Mark Curphey - SecurityBuddha.com

I am fully aware that this post may sound like I am drinking the “kool aid” but lots of people have been e-mailing me asking what it’s like to work at Microsoft so I thought I would jot some notes on the blog. I am actually crying into my coffee at Amsterdam airport waiting for a flight to Redmond at this moment in time. Lewis Hamilton just went off in the GrandPrix. Today he could have become the first driver to ever win the championship in his first year as well as being the youngest driver to ever win. Hamilton is very much the Tiger Woods of motor sport. We’ll have to wait two weeks for Brazil. Luckily England wiped the smile off the Aussies faces yesterday for the second rugby world cup…swing low, sweet chariots, Hamilton’s going to carry you home! Last week my wife and I went to watch the All Blacks trounce Romania at Toulouse. I’ll post a funny picture we took at the ground when she sends it to me. OK enough sport already.

I started on Monday and have only been on the office for three days this week as I had a standing speaking engagement in Finland, but I think the most impressive things for me this week have been the people, the technology and the facilities.

People -  I have met an awful lot of people and I can’t tell you how impressed I am. There is a real sense of helpfulness, purpose and a lot of really humble people. There are some very interesting security teams and people in the UK such as the security science team. All of the services teams and product teams seems to really care about security and all want to engage in the right conversations. I have heard about lots of really cool internal security tools and projects this week.

Technology - Of course you would expect the technology to be cool but I am still like a kid in a candy shop. I sit with the IT folks and so am lucky enough to get all the toys to play with like my new Samsung i600 phone. I now run Communicator Mobile 2007 so via Bluetooth from the car and through voice recognition I can connect through to the Unified Messaging and find out who is online, what emails I have, voice mails and even look people up in the global address list; and then call them based on their presence. It’s really cool. I haven’t found a Surface device yet. There are XBox’s in all the common areas (no Halo 3 yet) so a few laps of Forza or PGR4 after lunch for me. The attention to detail is just superb. When someone comes to meet you, the reception notifies you via email that your guest has arrived along with a photograph of them in reception so you know who to greet. If I am roaming the campus it comes to my mobile of course. The business applications are superb and all work perfectly just like they should. Update your profile and its pulled through to travel, the company car site, expenses, registration for corporate events, payroll etc. Browse and add yourself to distribution lists, get the Vista gadget for UK news and events. Lots of Infopath forms, .NET apps and tightly integrated stuff that works seamlessly. I guess it’s like I hoped only better.

Facilities - I am at the Microsoft Campus in Thames Valley Park, Reading. It’s certainly a lot smaller than Redmond with just over 2,000 people but the facilities are just fantastic. There are five buildings, one brand new, all linked by walkways littered with xbox’s, cafes and two great restaurants. A lot of internal business is done over coffee and I became one highly caffeinated man this week meeting a lot of people in the coffee areas. All buildings are very architecture and design, especially the new building 5. There is a wellness center onsite where there are doctors a few afternoons a week, massage and reflexology. There is a very nice kids creche. I am told if your kids are in, you get an email update at lunchtime with a photo and mini-report of what they did that morning. The tech center and envisioning lab is a facility where we get to work on solutions with customers and demonstrate solutions. All in all I would describe the facilities like you would imagine a well funded university whose purpose is let you full fill your potential in an inspiring environment.

I may well be drinking the “kool aid” but I am truly inspired. I am now off to Redmond for two weeks.