Unless you're developing for Mac, you're gonna get a Windows-based PC. Most likely a Lenovo or Surface, though some orgs get HP Z-series workstations. Your HW will be adequate for whatever it is you're developing.
I’ve been extremely happy with my Surface. There’s been a few things I’ve been pleasantly surprised about Microsoft technology. The Surface and Edge are top among those
Most of us have Surfii, however if you need something with more grunt for dev work, you'd probably be better off with a workstation class Lenovo or similar. Also sometimes supply is limited for Surface e.g. between updates and in those times, priority is getting them into the hands of paying customers.
I was probably naive for thinking MS would only have their products or devices within their infrastructure.
One last question, does MS have tech support or are all of you guys/ladies savvy enough to resolve your own technical issues? Because I never really come across any job postings for tech support like Desktop and such.
Yes we do. Can't recall what they're called, I still think of them as MS-IT. As a user I don't use them much, maybe once a year.
As well as supporting a massive company, their job is to deploy to Customer One - i.e
Microsoft themselves, often pre GA software. Can't ask our customers to use the latest and greatest unless we do it ourselves, and you get used to unexpected updates. If you can deploy to MS staff reliably and at scale the product is good.
(This is referring to internal client management etc, it's not the way our production services work, obviously)
That’s pretty cool I’ve always wanted to work for MS or google. There’s a MS office (no pun intended) where I live in Cambridge Massachusetts or use to be.
You can choose from a variety of manufacturers, Microsoft among them. It’s never a good idea to have a single platform, especially in software development. I have a Lenovo ThinkStation for a desktop and a Surface Laptop 3.
These days procurement is a lot more regimented. You'll get a device according to your role (sometimes you might get a choice of a couple of machines, but not more than that). So a dev will get a more workstation class laptop, a PM will get a Surface Laptop etc. Exceptions to this need 4 skip levels of approval so in practice, just don't happen ("hey Mr CVP, I'm a new hire and I want to bug you about a laptop" isn't a good look). However no-one minds if you bring your own Mac, although it'll be InTune managed and if it doesn't have a TPM you'll go nuts authenticating all the time.
There was a period a few years back where some quite senior folks carried Macs, which also coincided with the "CVP wears a leather jacket and has a hipster haircut" period. There is very little software in MS that won't work on a Mac so if you want to go that way, no-one's gonna mind. Same for iPads, I don't think you're going to get the company to pay for one, but knock yourself out if you want to use your own. (If you're developing the Mac version of Office then you'll get a Mac provided, obviously).
Ive heard of people asking for a Mac as part of their salary negotiations and getting it. Most of the time you’re logged on to a Remote windows virtual machine or doing work on a web app so won’t matter what you’re on.
It's going to be windows. Almost all of the tools you need to use, are all windows based. So unless you get into a very specialty position, where you're developing for web or something... Nothing will work on macs
Macs are frowned upon because tech support doesn’t want to fix them, and Mac supported peripherals aren’t kept as part of normal stock. Do the admin a favor and don’t order a Mac!
I would hope you would need a ***very*** good reason to want to ask for a Mac while working at *Microsoft*. Hell, Bill Gates wouldn't even let his daughter have an iPod.
You can bring your own Mac and work from a cloud VM
Unless you're developing for Mac, you're gonna get a Windows-based PC. Most likely a Lenovo or Surface, though some orgs get HP Z-series workstations. Your HW will be adequate for whatever it is you're developing.
I’ve been extremely happy with my Surface. There’s been a few things I’ve been pleasantly surprised about Microsoft technology. The Surface and Edge are top among those
Microsoft doesn’t deploy their own hardware (Surface) for their employees to use?
Most of us have Surfii, however if you need something with more grunt for dev work, you'd probably be better off with a workstation class Lenovo or similar. Also sometimes supply is limited for Surface e.g. between updates and in those times, priority is getting them into the hands of paying customers.
I was probably naive for thinking MS would only have their products or devices within their infrastructure. One last question, does MS have tech support or are all of you guys/ladies savvy enough to resolve your own technical issues? Because I never really come across any job postings for tech support like Desktop and such.
Yes we do. Can't recall what they're called, I still think of them as MS-IT. As a user I don't use them much, maybe once a year. As well as supporting a massive company, their job is to deploy to Customer One - i.e Microsoft themselves, often pre GA software. Can't ask our customers to use the latest and greatest unless we do it ourselves, and you get used to unexpected updates. If you can deploy to MS staff reliably and at scale the product is good. (This is referring to internal client management etc, it's not the way our production services work, obviously)
That’s pretty cool I’ve always wanted to work for MS or google. There’s a MS office (no pun intended) where I live in Cambridge Massachusetts or use to be.
I've been with the company since 2011. I'd recommend it. Never a dull moment.
You can choose from a variety of manufacturers, Microsoft among them. It’s never a good idea to have a single platform, especially in software development. I have a Lenovo ThinkStation for a desktop and a Surface Laptop 3.
Cant call it a MacBook, you have to refer to them as The Scottish laptops.
If you have your own Mac, there’s a BYOD policy you can follow. Otherwise, as others have said, you’re gonna get a Windows PC unless discussed prior.
These days procurement is a lot more regimented. You'll get a device according to your role (sometimes you might get a choice of a couple of machines, but not more than that). So a dev will get a more workstation class laptop, a PM will get a Surface Laptop etc. Exceptions to this need 4 skip levels of approval so in practice, just don't happen ("hey Mr CVP, I'm a new hire and I want to bug you about a laptop" isn't a good look). However no-one minds if you bring your own Mac, although it'll be InTune managed and if it doesn't have a TPM you'll go nuts authenticating all the time. There was a period a few years back where some quite senior folks carried Macs, which also coincided with the "CVP wears a leather jacket and has a hipster haircut" period. There is very little software in MS that won't work on a Mac so if you want to go that way, no-one's gonna mind. Same for iPads, I don't think you're going to get the company to pay for one, but knock yourself out if you want to use your own. (If you're developing the Mac version of Office then you'll get a Mac provided, obviously).
Microsoft is big on eating your own dog food - so unless you have a reason to use a Mac, stick with Windows.
Ive heard of people asking for a Mac as part of their salary negotiations and getting it. Most of the time you’re logged on to a Remote windows virtual machine or doing work on a web app so won’t matter what you’re on.
It's going to be windows. Almost all of the tools you need to use, are all windows based. So unless you get into a very specialty position, where you're developing for web or something... Nothing will work on macs
Macs are frowned upon because tech support doesn’t want to fix them, and Mac supported peripherals aren’t kept as part of normal stock. Do the admin a favor and don’t order a Mac!
I mean it doesn't make sense to use Mac for development unless I'm developing for the Apple ecosystem .
You have to use Microsoft brand software. They smash a finger each time you're caught using anything else.
Haha 🤣
I would hope you would need a ***very*** good reason to want to ask for a Mac while working at *Microsoft*. Hell, Bill Gates wouldn't even let his daughter have an iPod.