Microsoft ADC Career Talk Panel

I would like to welcome the Microsoft ADC for our second our plan of planar recession but I'll briefly so briefly I would like each one to introduce themselves hi everyone good afternoon I'm really glad to be here with you today my name is Diana I am a PM at Microsoft but my background is in software engineering I work on identity and security and stay stand and hi everyone my name is Benson I'm Professor production manager at Microsoft I actually Diana is my teammate in the market again and I'm also part of identity and Executives yes happy to be here hi everyone I hope you're doing well my name is Annie and our n-i-e it's short for Arnold I've seen a

lot of people talk about branding themselves when I went to Microsoft I changed I no longer use an adult so please call me honey [Music] identity and security I work alongside Diana and Dan I'm also a product manager thank you thank you very much um before we start I think many of us like to get to understand how the culture at Microsoft ABC is that so I don't know who will the best place to answer I would go for a person here because I can see I have a personal question because you just like that in the office oh yeah so

yes today I tried to do a long one because I was coming and I guess this is going to be online but yeah um at Microsoft so far Microsoft is the best place I would want to work I would say that even if I left my concert for whatever reason because I think Microsoft is a great place the culture is great because um they have like a mental um like guidelines on the fact that when you appreciate who you are that is how you become great at what you do so at Microsoft actually there is basically one would bring your authentic self to work every day because that is what you want anything else it's just

not needed so as long as you you are your authentic self doesn't matter how you dress what religion you have how you talk when you will appreciate it the way you are so me that's how I feel like my present so yeah and the cat is less etiology I don't know what the other guy is in for the experience like that tonight oh all right that was that was very UPS that's exactly how I would I would push it and uh um well I've worked in a couple of places in Europe I would say the same thing about Microsoft I'm thinking personality to do a very long career like at Microsoft we have a lot of

achievements who've done three digits and I recently joined the um what is it called like the third floor which is like getting into your 30s right and I never used to understand um how that was possible because in my 20s I would really keep a job like for as long as you know three years I'd feel too old again but then you get into this new space and you understand some of the problems that you are solving for are huge a good example is when I pass this microphone to be honest you're gonna talk to you later about some of the things that she's doing you realize that whatever you're working on you're probably one of probably five people who

are trying to solve that for 80 billion people in the world and not just like makes it such a unique place that you have the support of a lot of people and um the way our career growth is is you know it has been has been modeled is to allow for folks to bring their authentic self and also um to have a growth mindset in you know in in how we operate so that I don't know what else you can have

it's a huge company so that I think two or three hundred thousand people around the world but the certain Nairobi is East Africa and there is also an infusion of our local country there so if you're like me and you know you live alone there's lunch every day it's fun you know just just be careful not to eat too much and then you know after three months you're not struggling but there's also a gym and activity and things like things like but I think for me the biggest thing in addition to being yourself and being able to bring a full self at work is just working with some very very smart people that are very

helpful as well so you are meeting with someone you'll have gone on you have seen that they have a tutorial opportunity that three million people have watched but they are talking to you and they're engaging with you and there's nothing quite for me as humbling attracts right you know we're all very smart people all of you here are brilliant and talented now imagine coming into a space where instead of booking a teacher from an imposter syndrome perspective you have all these amazing people who you can learn from and interact with every day and they're very very down to us so I think for me when I think about that it makes me very excited because you know

on day one I was like oh do I really belong here everybody is so smart everybody's so talented but then when you start to bring yourself and your personality to work you realize that there's so much that you bring and that that is valuable for you and for me that's why I'm excited to wake up and go to work every day plus the lunch speaking of plans today so you have like Microsoft to have lunch you have gym and right I think she's going to have forgotten to mention is they have cash which brings me to the next question um could you briefly describe to us what um what you do daily as what is your what

is your building oh um so daily as I mentioned I work on identity and security so what that means is I work with developers who are working on who are using Microsoft products and I work with them to figure out problems that they're having and to diagnose security challenges that they're having and to figure out ways to remediate it so from day to day that might look like um on one day getting on a call with a customer to go through a technical issue so even if my even if we said that we appearance I'm not sure if I could do is quite technical so that means that you need to have a grasp of Dev and

