Why I wanted to Intern at Microsoft as a designer, and how I made it happen.
Background
I’ve always been interested in tech, as long as I can remember. But I’m also a designer. I have always been a creative person, and when I came to college, it took me a while to figure out what specific facet of the design process I enjoyed most. I came to school for industrial design, because I was always interested in people and how they interacted with the others, and the products and services that facilitated this interpersonal communication.
While I believe I was late into finally diving headfirst into UX as a career path, I also think I was lucky to have had some time to explore the different areas of design, and the basic, underlying, human-centered design thinking skills. This really helped me build a strong base in thinking empathetically and making more considered design decisions. By no means am I an expert, in fact like many designers, I often feel like I lack at some area or another, but I’ve found the only way to overcome this is to keep creating and iterating.
Microsoft
Contrary to what this may suggest, I have actually been an Apple fan at heart for many many years. Microsoft was never really a consideration for me. I always wanted to be a part of an exciting organization which made interesting products and services and had a widespread impact. Historically, Microsoft was never the exciting company that exemplified that. In recent years, however, Microsoft has put a lot of time, energy, and resources into restructuring itself to appeal to a much larger demographic. Perhaps the most difficult demographic, you and I.
Traditionally Microsoft’s legacy products and services have been primarily business facing, with keystone products such as Windows being licensed to 3rd party manufacturers, who then made the customer-facing design decisions.
The only consumer-facing product in Microsoft’s arsenal has been Xbox. Xbox has been a tremendous success since its introduction. Microsoft created a robust online system for people to be able to play games with one another across the world, and was able to leverage its ability to work with businesses to create a massive portfolio of available games. Outside of creating a successful business, Xbox is also proof that Microsoft understands how to think empathetically in creating consumer-facing products.
Its ability to create one of the best online gaming experiences is also the result of its inherent ability to understand people, and create connections.
A couple years ago, when Microsoft jumped into the mobile world with partners like Nokia in creating Windows Phone, that was the first time it really popped up on my radar — My grandmother’s first smartphone was a windows phone, and it was super easy for her to pick up and use. I was genuinely surprised, because her age group was an entirely underserved market in the mobile smartphone space. While the Windows Phone platform was far from a success, it was Microsoft’s first real foray (outside of Xbox) into the mobile consumer market. Shortly thereafter, I started noticing more Surfaces in the wild. This was Microsoft’s first hardware PC that they designed and engineered themselves.
This is when Microsoft changed for me. I knew that this wasn’t just Microsoft testing the waters, they wanted in.
The Internship
I was just headed back to school after a really productive summer internship at Nuance Communications. I’d met some really interesting other interns, worked on challenging projects, and spent a summer in Cambridge, MA (Which was beautiful, and super fun!) I got back to school a few days early and started thinking about what I’d like to do next summer. Nuance was my first internship, and I really wanted to have an even better experience next summer.
I knew I wanted to spend the next summer as a User Experience Design Intern at Microsoft.
Nuance shared an office park with Microsoft, and I’d see the large Red, Blue, Green and Yellow logo every morning when I drove in to work. Once I was back at school a whole bunch of different things started guiding me down the path which would eventually be getting an internship at Microsoft. I got back in touch with a friend who had recently graduated, and found out he was already leading a UX Design team at Microsoft. I was taking a class taught by a professor who’s student had just interned at Microsoft, and another who had worked at Microsoft for a few years himself. I started speaking to some of these people about planning internships for the summer, and while I was interested in a bunch of different companies, everything seemed to point towards Microsoft — It was around this time, early October, that I knew I wanted to spend the next summer as a User Experience Design Intern at Microsoft.
I did everything I possibly could to make this happen. Sometimes this means annoying people you don’t want to annoy, but persistence and perseverance do work out. I spoke to my professor to see if she had any connections to Microsoft, she did, and I was able to leverage that. I worked hard on a couple UX projects throughout the semester, all the while perfecting a letter of Intent alongside my professor. She introduced me to her connections, and I was able to have a conversation with a couple designers at Microsoft and learn a little bit about design at Microsoft. (I also just applied online) Around the same time, I started really talking to my friends at Microsoft about potentially referring me internally as an applicant, and was eventually able to get that done. All this took place over the course of about a 3 month period. I was at my friend, David’s house talking about our plans for the summer one morning in late November, when I got a phone call from Bellevue, WA. I was taken aback, but knew it must’ve been Microsoft — It was!
