-: Why I failed at my Microsoft interview.
In the early 90s,
when I was in undergrad at McGill University,
I loved technology.
The most dominant tech company at the time was Microsoft.
I had my iMac, actually it was called a Mac at the time,
a big black and white thing.
Loved technology, wanted to work at Microsoft so badly.
I knew everything about the company.
And Microsoft came to campus.
And I actually couldn't wait for the interview,
because I prepared so much, right?
I don't know what I know now in terms of structuring,
logic, and whatnot, but I prepared a bunch, okay.
Because I knew I'd never get the job.
And so I went to the interview room,
and I showed up about 20 minutes early.
And I'm sitting down in the chair, and I'm waiting,
and I had my best suit on too,
I remember, I went to Harry Rosen,
which is a big clothing place in Canada,
and a got a double-breasted suit, which was in style then.
I had a white shirt and a red tie,
and they told me to make sure to,
I took off my ugly sweater, forgot to do a button here,
they told me to have my tie and pull it out a little bit,
and it makes you look confident.
And I'm sitting in the interview room,
and I'm waiting, I'm waiting.
And, the interview's supposed to start right now.
It's like, wow, what's going on?
And 10 minutes go by, and the interviewer's not there!
15 minutes go by, the interviewer's not there.
And so I'm wondering, you know, WTF?
Why the face?
And so what happened was, the garbage lady walked in,
she had awful clothes and stuff,
and I very politely leaned over, I was sitting,
and I picked up the garbage.
And I said,
la poubelle.
That's what you call it in French, poubelle.
And I gave it to her very nicely.
And she looked at me and she said,
actually, I'm from Microsoft,
and I'm gonna be interviewing you.
And, uh, (laughing)
I didn't get that job.
We actually both had a good laugh about it.
But the bottom line here is that,
I just want you to know that,
you gotta really spend a lot of time
focusing on even the external appearances,
I know it sounds stupid,
but you gotta make sure that you fit into the culture there.
And obviously Microsoft, and I didn't realize this in tech,
you don't dress up.
You don't wear a tie or anything.
It's supposed to be jeans or whatever,
you know, dressed like she was.
Which is how I dress now, you know,
here in the Bay area.
So, that's why I failed my interview at Microsoft.
I hope you had a good laugh at my expense with that.