Microsoft's identity and security platform

big presentations talking people through our products so it's a real it's like for my role it's a fusion of sort of devrel developer work PM work but then all of that cuts across the identity and security space another day it might be the building out a demo like you uh building us that they were using Microsoft apis to go and show to our customers and speak to them another day might involve meeting the internal products and Engineering teams to educate with them and so this is for just my specific role right so you you myself you'll hear me talking about developers internal engineering teams there are quite a number of roles at Microsoft and everybody's day looks

different and what I like about the company of my ideas is I'm a bit more of a generalist if you remember Gabriel's presentation there were red red people and blue people and the type of person that likes to know a little bit about everything so generally so that's what my day looks like but if you're a specialist there are also um roles like that so let me just add you back to that so you can tell you a bit more about that I don't know where to add because I do exactly what she does but yes I think the only thing I can add is so you know Microsoft's customers are tips so that's the key thing so because

Microsoft's customers are dead it means our day-to-day in bonds um working with grabs to help them you know like use the Microsoft product so like at Microsoft even Microsoft developers are Microsoft customers so with the customers you work with are actually Microsoft and developers that make Microsoft products so the only thing I can add to what the understanding is the data side so because Microsoft's customers I we have a few days of customers so we have a lot of customer related data usage data that we look at and we use those to help engineering teams to build better products so the same feedback is what is also used for about party Developers that use our products outside Microsoft

oh wow okay so what to add invest so I'm sure some of you have had us speak a bit about identity and access and a bit about uh our identity platform so the thing that is unique about the three of us is um when you think about Microsoft and security I think it was Gabriel who mentioned earlier on that when you have your home lab you should make sure probably that you have an ad which is an elective directory or something of the sort that's the center for the products that the three of us work daily to ensure that their customers who are emboded the developers were on board it derived first of all um value proposition from it is

everything working are all the parts that are supposed to be you know ensuring that your businesses are safe here there is if your customers like down the road uh can trust that you know they can use your applications and they are safe but like what today basis is to ensure that you know we continue driving very much of security within Microsoft um so our scope of work includes specific value work that can be done within Microsoft and outside of Microsoft and the one that will be doing within Microsoft we call that first party I think about that as developers the folks who actually build out some of the tools that folks use every day Microsoft Word SharePoint you know Etc

so those developers they get into you know quality situations just like the developers out there and our team is just in the job of ensuring that we educate them we drive awareness and help help them remediate security non-security threats that might be um you know might be like affecting their various products feel free to raise your hand and yeah we make it as interactive as possible good afternoon my name is Keith so first I'd like to say thank you for the two job application that we injected [Music] according to that I'm going to ask some very tough questions now one I've noticed that going to the job questions that you do have to do with

programming and software Network so one of the questions where do you have done postings for other it related things so those who do networking cloud services and all that and so I know Xbox is a subsidiary of Microsoft and that's probably on the end goals that you have and why are there no why are many of the Xbox services not available in Kenya and you're here and I'm also I'd like to figure out the kind of maybe career path that I need to go to to get together because I know most likely I won't connect it into Xbox probably through Microsoft fast then maybe specialize there later and um yeah also of course I'm currently

studying a cloud and network security I'm aware of the Xbox cloud gaming system and I'm pretty sure I really need guys who has security to help you there and who better than I can never go to take it twice I I can talk about that the job applications so I for the records I don't have anything I I'm barely five years in the tech space and I joined Microsoft as a referral so it means I knew someone who went to Microsoft and said that guy looks good and then I got a job

[Music] um so in my career what I can tell you about rejection I have had rejections right and the only thing I can tell you is um find out what you can learn from it yes that is that that's like the key thing you can do so find out what you can learn from it find what they were looking for that you don't have when you see that it's gonna work and try to find people who are ready do the same role you're trying to interview for at Microsoft let me talk to them I get people reach out to me on LinkedIn I'm looking to switch over to you know becoming exercise so I say okay and I'm happy to share my

journey my experience and you know what I think Microsoft like looks for and that's what I share with you so I would advise you to learn from that experience and to judge the folks and get insight into how to get past the level that you preach in the last interview yeah sorry what yeah uh yeah sure if you see a job that you want to apply for I require you if I think you can make it right because you don't refer someone you know and father is like um it's like I'm hurting for you so I can't vouch for you if you don't like if you if you don't fight for it right yeah so

