Changed my initial one as well. Have a good friday? :p

I never had a problem getting water - great if you bring your own - but if you forget, just ask. Every building has kitchen(s) with water, tea, soda, coffee and so on...no more orange styrofoam cups though, we've moved to biodegradeable cups now. :p

As I posted the articles, I noticed the date on the first one as 2005, and wondered if you were referring to people who recieved offers before 2005 (but who knows what the policy was before 2005, it might have been the same, and only got posted in 2005...)

modified on Thursday, July 31, 2008 9:40 PM

I'll back up what I am saying with links; the doc I had seems to be available to new hires only. http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog/archive/2005/12/06/moving-on.aspx[^] http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog/archive/2004/12/08/relocation-relocation-relocation.aspx[^] More info can be found if you search. (I'm not posting this to prove Joe Woodbury wrong, rather I am posting for general info of the OP. Its useful to know that you don't have to worry about the expense of moving.)

Sorry for getting the name wrong; misread while quickly typing. MS benefits state (I'd link, but I don't have the doc anymore, though it may be on the MS career site) that you get moved, so long as you currently live X amount away from MS. That is about the only case in which they won't move you - or if the group you are moving into does not have the bugdet to move you. In all other cases, you will be moved. People outside the US also get greater benefits, with a longer period of time to stay in temp housing. So, I should correct myself: 99.8% of the time, the move is payed for. I know my experience is very reflective of other people's, because I've talked to those other people. The standard package includes a move, 1 month of temp housing, assistance finding housing and so forth.

I work for MS, I'll put that up front - I just started March 08, graduated with my bachelors in Comp Sci in December 07. I scored an interview with both the HD DVD guys, and then the Mac BU, got offers for both, and picked one. If you get multiple offers, you don't get numbers on them - the Mac BU offer was in mountainview CA, HD DVD in Redmond - I was not told numbers, but I was told that the two offers were garaunted to be on the same skill level, and would compensate for the cost living for each region. I won't say which I picked, but I *will* say the offer was very good - I know for a fact I had the highest salary of all people who graduated in my class. Furthermore, (John Woodbury) MS pays the move completely - they pay for United to move you, if you want to fly out and have a car, they pay for it to be moved, they pay for you to fly to Redmond, they give you temp housing until you find permanent housing. If you want to drive to redmond, they pay you a certain amnt per mile. As for benefits, I think the only company that even comes close is Google, and I think MS is superior. As for advice, be prepared. Depending on the group, the format of the interviews varies; some do a panel, some just rotate you through different people. The interviews usually take a whole day, and include lunch. If you're going to be a coder, then be ready for code questions. They will try to challenge you, see how you reason it out. Don't do I what I did (and I still got offers for both interviews) and be silent. I stood at a white board and thought...I didn't talk out loud...they WANT to know what you think - so let them hear your thought process. Also, they tell you they don't care what you wear...I'd wear a suit anyway (I did). Finally, don't worry about impressing the guys here...rather, show them what you can do, have intelligent questions ready for them. This is as much a chance for MS to evaluate you, as it is a chance for you to evaluate us. Find out if you like it here (do sighseeing!) talk to the group, find out as much as possible. And lastly, enjoy it, and congrats on getting the interview. PS: I didn't think I'd get the job - my view was "Its MS, no chance in HELL I can get this"...I went in with low expectations, but high hopes. I was somewhat nervous, but confident in what I did. Now that I'm here, I'm proud to be at such an amazing company. I can't help but feel really good about making it into such an amazing company straight out of college - the people here are truly amazing, helpful and fri