I had my first phone call with a recruiter who told me she had received my name from a number of different sources inside Microsoft (presumably the designers I spoke with, and my friends who referred me internally), and asked me if I was interested in talking about internship possibilities. The answer to that was a resounding absolutely!
The Interview Process
After my initial phone call with the recruiter, I received an email with instructions on how to sign up for an available time slot for a phone interview with a designer from Microsoft. I had a week to prepare. There wasn’t a whole ton of direction with what this interview would be, but I came across Tiffany W. Eaton’s wonderful article here, which gave me an idea of what to expect.
This first interview was the first of many (other companies/designers) first-round UX interviews. This interview is typically a little bit about you as a person, what brought you to design, what your background in design is, why you enjoy doing what you do, what facet of the UX process you find your skillset best aligns with, and questions along those lines. After this, the bulk of the interview is you guiding the interviewer through a higher-level walkthrough of a UX project in your portfolio which you believe best represents not only your work, but also best exemplifies the skillset the company you’re applying to is looking for. In my case this was Poplar, as well as examples from my Reddit Onboarding Redesign.
I always like to learn as much about my interviewers’ experiences as possible.
The interview was short, and we didn’t have too much time for questions by the end of it, since most of these first-round interviews are one after another for the interviewers, and they’re interviewing 10 or so people. I was the first person my interviewer spoke with that day, and I was able to ask him what his experiences had been like working on teams at Microsoft. I always like to learn as much about my interviewers’ experiences as possible. It really helps put the organization I’m applying to into better context from a designer’s point of view.
Typically I’m a pretty good judge of how well, or not an interview or conversation has gone, but this was the first time I hung up without too much of an indication. I was confident with the way I explained my project, my design decisions, and why I made them, but of course this was a phone interview, I couldn’t really evaluate the designer’s body language, and tone of voice. I felt good, but I didn’t know why.
A few weeks went by, and I was starting to lose hope. I hadn’t heard from Microsoft, and had started doing design challenges for other, smaller companies. Microsoft was something I really wanted at this point, and I realized I wasn’t doing my best work in applying to these other organizations. This isn’t how I’d normally operate, whenever I do anything I try and put my best foot forward, but somewhere I had started to believe that Microsoft was going to happen for me. This was in no small part due to the support from the people around me.
It was a Wednesday evening when Newton pushed me an email — this was it! I was ecstatic, I was nervous, I was overwhelmed, but I still felt confident. This was all working out for a reason. I got a few follow up emails from my travel coordinator at Microsoft. Since I lived on the other side of the country, I was going to have to fly to Seattle for my interview. Microsoft arranged for a flight, a 4-star hotel, and a black car to pick me up from the airport. I was to fly out in a couple weeks from this email, and this coincided perfectly with my school’s wintersession break.
Traveling to Seattle
The day finally came. I woke up at 5:00AM on a cold morning in early February, and made my way to the airport at 6:00AM for a 7:00AM flight. I couldn’t believe this was happening, and it really felt like I’d already got this internship and I was on my way for the summer. In reality, this was the most important test.
This was the most important test.
I landed in Seattle, and got a phone call from a driver who told me exactly where she’d pick me up. The company Microsoft used had some really friendly drivers. The lady who picked me up was telling me about how many other people she had picked up that day, and told me about Seattle. She had moved out there with her parents from New York when she was younger. The car was a brand new, all black Lincoln. It was really nice. We reached my hotel in Downtown Bellevue around 3:00PM local time, which was 6:00PM Eastern (the time zone my body was on). Checking in was super easy, I just went to the front desk, and they knew I was there from Microsoft.
I had my interview day the next morning, and just decided to take it easy. I had spent the last couple days building my presentation from scratch in Sketch, which was overkill. I had practiced it and timed myself a number of times in the days leading up to my trip, so I just wanted to relax.
I ordered in some UberEats, took a shower, and then decided to go out for a walk. I love walking around places without any maps or directions to just go explore whenever I’m somewhere new. Downtown Bellevue was beautiful. I’m from Dubai, and living in Rhode Island for a few years really had me missing metropolitan cities. (I loved Boston over the summer) All the buildings had tech companies’ names on them. Microsoft was everywhere!
