Want to Work as Head Developer Platform Evangelist at Microsoft Australia?

This was a question posed to me on Friday afternoon by a recruiter from xpand group. I was warned that it was probably the strangest phone call I would get all year, and it was. We chatted for a bit about me and the role.

I was interested in finding out more about the role, so I rang back on Saturday, to discuss the role further. The woman was busy, so we didn’t chat for long, but said she would call back later in the evening, she never did. I only have some of the information about the role, so here is what I know.

Basically xpand is hunting for the replacement for Frank Arrigo, the former head of the Developer Platform Evangelism at Microsoft Australia as he is heading off to Redmond. Microsoft is looking to recruit someone from the “Open Source Community” to take on the role. They are also looking for other people from the community to fill roles in the team.

I was told that it was an opportunity to influence Microsoft from the inside. I was told that Microsoft is changing, they recruited Adobe people to help with the development of Silverlight and they helped improve the product. I can’t help being cynical about that. I still remember Daniel Robbins and Pia and Jeff’s trip to Redmond. I also don’t have much interest in working with people who think it is amusing to call FOSS developers communists.

Even if I get a call back later this week, I will not be considering the role. For a short time I had considered going along for the ride and seeing what was on the table and if my assumptions about Microsoft were wrong. After giving google a good workout, I realised that my main role would be hyping something I didn’t believe in.

I am still feeling rather flattered that I was contacted about the role. If there was a similar offer from another company which was serious about engaging with the FOSS community or was trying to understand the community more, I would be more tempted. I do enjoy hacking away on stuff, but I also enjoy talking tech with people - especially FOSS tech.

Why didn’t they call back? Maybe xpand got me confused with another David Hall. 🤷‍♂️

Update 2020: Microsoft has transformed itself over the last decade or so. They have genuinely embraced open source.