"getting hired by Microsoft sounds pretty sweet"

I noticed a blog post over at Forbes today: getting hired by Microsoft sounds pretty sweet. He lists our awesome health insurance, membership at local health clubs, and the commuter buses that are available for our Puget Sound employees.

He's right: the benefits are pretty sweet. My health insurance is so far beyond awesome that there isn't a word in the English language that covers it. Here in the Bay, we don't get the cool commuter buses that they have in Puget Sound (after all, there's far fewer of us here), but we all get free CalTrain passes as well as Commuter Checks for other local transit systems, and a shuttle from the CalTrain station to campus.

Although I'm a big fan of our health insurance (I shudder when I think about how much my shoulder surgery in 2007 would have cost otherwise), my favourite benefit is the charitable contribution match. Microsoft matches charitable contributions (up to a max of $12k). Even better, if I donate my time, Microsoft matches that too, at a rate of $17 per hour.

Speaking of Microsoft benefits, my team has a few open positions right now. On the Microsoft Careers site, choose "Mac Office" from the Products list to see what we've got. Since we're running full steam ahead for our release of Office:Mac 2011 at the end of this year, we're not doing a lot of hiring right now, but we do have a handful available.