What Do MSN Technologies (China) Do ?
From :
http://spaces.msn.com/ligongatmsn/blog/cns!1130EB21E0E5C23!108.entry?_c=BlogPart
Since I joined Microsoft (MS) to be the Managing Director of MSN Technologies (China) (which let us refer to as MSNTC) almost 2 months ago, a lot of people ask me what MSNTC does. Here is a rough outline, and is my estimate and subject to change without notice :-)
1. MSNTC is a part of the worldwide MSN business group (one of the 7 business groups, or BGs, in MS).
2. MSNTC covers all R&D activities of MSN in China.
3. 80-90% of what we do would be worldwide MSN projects, such as Messenger, Hotmail, etc. 10-20% of what do would be targeted at China and the Asian region specifically, for example to make msn.com.cn more competitive.
4. We will grow to multiple hundreds of people very quickly, in both Beijing and Shanghai. We may have other locations, but so far the focus is in BJ and SH.
5. We welcome folks who want to return from abroad, but their expectations have to be in line with reality in China. Unless they are super special, or with a lot of MS experience in the US, they would normally not be paid a premium since the local talent in China is very strong.
For those people who actually are interested in finding out what sort of jobs are available in MSNTC, here are a few things to keep in mind.
(a) MSNTC has all sorts of opennings, from admins to developers to managers to program managers ... but MS is somewhat different from other multinationals in how they are organized (see below).
(b) A first-line manager is called a Dev Lead (Development Lead) or Test Lead. So if you are used to sporting a manager title, be prepared for this change. (But I guess in Chinese the title for Dev Lead can still be Manager? Have to check.) And Dev Leads are expected to be extremely hands on, so if you are a pure people manager, it is going to be hard for you to be a Dev Lead.
© A second-line manager is called a Dev Manager, who typically manages Dev Leads and others. This manager can also be very hands-on, but can also somewhat more focused on project and people management.
(d) A PM (program manager) usually is very technical. Apart from managing product schedules and dependencies, a PM at MS is expected to drive product feature spec and such. There are PM ladders, such as LPM (Lead PM) and GPG (Group PM), for larger projects.
(e) Test leads are usually regular employees but testers are typically outsourced to vendor companies.
Note the above are just rules of thumb and you will find out more accurate info if you talk to MS at some point.
Finally, I am busy hiring a few hiring managers. Once they come on board, perhaps in the next couple of weeks, they will turn around and start hiring like crazy. I am sure they will make their contact information known to all those who want to know :-)
So much for today.
Cheers,
Li Gong