dirtyDogStink

Working @ Microsoft...there are still a few perks

Wednesday, June 08 2005

Working at Microsoft isn't the glory story of yesteryear.  My stock options aren't going to make me a millionaire...in fact, I don't even think they have a positive value right now.  My stock grants aren't going to allow me to retire early and pursue my dream of being an author living on a Mexican beach.  My salary isn't so astronomically high (although I have no complaints) to where I can afford 3 homes, a super-size SUV, 2 sports cars and a yacht.  You get the picture.  ;-)

...but...there are certain perks that come with working for such a high profile software company...we often have the ability to obtain some of the latest hardware on behalf of fulfilling our job requirements.  On Monday, I ordered a brand new Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc.  =)

Let me tell you, the specs on this thing are unreal!  2 GHz Pentium M processor, 1 GB 533 MHz SDRAM, 14" SXGA TFT screen, NVidia GEForce 128 MB, 80 GB (5400 rpm) hdd, integraged wireless 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth and a host of other things I thought were cool.  Suuuuwwwweeeeeet!

So, why was I able to order this little monster?  The short story...my current laptop (Dell Latitude) is at it's end-of-life (3 years). 

The long story...  A few weeks ago our admin, Wendy, came into my office to let me know that my laptop was at it's end-of-life and asked if I needed a replacement or a new desktop.  My current machines are not state-of-the-art, but I've added RAM where necessary and am able to run Outlook, several instances of IE, 1 or 2 instances of VS.NET, messenger, a few remote desktop sessions, SQL query analyzer, SQL enterprise manager, a few cmd prompts and Media Player 10 with very few noticeable slow downs.  Trying to be the fiscally responsible employee that I think I am, I told her "no thanks, ask me again next year."  She said "ok" and that was that.  A few weeks pass by and Monday arrives.  Wendy walks in to my office and says "I need you to order your new PC today or tomorrow so it's included in the current year's budget."  Of course, I reminded her about our conversation a few weeks ago and she said that we have the budget and management wants us to use it.  Go ahead, twist my arm to pick out a cool new toy, ummm, I mean tool.  =)

A quick word about our admins.  They are one of the most important pieces in our employment puzzle!  They know all the crazy sh!t that you might not need very often, but when you do...you need it yesterday.  They make sure that you have what you need to do your job and we all know how miserable a job can be when you don't have the right tools.  Suffice it to say that you want to be nice to your admin!  I'm damn lucky that I've worked with a few awesome admins.  Wendy, you rock!

~tod