Today I had a coffee chat with the Principal Manager of SharePoint's Cost of Goods team, Mr. Harry Ferguson, after an introduction email from my mentor. The meeting's primary goal was to discuss what COGs or Core is and the different fields in Microsoft beyond software development pursued with a computer science major.
We discussed the roles of server management at Microsoft, like analyzing the different server requests made, optimizing the server resources available to support these requests, and prioritizing tasks according to the performance required and the cost of providing those services.
Furthermore, we talked about the roles of managers versus the roles of engineers, where Mr. Harry talked about how the manager's role is more of providing direction for the people, shielding the team managed, driving meetings, and understanding enough with less information but being able to make a decision.
Additionally, I asked Mr. Harry, as a manager who has spent decades of years in the workplace whether it is better to immediately pursue higher education after school, before starting a career, or earlier on in the career journey or pursuing the workforce directly.
As we discussed the appropriate time to pursue higher education, Mr. Harry elaborated on how the time required for higher education, if spent in the workforce, can yield career growth than if spent at school. "Afterall, the workplace knows that what is taught is different from what is required at work!" Mr.Harry exclaimed. From work experience, Mr. Harry elaborated on how, if I am not interested in pursuing academia or Research, then seven years spent pursuing a Ph. D. degree will not contribute to my career path.
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