The geek in question: Dan Wittmer The task title: Senior Software Development Engineer, Macintosh Business enterprise Unit (Silicon Valley Campus) How long have you been using the company?
My employ date was 2/25/2002, so it’s been almost seven years now entirely with MacBU. Prior to being hired, I interned twice with all the Entourage team here in SVC. As a full time employee, I started on the Network library / MSN Client for the Mac, moved to Mac IE for the last patch, and subsequently moved Entourage, the email / PIM application that ships as part of Office for the Mac. You’re an Apple dev working for Microsoft a few miles from Apple’s corporate headquarters in Cupertino. Why do you operate for Microsoft instead of Apple?
I work at Microsoft, specifically MacBU,
Windows 7 Serial, because it has been an incredible place for me. The internship program was awesome, providing me with all the opportunity to work on cool projects on an extremely fun and dynamic team. The internships provided a good foundation for transitioning from academic programming to programming in the industry, allowing me to pick up a large number of best practices, etc., in a very short period of time. The internships were also a lot of fun. It was probably one of my best summers: working from 8 AM to 5 PM -- getting a ton of perform done but also goofing off in the hallways with my mentor,
Office Professional Plus 2010, other interns and other team members. After work I'd go skating for 4 hours at the Vans skatepark. Then throw in some surfing and parties … those were good times. As a full time employee the provider has treated me extremely well. Given the size of Microsoft, one would assume that the individual gets lost -- however that is not the case. The individual does get recognized, be it in the form of a bonus or promotion or just a thank you from management. Work/life balance, as well as flexible working hours, are also very important. Granted, this assumes you're getting your operate done -- but both of these allow me to do things like surf before work or on occasion work remotely. Wait -- you surf before work?
Growing up in Switzerland I always wanted to learn to surf, and I finally got the chance during my first Microsoft internship. A co-worker was an avid surfer and agreed to take me out surfing. His teaching method involved “here’s a board, knock yourself out” … but I wouldn’t have wanted it to be any other way. I’ve been hooked on it ever since – there's just nothing like the sinking feeling when you realize you’re about to take a big wave on the head. What else do you do outside of perform?
Skateboarding,
Windows 7 Professional, surfing and snowboarding occupy a large portion of my free time. I started skateboarding when I was about 12 years old and have stuck with it through the years. I used to enter all of the mini-ramp contests and would do demos on the weekends all over Switzerland. That was an awesome “weekend” position in high school – I got paid to skate and hang out in different towns. Now, I’m just enjoying the many skate parks that are popping up all over the place in the Bay Area. So, which are you: Mac or PC?
Mac. I grew up applying a PC, but wanted to be a Mac owner/user since around 1994. I watched as Apple almost died and finally make the switch in 1999. I haven’t looked back since then -- nor bought another PC. People love to play up the Mac vs. PC drama – how to you reconcile the schism for yourself
I try not to get caught up in it. Ultimately, what matters most to me is what “system,
Windows 7 Download," both hardware and software,
Windows 7 Ultimate, is most natural to me in terms of fit, idioms, usability etc. and which I see providing the most value. As this is a matter of perspective, I don’t see much sense in getting too caught up trying to figure out which one is “better” or converting people from one to another. Links, please? Dan's team: Microsoft's Macintosh Enterprise Unit (Macbu): Rob Vreeland, MSFT employee who took the portraits of Dan: MurphyDogStudios.com