Working for the big fish

When I first started with computers and was about 10 years old, Microsoft and Bill Gates where the best thing in the world: normal, they offered me a platform on which I could code (BASIC) and a pretty cool OS at the time (DOS). It was incredibly satisfying to spend nights trying to solve a mathematical problem from school using a computer. At that time and a few years later, for me ending up working at Microsoft someday was the DREAM. I had no idea whether I would ever achieve it but decided to give it a try.

When I got a little bit older (16), I discovered Open Source and few other things that started to change my mind about that. However although I embraced the whole OS thing and Linux and what not, it was still clear in my mind that someday, as a good software developer / programmer and the right education, I would end up with a job at Microsoft.

Then I got a little bit older and started understanding even more things. Things like what technology really was, what innovation meant and more than that, I started working with other alternatives (Apple OS 9.0 and OS X). After I've entered the sacred environment of "Applers", and started reading more and more on other technology and business related subjects, I discovered one thing: I discovered that I wanted to work in a company that fostered technological innovation and THAT was in NO CASE Microsoft.

Time passed, I got older, my belief in Microsoft, their products and whatever "innovation" they babled about started fading dangerously. I've also heard rumours, whether these were the truth or not, I really had no idea. With the dream Microsoft job idea fading and my embracing of the OS culture, I just knew that the great Microsoft nerds/geeks culture I've heard about so much and read about so much as a kid was not for me. Worse, rumours became truth:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_39/b3952001.htm

I wouldn't really say that I am disappointed nor will I say that I am surprised. One thing that I've learnt from management is that big organizations sometimes become too big for their own good. It's just like a huge boat compared to a smaller one: turning the bigger one takes ages compared to playing around with the smaller boat. What I mean here is that big organizations the size of Microsoft tend not to succeed in adapting quickly to a new situation/business environment like startups and smaller organizations would.

The Microsoft environment might still be great, but I think it totally depends on who you are , what you are looking for and whatever plans you've made for your life.

For me, it's this simple: to really enjoy my work and give myself to it at a 250% rate (including sleeping under the desk and eating cold pizzas all week long :-D ), I need an environment that thrives with an innovation culture, new ideas and support from most stakeholders and possibly freedom to take things to a certain level no one has thought they could be taken to.

So if my dream of working for the "big fish" has died and even died completely after the confirmation from the inner circle, what options do I have? Well quite a bunch:

• start my own startup (hopefully, but not sure whether I am 100% ready to deal with lots of management issues till I get a bit older and get more experience on that subject).
• work for a great startup (better for now since it will let me focus on what I like doing the most: software development / programming).
• work for other big fishes of the moment. Here there's a list to select from and hopefully be selected by: APPLE (would be perfect!), SONY (would be ok...), Google (Yeah!!!), Nokia (I still have some doubts about this one, but well let's see how they evolve).

An APPLE job would be nice. Actually, it would be perfect: being part of a team that creates and innovates as much as Apple does would be awesome. It's been almost a year and half since I've been looking at this option for after I graduate. I've even checked for possible internships: it however seems that the only way to get an internship at Apple is to be a US Citizen, which I think is fair enough (give a chance to the natives before considering other options, it is like that everywhere in the world, so I am not going to rant about this).

There are possibly many other options I haven't looked at or considered yet, but there is still plenty of time ahead... And just as my view of Microsoft (bleh: The Road Behind) has changed over the years, let's see how it goes for with Apple, Google, etc...