I want to ask you to stop trying to tempt me to come join your company unless you want to make some changes to your corporate policy. I love a number of your company's products and really would want to work for you except for 1 thing: Redmond, Washington (or anywhere that isn't my chosen location).
Don't get me wrong. I'm all about team dynamics and think that the team needs to get together (I had a recent contract where I spent a few days in the office, but I worked most of the time out of the office in my home office). I stayed connected via email, IM, and telephone (I do have Vonage, so calling the office is free). When I say I worked remotely, I mean I worked on my corporate machine which was located in the office. One week a month in the office is something I think should be a dynamic you guys need to figure out (and yes, I know it depends on what the person is doing, and, no, I have no idea what Scott Ha or Phil Haacked do on a day to day basis.. my vision is that they hack on code... which is probably wrong).
I keep seeing ads or PM's advertising that they are hiring, but when I inquire the answer is always "you'll have to move to Redmond" (or California, or North Carolina). I know you guys love Redmond and think Washington State is beautiful. I have been there and the environment is much like the state I grew up in (Ohio)... I moved away from there like 10+ years ago.
You may say California is great. The weather in Southern California is very similar to my current home state of Florida (except it's cheaper to live here), and much of my family is all settled in here; besides my wife loves it here.
I'm sure there are other techies/programmers out there like me. I know I'm not some hot-shot programmer (I bet some of them are), but I have done some interesting things with your software, and keep thinking I could contribute something, but I won't move... so quit tempting me! I want to say yes, but I can't until your policy changes.
Thank you!
Jay Kimble
Print | posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 9:10 AM