Michael Kordahi from Microsoft Australia has created a rather interesting website which lets a user test which web search service that they prefer. Currently the site let a person search for a term and the site returns 3 columns that are in random order, and have a uniform layout that represent bing, google and yahoo search results.
The blind search website is available here, and Michael’s blog entry in regards to the site is here.
Microsoft in Redmond has started their recruitment process for interns over the Australian summer holidays. Below is an add for the intern positions, with details about how to apply.
Options are Good. In life and in your career.
A Real World Experience like No Other. As an intern at Microsoft, you’ll have real responsibility, real work, and real opportunities to jumpstart your career. (You’ll get paid, too!) It’s an experience you’ll never find in a classroom. You’ll be given manageable assignments that you can complete while you’re here, and your efforts will likely take shape in Microsoft products—or be used by Microsoft teams—long after you return to school. And imagine millions of customers, not to mention your classmates, seeing your work! Some interns even parlay their experience into a job offer.
An Opportunity to Shine. Our interns make a real difference. Not by filing paperwork or running errands, but by developing real products. Here, you’ll run your own projects and put your skills to work. This is why our internship program is one of the most successful in the industry. You’ll learn more in 12 weeks than you would in a whole school year. It’s the kind of work that gets noticed by millions of people all over the world. Kind of redefines the whole concept of internships, don’t you think?
“An internship allowed me to identify areas in which I needed to grow and helped to validate that I am working in the right field.” - John, Software Development Lead, Windows Server Performance
Current Internship opportunities with Microsoft:
Work at the Core of Every Product We Build
This internship is where the fun begins for code gurus like you. As a hands-on Software Design Engineer intern, you’ll learn how to make decisions about design and feature implementation, using your mastery of technical tools to help make a product vision a reality. If you would like to write code and design efficient data structures and algorithms to develop next-generation applications or operating systems, listen up. This internship shows you how SDEs bring products to life by working with Program Managers to ensure strong design andSoftware Design Engineers in Test to ensure quality through testing. Ultimately for the SDE, it’s your code that turns concepts into new technologies and services.
Qualifications:
Discover Life on the Last Line of Defense
As an intern Software Design Engineer in Test (SDET), you’ll own it, break it, fix it, and own it again. You’ll ensure a product’s quality by making sure it performs as users expect it to. Part of the fun is how creative you can be devising ways to manipulate, crush, and sabotage software into submission—while creating innovative testing technologies along the way. Ultimately, as an SDET intern it’s your input that can help make the difference between joy and frustration for the customers. Since you’re keen on how things work, and making them work better, you’ll work hand in hand with the Program Managers and Software Design Engineers to design, develop, and maintain automation systems for use in development and testing cycles. Using the tools you create, you’ll help pour over source code for trouble spots, debugging and isolating problems, and executing creative tests to find new bugs while regression testing recent fixes.
Qualifications:
Whatever position you choose, you’ll make a real impact in the dynamic world of product development at Microsoft. All positions are12 weeks and located in the United States at our corporate headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
Send Us Your Resume
Submitting a resume is the only way to get to the next stage of consideration, the interview. Our recruiting team travels to Australia regularly to meet bright and enthusiastic people like you, and we look forward to receiving your resume. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you are updating your resume to send to us:
If interested, please send your resume by July 22 to: ausrec@microsoft.com
A recruiter will review it, and if interested will set up a phone interview as a first step. And, by the way, we have many positions available, so if there is someone else you think we should know about; please share this information with them.
If we invite you to interview, we will cover your travel expenses. If you receive an offer, we will cover costs for visa processing and provide help with relocation. Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer and supports workforce diversity.
How we test software at Microsoft– Alan Page, Ken Johnston, BJ Rollison
How we test software at Microsoft is one of the more interesting computer books that I have read. I have learnt a considerable amount through reading the advice and anecdotes that are spread throughout the book written by the authors and other experienced testers at Microsoft.
The book begins it’s story from the basics of testing, the engineering cycle and where testing fits in at Microsoft. The story then continues to how Microsoft tests software including techniques that are used by the company. The way that How we test software at Microsoft differs from the array of other testing books out there that explain how testing can be conducted is all testing methodologies are linked back to arguments of why Microsoft does this. Additionally the book is filled with anecdotes and other stories by testers at Microsoft on what they did or experience in their roles.
The story then continues into what I believe is the unique section of the book, and this is the tools that Microsoft uses and has built themselves. The experience and insight of the authors is shown in this section as they discuss what they, fellow test leads and test architects have managed to achieve in create unique and specialised software to achieve to the colossal task of testing software such as windows and office.
The authors all of whom are part of the engineering excellence team, which is responsible for directing the overall engineering process in the company, describe their visions for testing at Microsoft. Their insight into the future of testing especially when the world transitions from web 2.0 to web 3.0 explores how Microsoft is evolving to test software faster with an emphasis on virtualisation and automation in all aspects of the testing process.
The book is enjoyable to read with humorous sidenotes in regards to testing at Microsoft inserted through out. The add-ins provide a respite from the explanations of testing techniques that are used in the company. The authors put in considerable efforts to not delve into what can be the dry topic of explaining countless testing techniques that exist.
How we test software at Microsoft is published by MSPress and written by Alan Page, Ken Johnston and Bj Rollison.
The imagine cup finals will be held on the 27th May (this Wednesday) and it will be held at the Microsoft Sydney office in North Ryde. For more details go to Link.
The details:
