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Take a peek into what it’s like to work at Microsoft in Seattle!
Name: Connor Lin
Major: Integrated Digital Media – Tandon
Year: Junior in Fall 2017 (Class of 2019)
Position: UX Design Intern at Microsoft
Q: What time do you come to work?
A: I come to work around 10:30am.
Q: What is the first thing you do after arriving at work?
A: After I get to my desk, I check my email, calendar, and the news.
Q: How would you describe your work?
A: As a UX Designer, I focus on creating intuitive interfaces and experiences for Microsoft users. I normally start off my day by working on my ongoing designs. Depending on the project I am currently on, I might join a standup in the morning with engineers building out products to update each other on our progress. Then throughout the day, I juggle between designing and meeting with stakeholders, managers, and UX Researchers to gather feedback and iterate.
Q: What time do you end your work?
A: I end around 6pm to 6:30pm.
Q: What is your lunch time and/or break time scene like?
A: For lunch, I normally head up to the top floor of my building and eat at the cafe with other interns or join my teammates at nearby food trucks and restaurants to get outside of the office for a bit. Occasionally, I’ll eat lunch at my desk if it’s a busy day. Microsoft has a pretty free and flexible culture, so sometimes I’ll even head out for a coffee run or play foosball or Xbox with my coworkers in the afternoon.
Q: What are some things that you enjoy at work?
A: I really enjoy hearing feedback from my coworkers and users when we do user testing on my designs. To create an experience and be able to see what worked and what didn’t and to iterate on it is really why I love UX Design. We also have a beautiful design studio which I really enjoy with amazing furniture, lounges, and views of the mountains surrounding Bellevue and Redmond.
Q: Any fun story or episode to share?
A: Once my coworkers and I were playing foosball and it got so heated that some other engineers from the nearby offices came to watch. One of them turned out to be a world champion foosball player. We played a few rounds with him and totally got crushed. I realized that at a big company like Microsoft, you really never know who you’ll run into!
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