I left Microsoft last October to spend more time with my family, and when family life was about as sorted as it was going to be (and they were sick of me kicking around the house) in January, I started to look for a new job.
I’m incredibly fortunate and happy to announce that I report for new employee orientation March 11, 2013 at 8 AM, at…
Wait. I’m getting ahead of myself.
My roots are as a founder of a startup, and the desire to climb back on that roller coaster was very strong. As I talked to startups and later-stage companies around town, I realized something: I liked working at large Internet scale and startups by definition don’t have much of that.
The intersection of the top Internet companies and the Seattle area is a relatively small set, so this really focused my job search.
As has happened to me a few times in the past, a gig opened up at just the right time that offered what I was seeking. (Did I mention how fortunate I think I am?) And after interviewing last Monday, I was offered the job and happily accepted Microsoft’s offer. 🙂
I’m joining the Microsoft Office Division, where I will be leading the team of people who publish and maintain the Office TechCenter and Office Dev Center websites, and the related IT Pro and developer communities.
As to scale, Microsoft Office is used by over a billion people worldwide. The IT Pros and developers that visit those websites have hundreds of millions of people behind them that they support and write solutions for. Now that gets me out of bed in the morning. Even better, it won’t take me months to learn the corporate culture and I know many of the people I’ll be working with on a regular basis.
Finally, if you’re a customer that uses the Office Tech or Dev Center, please feel free to drop me a line – I’m listening and would love to have your input as we plan for the future.
Heather Kilbourn 