Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters: What I Learned in Ten Years as a Microsoft Programmer

by Adam Barr

Book Overview

Why has Microsoft really been successful? Forget what you have read elsewhere. In Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters , a ten-year veteran of the front lines of the software development wars gives... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595161286
• ISBN13: 9780595161287
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.9" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Great book!

I thought this was an excellent account of what it can be like working at Microsoft. Adam draws on many of his specific experiences, but the attitudes and depicitions are accurate. MS is a wonderfull company to work for, and if you want to know what it can be like working there, read this book.

For anyone curious about how Microsoft really operates

Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters: What I Learned In Ten Years As A Microsoft Programmer is a revealing account of Adam Barr's personal and professional experiences while working as a software developer for Microsoft. Here is a candid, comprehensive, and revealing behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings, dedicated employees, and controversial CEO for the world's most influential computer company whose impact on technology, business, and economics is unparalleled in our post-industrial information age. Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters is "must" reading for anyone curious about how Microsoft really operates within its corporate inner sanctums ranging from its recruitment process (including how and why potential employees are labeled as "hires" and "no hires") to an assessment of the enduring strength and durability of a company which has been under fire from federal agencies and watchdog groups these past several years.

The real 'Microsoft Secrets'

This book is a meandering, sometimes disjoint tour of one developer's highs and lows over 10 years revealing the true 'secrets' to Microsoft's software development success. Although a former Microsoft employee, Adam is not afraid to refreshingly scold Microsoft time and time again. Adam bluntly unveils the man behind the powerful curtain describing the inner mechanics of recruiting, program managers, developers, testers, and acquisitions. From his early beginnings as a BBSophile to his work on NT, to SoftImage, and back again to the mother ship, Adam revisits his Microsoft memoirs critiquing his colleagues along the way. At minimum, the book places a vulnerable human face on one of the most powerful corporations today. Enjoyable for anyone in the industry.

The real truth of how it is

In this book you'll find the story of Microsoft and SoftImage in the 1990s, from a software developer's point of view. I worked at Microsoft myself for most of this time and I can say that the book is accurate and gives a good sense of the place, and of the problems facing software developers. I especially liked the detailed discussion of hiring practices. In the software business the assets walk out the door each night and a software company is only as good as its employees - hence the critical importance of hiring and retaining good ones.The author includes a history of the personal computer industry and some thoughts on the problems facing Microsoft now, from court battles to public opinion. If you want to get a sense of what it's like inside the company, this is a really good book. I enjoyed reading the book and recommend it to you.

Tells it like it is (was).

This is a great book for anyone who really wants to know what it's like, and was like, on the inside at Microsoft. If you want to know how the world's most successful software company really operates from a person who has been in the trenches, as opposed to some breathless overhyped narrative by a "writer", then get this book. Adam Barr's book is an entertaining mix of some history, some common sense debunking of a few of the myths that exist about Microsoft, and some real reflection on the way that the company operates. Microsoft's challenge moving forward will be to preserve the small company values that made it so successful while addressing some of the real issues raised in this book.