Help wanted: IronPython PM

I’ve been at Microsoft for a little over a year now. Outside of the pain of moving to another country with a wife, two young kids and a dog, it’s been awesome. I have the privilege of working on an awesome team, and because of our awesomeness, we’re growing. We need someone to drive the direction of IronPython. But what does ‘drive’ mean?

My title says that I’m a Program Manager. But what does a PM do? It’s a fairly nebulous job at Microsoft. There are folks who work on deep technical roles like Mads Torgersen, who works on the design of C#. There are other folks who designed and championed new technologies like Scott Guthrie who created ASP.NET, and is now a General Manager at Microsoft. You can rise pretty far in the company too, both J Allard and Bob Muglia started out as PMs.

One analogy that works is that of a Hollywood movie producer. Your job is to define what movie to make, set the direction, and figure out what has to be done and when. The job requires a lot of knowledge about how movies are made, which is why many producers rose from the acting or directing ranks in Hollywood.

Similarly, a PM needs to understand how to build software. Some PMs write code that ships in the product, but that’s not a requirement. What you are held accountable for is what needs to be done and when. The world isn’t a static place, so a lot of times you need to change direction in a big hurry – but that’s OK – it’s what makes the job a lot of fun. You also get to work with folks from around and outside the company. A few weeks ago, I had an awesome time talking with folks from Microsoft Research, our Robotics group, and Amazon about how IronRuby relates to the things that they’re working on.

If you think you’re up for the challenge, and want to work for an awesome team, send mail to me: jflam at the big software company in the Pacific Northwest.