Heh. Robert Scoble apparently saw my primal scream over EIF, and noticed my statement about wanting to work for Microsoft. His statement?

I want people like Andy to work here. Constructive criticism is always good. Now the ball is in our court to fix the issue. Hey, remember, I told Bill Gates to split up the company. If I can get hired, Andy has an even better chance.

I am quite flattered, but I'm afraid I apparently don't make the cut. I have actually applied for positions at Northwestern Mecca, and I never got even a phone interview. [stifles sob]

I am actually making a very nice living designing data architectures for much smaller companies. In fact, from what I understand, I'm actually earning more doing this than I would at Microsoft. So why did I cry myself to sleep when I never got the call from Bill? It's actually quite simple: I'm a big, fat geek, and Microsoft has done a marvelous job of presenting itself as Geek Nirvana.

I love technology in general. I will always try out new technologies, and code up parts I find to be missing/lacking. I want to impress my peers. I love working around other geeks who challenge me and tell me why my stuff sucks so I will fix it in order to gain their approval. Microsoft has a shitload of geeks. It's presented as a tough place to work even if you're a wizard coder. It's also described as a meritocracy - Impress or Be Forgotten. I honestly don't know if I could survive, and that is the exact reason why I want to do it (Incidentally, I want to live in New York City for similar reasons).

Now, in defense of Microsoft, I have to say a couple of things. First, I don't have a degree in Computer Science - my degree is in Electrical Engineering, and I never finished my Master's in Biomedical Engineering (there's a whole 'nuther story there!). Although I am fairly fluent in C/C++, I only write C code when something begs to be a low-level library - I prefer to work with higher level (read: C#, T-SQL, XML) languages. I now have a baby daughter, and I swore to spend less time at work and spend more time with my family - this doesn't sound like it fits with the Microsoft corporate culture. Finally, Microsoft is the belle of the ball - I know they've got scads of people who are smarter than me who are also vying for these positions.

So why can't I just forget about it and get on with my life?