TAM Review

At Microsoft as a TAM I was given both a set role and freedom to pursue my own projects within the business. The work you are given can be influenced by both your strengths and area's you would like to develop and is consistently engaging. Microsoft believe in motivating their interns so that they like to come in and perform your work. The freedom to pursue your own projects once you have proven you are capable allows you to go down pathways of particular elements of the job you enjoy.

I feel highly valued by my colleagues. The work you are given to do is on par with a full time employee. You feel just as integrated and integral to the day to day operations as any other employee would. You have genuine responsibilities in which co-workers rely on you to perform and they are willing to support you as they have an investment in your progression. Some of the work I have completed has bought large sums of revenue into the business as well as creating tools that aid senior leadership in decision making and forecasting. They rely and value the actions I perform as almost all have genuine business impact that they can recognise.

My manager has always had my best interests in mind. We have regular 1:1 meetings in which we review my progress and look to the future to see how I should continue progressing. He is a firm believer in opening doors for interns and putting them into opportunities that, although initially daunting, can help an intern improve leaps and bounds. He's very good at listening to an interns feedback also, adjusting his management style to suit the intern and assist in opportunities that the intern would like to pursue personally.

My particular work usually came in stages, some periods you would be busy in back to back meetings. Working with customers, Internal employees and Partners. The flow of work is very dynamic, you are able to take on as much or as little (to a degree) as you want to. If there ever was a point in which you had down time due to project completion or waiting on actions, there was always another project you could briefly get involved with. I never felt overwhelmed or underwhelmed, simply kept to a challenged level that I opted to maintain.

At Microsoft you are given the same level of responsibility as a full time employee. The work you may perform may be a simpler or more slowly introduced version of the work they perform as you do need to transition in to the flow of certain projects. But overall the level of responsibility and value on the actions is the same as if a full time employee were to be performing. The company understands that you are an intern and hence may not be used to pressuring deadlines and they do adjust to accommodate that, but the responsibility to deliver and perform to your actions is still the same.

The general skills you learn in the workplace, such as: Prioritisation, time management, problem solving, professionalism, basic competencies, are all transferable back to university to help you complete your degree. In terms of the operating environment and the real tasks and projects you complete, they are far more applicable to work beyond university. However overall I would say that there are no wasted skills, nothing you learn at Microsoft is valueless and all the skills you pick up are progressive and transferable.

The general atmosphere in the office is one of co-operation. Almost anyone from any area in the business is happy for you to reach out to them and meet up for a discussion and insight. Similarly around your work area where you may sit day to day, people are happy to talk and have a discussion as well as assist you with any problem you might have. Most people are friendly and happy to work with an intern on a project you might be pursuing, there is a genuine culture of assisting one another in growing as an employee.

The only hiccup was on boarding which has recently been addressed for my department so that it will be more useful in the following years. Apart from that there are systems and processes in place to make sure the intern gets the most out of their work placement and continues progressing under the guidance of managers and mentors. A fair amount of the internship is organic, once you find your feet with your initially assigned projects you start to find your own with other Employees. Branching out on your own with the overview and guidance of stakeholders. You are trained how to manage yourself and your girls but are monitored to make sure your choices are still bringing value to you.

The company invests very strongly in their interns as the level of responsibility is so high. You are treated as a full time employee receiving the same kind of work and the same level of value on your deliverables. So similarly they want you to be just as competent and trained as a full time employee hence there are many opportunities for both academic progression and personal skills progression. Managers are particularly invested in your progression as it means that they can keep ramping up the level of work you perform benefitting both them and you as you gain more experience and they gain more value from you.

Future employment options are very appealing with Microsoft offering a large number of graduate opportunities. Although it is worth noting that a graduate opportunity is never guaranteed, you will follow a different hiring process to external candidates when it comes to reapplying. For the majority of roles there is a progressive graduate role within the business or one that closely aligns to what you previously did but potentially in a different department. However where you were in an internship doesn't necessarily mean you cant shift departments and job roles, Microsoft are very open to the concept. Overall the graduate opportunity is an ideal and appealing option to move forward with if you are the type of person that found the placement year enjoyable.

Often you live together with fellow placement students. Even inside the workplace there is a lot of emphasis with working alongside your other interns within your business segment. Work can be tiring but other interns are always largely up for a social coffee or a chat. As there are so many interns within the business it always feels as if there is someone available for a social time. Outside of the workplace you usually live in student housing with other interns, or if you can you may live at home and commute. Regardless of the situation you still maintain close links with other interns and see them often for social occasions.

The cost of living is relative to where you may have come from before, but it is largely inexpensive. Rent ranges from 200-450 pppm and the costs of living aren't that bad. To socialise is still relative to where you may have come from but I would still say largely inexpensive. Your working wage should cover the costs of living very easily unless your lifestyle is one of luxury and decadence, you should even be able to go on holidays if you budget carefully.

Microsoft itself has a variety of out of work clubs and sports teams you can take part in. Usually if there isn't one you are looking for you are able to create one and it is likely other people in the UK business will join. You typically find that your teams may also have out of work socials fairly often or you yourself can instigate them and people will still join. The local town of Reading has a large number of activities and social stuff to get involved in, particularly as interns get to work in intern led teams called 101 teams that can involve interacting with out of work local businesses.