Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters: What I Learned in Ten Years as a Microsoft Programmer [Paperback]

Adam Barr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 26, 2000

Why has Microsoft really been successful? Forget what you have read elsewhere. In Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters, a ten-year veteran of the front lines of the software development wars gives the real story on why the company has succeeded, what it does well and what it does badly, and what it needs to do in the future. The book has first-hand information on how Microsoft works internally: the relationships between programming teams and the rest of the company; how Microsoft recruits and interviews people; the sacrifices that are made to get software done; the lure of stock options; and what it is like to be sued by your own government. The insights are relevant for anyone interested in Microsoft, the software industry, or business in general.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

First-time author Barr describes his ten years of experience as a software developer for Microsoft. Beginning with a detailed account of the hiring process, especially the interviewing methodology for new hires, Barr goes on to trace not only his career but the history of software development over the past quarter-century. He discusses Microsoft's role in software development, especially its evangelism the process of convincing other programmers to write software that interfaces with another which is a major factor in Microsoft's success. Barr compares the company to competitors such as Linux and details issues such as company organization, benefits, stock options, and public perception, both positive and negative. A good glossary gets the novice through the technical jargon. Barr, who discloses that he no longer works there but owns "a good chunk of Microsoft stock," succeeds in being as unbiased as possible. A good choice for business collections in large public and academic libraries. Steven J. Mayover, formerly with Free Lib. of Philadelphia
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Author

For more information about the book, including the origin of the title, the full text of the book online, comments about the book from Microsoft employees, and an extra chapter not included in the printed version, visit the website at proudlyserving.com. Feel free to email me at [e-mail]. Thanks! -- Adam Barr

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Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (December 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595161286
• ISBN-13: 978-0595161287
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,346,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good beginning, but the book veered off course, May 22, 2001

By 

Jonathan Weinberg (Port Washington, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters: What I Learned in Ten Years as a Microsoft Programmer (Paperback)

While the beginning of the book was an interesting read with the author talking about Microsoft's hiring practices, the inner workings of the company and his experience at SoftImage, a company acquired by Microsoft, I felt that the book went downhill quickly from there.

At exactly page 146, I felt like I was reading a different book. Unfortunately, it was a book that I did not enjoy nearly as much as the first 145 pages. From this point onward, Mr. Barr felt the need to write a long drawn out essay about the history of the computer industry peppered with comments about how it affected Microsoft.

I have read this history countless other times in books much more entertaining and comprehensive (i.e. Fire in the Valley) than this book.

The author supposedly worked on two different versions of Windows NT and Windows 2000, but there was no talk whatsoever of what it was like to work on those teams. I definitely expected more information about what specifically went on inside Microsoft (from an insider's point of view) rather than Microsoft's relation to the industry which is public knowledge.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars honest, well-written, but long and ultimately disappointing, March 16, 2003

By 

Sundar Narasimhan (Boxford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters: What I Learned in Ten Years as a Microsoft Programmer (Paperback)

Adam Barr writes well. I found myself agreeing with several of his analyses: esp. his dissection of MSFT's evangelistic activities and his keen understanding of the api-itis that afflicts MSFT products today.

The book is in four parts. The first is a look at MSFT hiring and interview processes, which is followed by a description of his time at Softimage (which includes a brilliant dissection of type-1 through type-4 demos), then a long and meandering recounting of his early involvement with computers and then an equally meandering final part which is a compilation of his observations about MSFT and the industry in general. I found the first two interesting enough to read, but found the final two not as compelling. He completely mis-understands the point about middleware and Java (see Lou Gerstner's book "Who said elephants can't dance?" for a different definition of middleware and business strategy). Perhaps his narrow, unappealing and unfocussed second half meanders so much because he didn't take his chances to widen his own career within MSFT as a manager or PM.

Like Adam with his interviewees, I agonized over whether or not I should give this book a "four" or a "three" star rating :). Ultimately, I had to go with the lower rating because as a developer, I was hoping to read about what "he" had actually "learnt as a developer" when I picked up the book. Unfortunately, while he talks about a whole lot of things (such as the importance of testing for product quality, and the importance of programmers getting a 'life' as they mature, the contributions of MSFT to the open source movement, etc. etc.) he doesn't at all talk about what he worked on, what was exciting and new about NT code he may have contributed to, or how methodologies and practices changed while he was there. Maybe MSFT prevents people from talking about such stuff, but by cutting out such professionally interesting bits, the book becomes a "missed opportunity" (esp. since Adam is a self described "systems guy"). Perhaps he really was writing only for the non-programmer crowd (but I doubt it).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great title, interesting book, vague conclusions, July 13, 2001

By 

Sky Kruse - See all my reviews

This review is from: Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters: What I Learned in Ten Years as a Microsoft Programmer (Paperback)

Can't fault the author for trying, really - this is a reasonably entertaining tale and conveys a number of interesting points along the way. And frankly, I bought it for the title and the amusing things I'd heard, rather than an expectation of great insight. As long as that's your level of interest, I suspect you'll do fine. There were some good observations made herein about Microsoft's road to power (including why Win95 adoption was so crucial, which will be mirrored shortly by WinXP) and some dubious ones (like why APIs are good but middleware is bad). A mixed bag, and definitely one written in a fashion that makes its name ring rtue, but for all that it certainly has its moments.