I’ve embarked on the above-described 12-week Intern to MACH programme in the Microsoft Developer and Platform Evangelism (DPE) team, and no doubt it has been an awesome and rewarding journey! In fact, I’ve come on board during one of the most exciting times, as Windows 8 is the upcoming platform that Microsoft is launching on 26th October later this year.

 

My role as a Developer Evangelist included the planning and execution of Windows 8 developer campaigns for the breadth and academic audience, increasing awareness within & engaging the developer community, driving adoption & application development on the platform and ramping up Windows 8 development skills.

Life in DPE was totally awesome. Apart from a nice and flexible working environment, lots of sugar rush from the drinks in the pantry, most importantly, there were lots of nice and talented people in the DPE team.

On the day where I first met my hiring manager, he tasked me to develop Windows 8 Metro-style apps by the end of that week. Despite having no prior experience to Windows 8 development (i.e. C# or .NET), I managed to develop 2 apps fairly easily, thanks to the flexibility of Windows 8 which allows me to make use of my web design and HTML5 + JavaScript skills. Through this process, I developed a very good understanding of the Windows 8 development process, a knowledge which every Developer Evangelist requires!

I also attended a Premier Field Engineer Excellence Lab and obtained a token (worth $60) for my apps, which gave me a free access to upload my apps into the Windows Store! Soon after, I took ownership of managing the PFE labs, and assisted developers to attend the sessions! Check out my PFE Lab experiences and see for yourself what other developers have to say about their experiences. It’s really not very hard to develop Windows 8 apps, so why not join in the fun? 🙂

What I really liked about my role is that despite being only an intern, I was trusted with the responsibility as a full-time employee. Not only do I get to manage and use a given budget (an amount more than what I have in my bank account :p), I enjoyed the autonomy over the conceptualization and execution of my projects and events. I suppose one of the highlights of my internship would be the Dream.Build.Launch – Hackathon 2012 event which I organized 2 weeks into my internship with the given budget.

The first of a kind in Singapore, this event aims to provide students with the opportunity with meeting like-minded people who love technology, exchange ideas, experience ‘working’ in Microsoft for a day, and ultimately learn and create a Metro style Windows 8 app in teams of two!

 

From the overwhelming responses, my team subsequently organized a series of Hack Weekends (Hack Weekend 1, Hack Weekend 2 & NDP Special) which took place fortnightly. Through these Hack Weekends, developers with a Windows 8 app idea were given some time to share them and gather interested team members to work on it together. Participants were also able to share and ‘show off’ their hard work during the Show-n-Tell. It was extremely heart-warming to see many familiar faces coming back, and I also took the opportunity to make friends with many of them!

 

A project which I also really enjoyed was the Windows 8 Workshop and Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) tours for schools. Working closely with my scholarship board, the Infocomm Developer Authority of Singapore (IDA), I’ve linked up with many Infocomm Clubs of Secondary Schools, Polytechnics and Junior Colleges, and invited them down to our very own Microsoft Singapore office in One Marina Boulevard.

Through these in-house workshops, I shared with students and teachers the potential and cool features of Windows 8 and Windows Phone. Subsequently, I also introduced to them the Microsoft business, and treated them to a guided tour around our office and the Microsoft Technology Center.

Personally, I believe this would expose them to the Microsoft’s business and culture, help them understand a Developer Evangelist’s work life in the business, and allow them to experience first-hand the cool gadgets we have here! I really enjoyed the interaction with the participants. Not only did they offer me great insights (check out the students’ comments) from their perspective and takeaways, I also felt young once again 🙂

 

Apart from working solely with my DPE team, I also had the opportunity to work with fellow interns from different departments and countries. Through Protégé, an internal marketing case competition, I worked very closely with other Intern to MACHs from all over the Asia Pacific region, such as Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia etc. Each of us were provided with a Nokia Lumia 800 device which we had to market to the student community. My fellow Intern to MACHs in the DPE team from different countries/subsidiaries also took the opportunity to learn from one another, to see how we can possibly work together to achieve our common goals.

 

As a developer evangelist, I was given many opportunities to meet lots of awesome people and be involved in lots of events.

To name a few, I was offered a VIP pass to the Infocomm Professional Development Forum, where I learnt that as IT professionals, we must always be aware of the rapid changes in the IT industry, and to constantly keep up in order not to be obsolete.

Echelon was also another event where I had the chance to promote Windows 8 to the start-up communities, and meet lots of innovative people and listen to their ideas! It was also really cool to finally meet Darth Vader and catch him “black” handed!

 

On top of these, I also had the rare opportunity to work very closely with our Singapore Microsoft Student Partners, and got to know some of them at a personal level. I was also fortunate enough to be the unofficial acting lead during my short stay here! Awesome friends I’ve made! 🙂

 

Who says life in Microsoft is solely about work. Speaking of work-life balance, employees at Microsoft and the DPE Team sure knows it well!

Since a picture speaks a thousand words, I’ll let them do the talking 🙂

 

Towards the end of our programme, we Singapore Subsidiary Intern to MACHs had the rarest opportunity to present and share our findings and take-away with the panel of Microsoft Singapore Senior Leadership and Executive Team. Sounds pretty intimidating right?

As I head back to Carnegie Mellon to complete my studies, I’ll bring back these wonderful memories.

Thanks everyone for making this a positive and memorable experience, and hope to see everyone again soon after I graduate!

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