In July 2021 I celebrated my 10th anniversary working for Microsoft. I reflected on my 10 years here in a recent team meeting and wanted to share some of my thoughts.

Thankful

First and foremost I am thankful. I am thankful to so many people that have shared opportunities to grow personally and professionally as well as challenges to tackle. 10 years is the longest that I have been at a single company and I feel that I’m part of our culture as well as I have a responsibility to continue our culture forward.

Advice

My manager Jeremy Thake asked me to share with our broader team “what advice would you give to your ’10 years ago self’?” Speaking honestly, I didn’t have to think about it too long. There were two things that came to mind.

Grow your network

I work with many amazingly talented people (intellectual, empathetic, generous with their time, and more). Getting to work with such great people is one of the primary factors that brought me to Microsoft and keeps me here as well. My peers are the smartest, most passionate, and inspiring people I’ve had the pleasure to meet.

As much as possible, grow your network of contacts. This includes people that you can help, people that are experts in specific areas, and people that inspire you. The person that you help today may come around to be the person that helps you years down the road. Despite Microsoft having over 100,000+ employees, it’s amazing how I bump into certain people over time and those relationships benefit both of us.

Find your specialty and share often

As you grow your network it also helps to be known for something specific. Throughout my years at Microsoft I have been known as “the PowerShell guy” or “the person who always had a tech tip to share” or “the Microsoft Graph SME“.

When you are known for a specific topic, people will search for you as you become “the go-to person on topic X”. Take this as an opportunity to share what you know. If you can, also find out what others are good at also. Now when you have a question on topic Y, you know who to reach out to. This tends to create a virtuous cycle that grows your network, helps you find answers / information quickly, and benefits other people as well.

Conclusion

I’ve worked with computers and software since I was 5 years old but I never imagined that one day I would get to work at Microsoft. Now that I am here, I want to take the opportunity to have the biggest impact that I can (internally and externally) and help others feel welcomed at Microsoft. I’m thankful for these past 10 years and looking forward to the next 10+ years.

-Frog Out

Credit: image from Unsplash, https://unsplash.com/photos/vbQsU3kVVPI