Downtown Bellevue isn’t super big, but it is new and has a lot of high-fashion stores, but also some interesting food spots. I’m a car enthusiast, and this was clearly an area with a lot of sports cars — which I loved! The weather was super nice compared to the East Coast. It was 70 and not particularly humid. I’m used to Dunkin Donuts’ on every corner. Here in Bellevue it seemed like there was a Starbucks on every block.
I spent about 3 hours walking around the city. I got a little lost and ended up using Google Maps to find my way back to the hotel. I had wondered pretty far off, but I had my headphones on, and was listening to Post Malone’s Stoney and having a good time.
I got back to my hotel room around 8PM, which was 11PM to me, so I decided to wash up, set my alarm and go to bed.
Building 111
I was supposed to be at Microsoft at 8:00AM. I woke up at 7:00AM, took a shower, changed up, grabbed my laptop, iPhone, chargers and called a Lyft.
Microsoft’s Redmond campus was about 6 miles from downtown Bellevue and it took me about 10 minutes to get there by car. I reached at 7:45AM, checked in, got my badge, and met another applicant who had just shown up. Microsoft had a breakfast buffet with a bunch of different food set up. I had a plate of fruit and got talking to some other intern applicants. At 8:00AM a lady came out to the reception and brought us to a larger lounge area inside the building. This is where I finally met my recruiter in person — she was great! Everyone I met at Microsoft that day was beyond welcoming and friendly, it just seemed like a great environment!
One of the best parts about the interview day, besides being a new place, and at a company I wanted to intern at, was meeting all the other intern applicants. The world of UX design is still relatively small, and making connections is one of the best things you can do as a designer. These are people who are great contacts to have, but can also become close friends. It was also entirely possible I’d be working alongside these folks at the internship, and along my career timeline. Everyone there was great. It was a breath of fresh air to meet so many like-minded designers. We had a great time getting to know each other. It also made the day less nervous, and more engaging.
Final Round
The format for the interview day was to start with a presentation to a group of 3–4 designers for 30–45 minutes. This included time for questions, which could come throughout the presentation and/or at the end of your presentation (at the discretion of the designers you were presenting to). After which, post-lunch, the designers would start 40 minute 1:1 interviews with you. These were the same designers I presented to at the start of the interview day.
I was the first to get called for my interview. My interviewer, a designer, came to the lounge the applicants were waiting in, called my name, and introduced himself to me while walking back to the conference room where the other designers were waiting. We had a brief introduction, I plugged my MacBook into the TV through the bridge on the conference table, and got presenting. I was a little nervous in the moment, but once I got talking it felt natural and I felt like I had a good flow. I had a few slides introducing who I was, how I think, my experiences around the world, my love for design and technology, and then I had a slide with the projects I’d attempt to present. I say attempt because we were initially told the presentation would be an hour long, and this was switched to the 30–45 minute format a day earlier. I explained to the designers that I’d try to get through as many projects as I could. I had 4 projects prepared, I got through 2.
Like before, the projects I presented were Poplar, and my Reddit Onboarding Redesign. I believed that these were the two projects that best represented my technical skillset as a designer, but also my overall design-thinking sensibilities and decision making processes. I had built the presentations in a presentation-friendly format, they were not exactly as seen on my site. The content was the same, just visualized for a presentation-style format.
The presentation at the start of the day lasted me the full 45 minutes. The designers asked me some questions while I was presenting about certain design choices and why I made them, and allowed me to carry on. Then I had a few more detailed questions about why I didn’t go a different way with a certain aspect of my Reddit project, which I tried my best to explain in the limited time we had.
On the whole, I thought the presentation went by a lot quicker than I thought it would. I still don’t know if this was a good thing or not, I don’t know whether I was just nervous, or if I just enjoyed it. (I love speaking to people and talking about design.) Either way, I was done by 9:45AM, and spent the next 2 and a half hours talking to the other intern applicants who had shown up. Applicants went in 3 at a time to 3 design teams of 4 designers each for their presentations, so there were always 9 or so people to speak with while some interviewees were doing their thing.
At 12 we all got lunch. Microsoft had swapped the breakfast buffet for some surprisingly good catered Mexican food. In the past they’ve taken interns out to eat, but I believe it often ate into (no pun intended) the 1:1 time right after.
I just felt like I was talking to friends.
