Today, we started off with an early morning site visit at Microsoft and then ended up at Croke Park Stadium for a tour. Before this morning, my impression of Microsoft was pretty vague; a big tech company that is a competitor of Apple. I didn’t know much about their values as a company, and all I really knew about their products was that they had Windows, the Surface, and Microsoft Office. After the visit, I realized that there is so much more to the company. For starters, they care about their customers immensely. As they put it, Microsoft proudly concentrates on their “customer obsession”. They have created many new products to ensure that all different types of people have the ability to do more. As an example, they created a keyboard that can be utilized by blind individuals. Microsoft also created an Xbox controller for those who do not have the ability to use a normal one. They accommodate and care for all of their customers. Microsoft also takes a lot of environmental responsibility. They have made commitments toward sustainability such as becoming carbon negative and water positive by 2030. These things give me a whole new perspective and impression of the company.

Long story short, I think I would like to work at Microsoft. Between their values, culture, and work-life balance, it seems like a good place for me. A previous Microsoft intern who has now transitioned to a full time job at the company talked about her experiences there. She mentioned that the work-life balance was really good and that the environment wasn’t as high pressure as one might think. 

Croke Park Stadium was really cool to see and walk around. It is a sports arena that mainly hosts popular Irish sports like hurling and Gaelic football. We learned a bit about the history of the sports and teams, then we got to try them out ourselves. Although it was fun, it’s safe to say that I should just stick to basketball.