the guy that identified me probably he didn't ask me he just went and said to someone I know someone in Kenya who does this and this and I so you are you know hiring again so why because the previously we guys stopped um we talked about what I do he knows I like writing technical contents and he knows I'm very enthusiastic about the pencils so he just went to those lines right so yeah you're gonna figure out what they're looking for and sell you exactly that and then um

yes we are from Microsoft ATC ADC stands for Africa development center right the focus for Africa Development Centers we have two centers in Africa there's one of Lagos Nigeria and there's one uh desert of Nairobi Kenya right the one that is based off of Lagos uh Nigeria is focused on an inter or in Microsoft right we organized into divisions right and the division is known as W plus b could you guys repeat that with me W plus ew plus distance for Windows and devices right so within windows and devices that's where we have gaming right and that new class D is um they've done a lot of investment in our ADC West which is the Lagos office

so I like it with that um if you are really interested like to get into work with folks in WPSD um we have a lot of networks of folks here who speak to the growing levels so it's very possible we've also had people coming from other countries who wish to work for a particular division that is focused in ADC East which is Africa I mean which is Microsoft security and so we folks can actually like move around so if you see a job in in Lagos that's very interesting you could ask that not done because I mean like anyone that you know at Microsoft to refine you and it's still going to be fine so there

are no restrictions for that if you're capable and you know you're able to to do the job I can't tell you for Shiva that I don't know if I'm allowed to reveal this but every single time you refer someone who successfully because to that we actually get a bonus of that so nobody at Microsoft is refusing to verify in fact it's in their best interest to actually refinement this is how we go and excite the talent um maybe just in addition to that um just a couple of years did someone I think that really really cause a lot from his life and change my life yes like I've never been that organized they work with me in almost like suck

I'm like I don't know why I do that but I realized that I could I could really learn a lot for me to say it's very powerful I'm sure thank you very much there is there is a line that goes in this life that you say you you search on either side you've been an interviewer right and you've been an interview I am so inspired right now when I look at the folks the faces here each one of you reminds me of me the difference was like when I was coming up and so take this opportunity and be very open to what dancing for every single rejection that you're getting there's always something to learn all those recruit us

very closely right and ask them what are some of the things that I did not do well I Was preparing for my interview at Microsoft I worked very closely with my Approach and my coach that was my number one Advocate because it is in their best interest to break the best habit recruiters open their doors to every single person who is in the in this in this house right now right and then when you get at Microsoft your manager now picks your hand and make sure that if you work hard as manages to make sure that people are fine so when we're still out here and you we should come use your friends who are the Microsoft to make

sure that they they are the people called Johannes one and two if you get a recruiter talk to them and ask them you know all the questions that you need to ask right um to ensure that you have better chances of succeeding but there is work that has to be done by each one of you uh the gentlemen for hmm

they would say you needed to do the work by yourself if you do the work by yourself it becomes easier for you now to come out to be seen to be capable in this race and then you know a lot of people can easily come out and really say more about about you I hope that answers a bit of your question so find someone especially if you're very passionate in that space and there are a couple of folks here um who will also make money magically clarify you successfully so there you go we will win right yeah

[Music] for all that you're looking for so maybe you are looking at a network or IIT specific rules but you're not seeing those on the portal what you can see is if you're open to read um you might not you have the skills for it just get in as a program program manager getting as a software engineer because it's I'll tell you it's much easier to move naturally and I think I'm alluded to this it's easier to move naturally within the organization once you're already there and don't be afraid of making a career change I saw someone the other day who was a technical recruiter at Microsoft and switched and became a software engineer so that's I think

that's one of the the possibilities that Microsoft provides that there's so many things you can do um I had I think we were talking about red teams blue teams and football teams those teams are there at Microsoft but they are not necessarily available out of the EDC but if that's a career path actually be interested in like for example um you know the more I learn and the more I grow in identity and security the more I realize maybe I want to specialize in pen testing what was it project I I have the resources to learn how to get there and then once I qualified and I proven myself just as a person and my

general capabilities and my personality I can say too I'm here I now want to become a researcher and then Ali will say let's design the best way for you to get there so I'd say that um yeah just make just get in apply and then Microsoft might not be the only place you know right you could get in and love it and get a better opportunity elsewhere so I'd say focus on growing your skills and yourself and I want to have some of the tips that have been given by some of the other presenters but make sure that you stand out and I think you really do and I really look forward to having you at the office yeah