At 1 the same designer who had come to get me earlier in the morning came back out and took me to one of a cluster of what I can only describe as ‘pods’. This was the part I was a little more nervous about, because I thought it’d be a lot of critical answers I’d have to think of on the spot. This wasn’t the case at all. Our conversation was very personal, a lot of talking about UX design in general, about me, and it was a lot of me asking questions to the designer about their job, what they do, and how they like Microsoft. This interview seemed as much me interviewing Microsoft as they were interviewing me. I thought that was just something recruiters tell you to make you feel better. (The whole, they’re more scared of you than you are of them thing.) Every consecutive 1:1 went just like this. I had about 15 minutes between each one, and I spoke to every designer I had presented to in the morning. Most of the conversations really were about Microsoft, the weather, my hobbies, etc. It was strangely personal, but in a good way. I felt so comfortable and at home. The designers were wonderful people, and made me feel really welcome and just good about myself. Of course there were a couple technical questions, and a quick whiteboarding activity with one of the interviewers. But on the whole, I just felt like I was talking to friends.
Seattle
We wrapped up the interview day at 4:45PM. Everyone got free Microsoft swag (shirts, hoodies etc.) and Ubered back to our hotels. By this time all of us were friends on Facebook, and had a group chat going. A couple of us who were in the area for another night decided to go explore Seattle and get some dinner. We met back at the hotel I was staying at around 6:00PM and Yelped where we should go. We decided on Indian food, and looked up Indian restaurants in downtown Seattle. We had planned on going to the Chihuly Garden, but apparently that shut at 8:00PM, and by the time our second Uber XL showed up (the first one was too small), we would’ve missed it. Instead, we decided to go to the Columbia Center observation deck. It was dark out now, but the view was still excellent. The Columbia Center has a 360 degree observation which has some pretty great views of Seattle. I didn’t bring my camera, but I got some low-light iPhone photos, which turned out not to be half bad.
Afterwards, we walked to the Indian restaurant, which wasn’t too far from the Columbia Center. The restaurant was atypical for an Indian place. It didn’t have the traditional red-orange Indian decor. Instead, it felt like we’d walked into a coffee shop in Brooklyn. The food, however, was surprisingly authentic, and tasted great. We were going to head to a dessert spot right after, but it was getting late, and some of us had earlier flights than the others the next morning. So we split up. We said our goodbyes and a couple of us took a Lyft back to the hotel.
The next morning, I woke up to find that my flight home was likely to be canceled. It was via Detroit, and the Midwest was battling massive snowstorms. Over 1000 flights between Chicago and Michigan were being cancelled. Delta is infamously bad with letting people know, but I knew it was going to happen. I called Microsoft travel and they pulled a massive favor and helped get me on a different flight from Seattle to Boston. This was a shorter, direct flight, and would’ve been much better than being stranded at an airport.
I reached Boston, took a bus to South Station, and a train back to Providence. I was home. I went straight to bed.
The Wait
My recruiter at Microsoft told me that they like to make decisions quick, and that I would know at the most in a week to 10 days. This would’ve been right around my birthday, and somewhere I thought it’d make a crazy 21st birthday present. So, the wait began. A week rolled around and I had started to see my fellow applicants posting about their Microsoft Internships on Facebook. A couple congratulatory and consoling conversations later, I started to wonder why I hadn’t heard anything. A couple acceptances had gone out, as well as rejections, but I was totally in the dark. I’d had no communication. Finally, on a Sunday evening I got an email from a different recruiter at Microsoft. I was confused because this wasn’t an email from my recruiter (who for the record has been one of the single most supportive, encouraging and wonderful people I have ever met!) I assumed this was a mistake.
This email felt like a major blow. I had a back and forth over email with this recruiter who had sent me the email. She was nice enough to hop on a call with me and explain the situation. The conversation essentially just echoed the content of the email. I was really taken aback because I left Seattle feeling really accomplished and confident. I was happy and motivated, and this felt like all was lost. I took a few days to collect my thoughts, and think about what this meant. I frantically started reaching out to my friends at Microsoft, and ex-interns I had connected with via a few design groups I’m a part of on Facebook. They really helped me understand that this wasn’t unheard of, and sometimes Microsoft likes you as a candidate, but needs teams’ headcount. I convinced myself that a company like Microsoft had no shortage of talented applicants, and if they didn’t like me, they’d have rejected me by now. There must’ve been a reason I was being made to wait. It felt terrible, but I had to be patient.
