Working Remotely for Microsoft: Can I Find Someone To Let Me Work From Home?
Assuming you decide you can and want to work from home for Microsoft, now the trick is finding someone that will take you. The first time, this took me years. As my writing and speaking became more popular, I'd get more regular calls from someone at Microsoft with "the perfect job for me." Each time, I'd ask them if I had to move and when they replied, "Of course" as if the entire pool of worthy workers lived in Washington, I'd politely decline. Eventually when the question came up, Sara Williams said, "No need to move" and I went to work for MSDN. As is often the case with one's first Microsoft job, it wasn't a long-term fit (a software engineer needs to be on a product team!), but finding a product team took me took 6 months of digging. All the groups I talked to wanted me and they all were happy to move me (some even offered to move my extended family up, too, eliminating my main anchor for staying in OR), but culturally they just didn't know what to do with a remote guy.
Eventually, persistence, and my long experience working remotely, paid off and I actually had two competing offers (and I'm *so* happy about the one I chose). Microsoft has a *ton* of open positions and they get more open about remote employees all the time. Keep at it!
Tomorrow: Can You Communicate Effectively From Home?
Chris Sells
,
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 11:53 AM
That is great and interesting to consider. I currently work remotely 100% of the time for a major IT services company and absolutely love it.
Do you have any tips to share on searching for remote listings at Microsoft?
Paul L,
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 12:28 PM
It's pretty cool to know how you work, Chris. I do most of my work from home remotely as well, and it can be though at times but it also has a lot of advantages.
But now that you mention it, what it is that you actually do at MS now? :)
Tomas Restrepo,
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 12:41 PM
I love this series of posts. I have a similar situation myself, in that I married into a family with deep local roots in rural Idaho. My wife simply refuses to move, so I've made peace with the fact that I have limited job opportunities where I live.
But I'd simply love to have more opportunities, and working remotely would be wonderful.
Great posts Chris,
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 1:27 PM
Ha! That will teach me to read the posting form and not mistake "Title" for "Your Name"...
"Great post Chris"... yeah, that's me!
Chris Holmes,
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 1:28 PM
Your blog is fucking unreadable. Learn line widths, please.
Why is design sense evidently so incompatible with employment at Microsoft?
casual spectator,
Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:33 AM
"offered to move my extended family".....
Wow! You must have been in *high* demand. You rarely hear of that. That's crazy. Congratulations on being "the man"!
Anyway, now that I have quit my job and am starting my own compnay, I suppose I am working "remotely" all the time. My office now is a coffee shop, as the apartment we live in is too small to hold an office, especially with twin 1.5 year olds running around. But I have worked remotely much of my career, even at Intel where I worked, most of my team was in Oregon or Arizona while I lived in California.
It does take a special kind of person to pull this off -- I did miss team interaction a bit at first.
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