.

Many have asked my reasons for going, I will enumerate them here. As I’ve considered my options I determined that I can categorize my interest in Microsoft into personal and professional categories. The professional reasons relate largely to the job itself and the opportunities that it affords, although some of my personal goals are better met by the professional traits of the company as you will see below:

Autonomy

Microsoft operates under the principle that they hire smart people, give them responsibility, and then allow them to do their jobs. There’s no monitoring or over-the-shoulder watching. They trust that you know what you’re doing, that’s why they hired you. Now an argument could be made that I snuck by the smart people filter; and maybe so. But I’ve already accepted their offer so HA! In all seriousness though, this is perhaps the most important reason that I’ve accepted the job. They give me a chance to have immediate ownership of features and development items and they trust me to develop the mechanisms required to make things happen. I’ll have the chance for both immediate responsibility, and full control over my eventual success or failure.

Technological Tinkering

Microsoft encourages its employees to tinker with the latest technology. First, they dog food most of their products in the production environment. This means that I’ll be running Windows 7 and Office 14 on my work computers right-away. I have the potential to be running nightly builds if I wanted to. The idea of being on the absolute cutting-edge of software makes me very excited. I have always loved trying things out and playing with alphas and betas on my own time, and now I’m going to get paid to do it. Second, Microsoft makes all its software available to employees. This means that I can download and play with anything Microsoft makes. This goes right to my propensity to envision new ideas for software interaction and productivity by allowing me free access to what would otherwise be potentially very expensive software. Again taking something I love doing (playing with software) and paying me to do it. And lastly, Microsoft encourages employees to play with other company’s technology. Restated: I can have an iPhone. This is great for two reasons. First, they recognize that I am an individual and should be allowed to do what I want, not blindly support the company products regardless of how good (or bad) they are. And second, they recognize that not all of their offerings are the best out there and by encouraging their employees to explore they can learn what the best is and how to beat it.

Learning

Similar to tinkering, as an employee I’ll have access to all of Microsoft’s technical documentation and educational resources. I love reading about tools and learning new things and this is a great free resource for me to do just that, everything from project management to the latest on Microsoft’s new code syntax development. For example see: F#

Flexible Scheduling

Someday, I would like to have a family. And until then I plan on enjoying lots of fun activities at many different times of the day. Either way, I need to have a job that’s somewhat flexible. This job gives me that. People come in at all hours and leave at all hours. And sometimes people come in and leave for a while and come in again for a bit then leave…. you get the idea. One of the best parts of my job in grad school was the flexibility to get things done when I was most effective. Clearly I’m expected to get work done, and I have no problem with that. As a PM I’ll have lots of meetings that will make my schedule less flexible than some, but the ability to work at different times depending on my needs is awesome.

Compensation

Although I can’t say much about this for many reasons, let’s just say that it’s very satisfactory and will support many of my other professional and personal goals.

I also have several reasons for moving to Seattle and working for Microsoft that are of a more personal nature.

Mars Hill

When I moved to Atlanta from Colorado one of the toughest obstacles for me was finding a church that provided authentic community and good spiritual teaching. It took me nearly 6 months. In Seattle it will take me 5 minutes. I’ve been listening to Mark Driscoll for almost 2 years now ever since my sister recommended him after her time in Seattle. While he’s not perfect, he provides rock-solid theological teaching and effective practical advice through his ministry in Seattle. Couple Mark with the amazing community they have built at Mars Hill and you have a church that I can’t wait to attend. Stylistically Mars Hill is very different from Buckhead, and that will take some getting used to but the bottom line is that I have no concerns about my future spiritual growth or finding a good Christian community to take part in.

Future Growth

When I moved to Atlanta to go to school I experienced perhaps my most effective period of personal, professional, and spiritual growth. I was forced to meet new people, experience a new culture and learn a new roadway network among other things. I think the move to Seattle will be similar in many aspects including the difficulty with which this growth was accomplished.
Given my choice to move I have begun taking stock of all the things I will be leaving behind. I do this not to promote depression, but so that no one can claim that I’m not fully accounting for the costs of this transition.

I will miss my friendships the most. Over the 6 years that I’ve been in Atlanta I’ve been blessed with an awesome group of people to “do life” with. My friends have pushed me and stretched me and helped me to become the person that I am today. I will miss all the guys at Theta Xi, the guys from my freshman dorm, the guys from Buckhead Church, and of course all the fine southern ladies that I’ve met in those, and other, contexts.

I’ll miss Buckhead Church. I have really enjoyed the rock concert-like loud music and lights and the practical and effective teaching by Andy. The community in both the college group and the church at large has been awesome. I’ll miss volunteering at Sharp Top Cove next year and I’ll miss working in KidStuf like I used to do when the church was still on Roswell Road.

I’ll miss Georgia Tech. Particularly the football team. It seems cruel that I have to leave just as things are getting interesting, but I hope to be back consistently for the UGA game and possibly others. And I’m sure given time I’ll miss other aspects of Georgia Tech although right now I cannot wait to get the hell out of here.

I’ll miss y’all. Both the phrase and the people I’ve used it to describe. Additionally I’ll miss “might could”, “fixin’ to” and “reckon”.

I will miss Jason’s Deli, Chick-fil-a, Junior’s, and Mary Mac’s. I will not miss The Varsity.

There’s probably a lot more things that I’ll miss, and I’ll probably write more about those things and the things I’ve already mentioned at a later date. Some things probably won’t become clear until I actually leave. But the conclusion is that sometimes we have to give up good things to pursue great things. I’m looking forward to my new job and in the meantime I’ll have to make sure to enjoy those around me while they still are.