My first week at Microsoft

�How is Microsoft?� �It must be amazing!� �What are you working on?�

This is how the conversation goes with anyone who knows of my July 16 start date as a Microsoft employee.

If you missed my announcement (because I�recorded a video�instead of blogging about it), I�ve joined the Cloud Developer Advocates who report through to Azure engineering. I�m part of a new, global team focusing on IT Operations in Microsoft�s cloud. We have strong connections to our technical �IT Pro� communities, to help make Azure and its resources even better for people who are wrangling virtual machines, storage, backups, identity management etc etc.

And for my non-IT friends, �I connect the IT people who use Microsoft�s Cloud with the product team that makes that Cloud. We can feed back ideas and improvements and help our technical communities do amazing things.�

Getting Microsoft�s blue employee badge was a bucket list thing for me, but the role had to be right, Turns out they couldn�t have written this job description any better. It encompasses all of the community activities I�ve been more involved in during recent years, including having a social media presence. It�s a step away from my Office 365/productivity/modern workplace world, but a return to my server and infrastructure roots � this time with a Cloud focus. I�m thrilled to be part of a team that will help IT people around the globe tackle their Cloud challenges. And when I�m not travelling, I get to work from home!

Anyway, back to the first week stuff.

Though I�ve been self-employed for the last 14 years, I learnt IT in large organisations. I remember the structure, budgets, policies & procedures of banking, government departments and large systems integrators. My first week at Microsoft has been a gentle reminder that this is indeed a very large organisation. That scale makes policies, processes and procedures necessary. Starting work at any big company involves this onboarding period of learning the ropes � not the technical work of my role, but the �how we get things done� to meet employee expectations and corporate requirements. It�s a big learning curve.

Armed with my new laptop (15? Surface Book i7 FTW), I�ve been exploring the internal systems and building connections with both my immediate team and the bigger Cloud Developer Advocates group. Turns out my amazing manager is Rick Claus � a fact I didn�t know when I started the interview process. I�ve met Rick in person before and know him online and I can honestly say he is the second* nicest person in tech, in the world. (Not pitching for a pay rise here). Considering we have a ton of distance and a few time zones separating us, Rick has been incredible supportive during my first week.

The �what are you working on?� is a harder question to answer right now, but for a very good reason. I�m drafting this on my QANTAS public jet as I fly to Seattle, which is the closest major airport to Microsoft�s head office in Redmond, Washington, USA. After shaking the jet lag, I�ll be meeting with my immediate team and attending an internal event. This in-person time will help us explore our big goals for the future and will set the tone with where we are best to start. With our IT Operations team being a new thing, we get to explore together what our communities need and what our organisation needs, so we don�t get distracted (as much) by all of the cool, shiny opportunities we could play with. The work is likely to involve Azure Operations content at�docs.microsoft.com�and we also have the upcoming�Microsoft Ignite conference in Orlando, Florida in Sept 24-28.

As part of this trip, I�m also attending an internal Azure training event and I�m connecting with a few Microsoft contacts I already know. I�m expecting my head to be pretty full at the end of this 2.5 weeks.

So, there�s not much to reveal yet. Working remotely has been a great experience so far, with access to all the resources I need as if I was in a Microsoft office. With none of my team being in Brisbane, I truly can be a �digital nomad� and work anywhere, though I do appreciate having a local Microsoft office base when I need it. When I get back to Australia and have some more clarity about my work activities, responsibilities and goals, I�ll connect up with more of our local Brisbane/Australian/New Zealand key people both inside and outside of Microsoft, to explain how I can best help them.

In the meantime, you can always find me on Twitter @SoniaCuff or somewhere over the Pacific Ocean on a public jet.

-SCuffy

P.S. The image on this post is the Microsoft logo cake that my 12 year old daughter baked to celebrate!

*The nicest person in the tech world is reserved for one of my early mentors, the late Steve Lamb.