My name is David Acheson, I was raised on a farm and am currently an Intern in Microsoft in the SDET role in team OIPG. I am in my third year (year of professional experience) of a four year BSc. Computer Science course in Queens University Belfast. I applied to Microsoft through the website www.microsoft.com/careers. When I arrived I wasn’t even fully sure what an SDET was, but I knew the acronym stood for Software Development Engineer in Test. Upon arriving I learned that an SDET is the last line of defence between a product and the end users. We understand fully how the user utilizes the product and develop tools and automation to rigorously test Microsoft products. To me this sounded like great fun, and it was.

I was a member of OIPG Test (Office International Publishing Group), what do they do? In a nutshell, the whole OIPG is responsible for the publishing of the www.office.microsoft.com in all languages except core en-us. What OIPG Test (our team) is responsible for, is testing the content which goes on the website, in those many different languages. We are responsible for managing the testing of all this, and managing the all up quality of the website. It took quite a while for
everything to sink in and become fully up to date on how everything operated, but thankfully I had great support all the way.

When I arrived in through the door I was a little bewildered at the size and structure of the teams and buildings. Although there was nothing at all to worry about, Microsoft has a great support mechanism for interns and new employees alike. As soon as I met my manager he began taking me around and introducing me individually to each member of the team to briefly explain what they do. Then we had our first one on one meeting where I learned a lot more about the sort of work I’d be doing over my year. To my surprise one of my manager’s first sentences was, “What would you like to do here?” Microsoft, unlike many other companies does not use interns as a work pool. The end goal is to let them learn as much as they can here to create a large pool of possible graduate hires.

There is an amazing amount of social activity in Microsoft, which may be surprizing as the common perception of the software developer is often someone coding from a darkened room. I was a member of the intern social committee which had a social Budget and organized events throughout the year for other interns. On top of this our entire division sometimes had events such as on St. Patricks Day evening where an entire nightclub was hired for our exclusive pleasure. Last but not least, my favourite events were those for my own small team of about eight people. Throughout the year we had food, bowling, Lazer-Quest, go-kart racing, paintballing, golfing and many more activities, which really for me, helped me get to know the other members and other teams. It helped give me a better understanding of what everyone else was doing, and how all the work together created the great product at the end.

In the first weeks I was given a buddy who taught me all the basics of life in Microsoft, this was a great way for me to meet a lot of people and make quick friends. He helped me get settled into my first projects. Over my time here I’ve worked on a good range of assignments, from writing and managing test specifications for the testing of new content going on the website to working on web applications, websites and my personal favourite large scale automation. My manager helped me create a long term plan for my internship when I noted my strengths and weaknesses. Together we then planned what projects I could have to compliment what I wanted to learn alongside raising some of my skillsets, this was what made my internship so fulfilling.

During my time in Microsoft I was really surprized at the amount of schemes and events designed to help support young people in Ireland. I was able to help out at DigiYouthz and with the Transition Year Students program, both of which raise awareness of Computer related jobs to young people. Soon I’ll be leaving and a lot of people have already begun asking me what I’ll miss. I’ll miss the intelligent and passionate people I work around. My job was kept exciting by my
constant learning from others and improvement of code, also my manager as well, who helped coax me into applying for a Redmond U.S. internship and helped direct me to exciting projects which I could learn the most from.

David Acheson