Apple
Not only did I have an offer for *an* internship, but an offer from Apple!
All the while through this wait, I had been receiving communication from Apple. I had applied to Apple, but didn’t really think I’d get in. I didn’t see any UX-Specific internships on Apple’s jobs site, but thought I might’ve had a chance, and applied. I had my first phone interview with a designer from the Search Ads (Appstore) team, the day before I left for Seattle. I had another two while waiting for my Microsoft decision (on a Friday), and then three more on my birthday (That Monday.) After these interviews, I started feeling there was a chance at Apple too. I was excited again. I’ve long loved and respected Apple as a company, and was excited at the possibility of being able to work for them someday. A week and a half after my sixth interview with Apple, I got a phone call from the (truly wonderful) recruiter letting me know that I was officially being extended an offer to intern at Apple. I was over the moon. I was entirely taken aback, and was barely able to get through the rest of my day. I was so excited. Not only did I have an offer for *an* internship, but an offer from Apple!
It had been about three weeks from my interview at Microsoft, and I hadn’t received any more communication from Microsoft. My recruiter at Microsoft had, however, told me to let them know if I had any other offers or deadlines from other companies. This was definitely one of them. I had a week to sign with Apple.
Now, Apple has been a dream company for me for many years. There’s no denying I’m a massive fan of the company, of its history, of Steve Jobs and Wozniak. I was extremely emotional the day Steve Jobs died. I’ve watched Pirates of Silicon Valley a hundred times throughout my life, and my 14th birthday present was Walter Isaacson’s, Steve Jobs. So, this was a really big deal for me. It was an emotional decision. I decided to email Microsoft and let them know that I had this offer from Apple, and a deadline that I needed to respect. The recruiter who had initially emailed me letting me know about the delay with my decision responded acknowledging my situation, and let me know that they understand my predicament. This was not the response I was expecting. I still had a few days to decide with Apple. Every day I got closer and closer to signing that offer letter, and I couldn’t have gone wrong doing so. This was an incredible opportunity with an incredible company, but somewhere I really felt strongly about Microsoft as well. I knew about how Apple operated, there was a lot of secrecy within the company, and while exciting, I felt like at this stage in my journey as a UX designer, I really wanted to exposure to as much of the UX design process as possible. That was something I’d be much more exposed to at Microsoft.
The Decision
The night of the 27th of February was a Tuesday. I had signed the Apple letter, and was going to click submit. I decided that since I still had time, I’d sleep on it, and let February end. If I didn’t hear from Microsoft by the 1st of March, I was going to be a UX Intern at Apple, and I knew it would be the experience of a lifetime. Class started at 1:10PM on Wednesday, the 28th. I sat down, and was talking to a friend. My phone was on silent and I don’t have vibrate turned on. I happened to look at my phone a few minutes before my professor walked in, and I had an incoming call from my recruiter at Microsoft.
“I know its been a long wait, and I’m so sorry, but I just wanted to call you and let you know that we’re super excited to extend you an official offer for an internship at Microsoft this summer!”
I ran out of the class, and answered. “Hey Aaditya, how are you?” “I’m good.” (I was a little lost, I felt like I knew what this call was, but I couldn’t get myself to speak.) “I know its been a long wait, and I’m so sorry, but I just wanted to call you and let you know that we’re super excited to extend you an official offer for an internship at Microsoft this summer!”
It took me a day to really think through my decision. I spoke to friends at both Apple and Microsoft. To professors, to ex-interns and to my parents. The next afternoon, on March 1st at 12:43PM I officially signed my offer letter with Microsoft. I was officially going to be an intern at Microsoft in the summer of 2018. My nearly 7 month journey had finally come to a super successful end.
In the end, when I think about it introspectively, I almost appreciate the extra time Microsoft took to make a decision. If I had signed with them in that first week, I’d never have known that Apple wanted me too. Its really helped put my journey as a student and designer into perspective. I’m humbled and privileged to have been offered internship positions from the two most prestigious tech companies in the U.S. and arguably the world. But I am confident in my decision for the summer, and extremely excited to finally intern at a company I’ve really been excited about for some time now.
I can’t wait to start!
