Lucas Forschler
The Career Path of SDET at Microsoft
June 18, 2006 | by brett | Permalink
Lucas went to school at the University of Missouri and obtained a bachelor of computer science degree. Microsoft was his first interview out of college. When he visited Redmond that February, it was cold and rainy. To anyone else it might have been unattractive, but seeing as he was from Missouri, the fresh, new Microsoft campus environment appealed to Lucas. He accepted the job in June of 1999 and has not looked back since.
He is the Software Design Engineer and Test (SDET), or in lamens’ terms, is part of the quality assurance department. The office is no doubt talented, given both Microsoft’s and the software industry’s high standards for quality. All employees here are able to write code and automation and are extremely technically savvy.
Seeing as Lucas aso does some campus recruiting and interviews, we asked him what Microsoft looks for in candidates:
“People who are motivated, passionate, but passion is one of the hardest things to judge. So when we are on campus interviewing, we really just looking for pure technical prowess. People who have the ability to write code, who can make design decisions. Whatever pilot we are working on we give sample questions to test their mental acuity to see if they could do the job. But passion is the single biggest factor to get hired, having a true interest in the product that you are working on.”
When asked of career advice for students:
“Some advice that I received from my uncle who is a real technical savvy business guy is to find something you love doing, and do it. The money will follow, and if you love what you’re doing then you’ll never be unhappy. So when it comes to career choices, find something you’d do for free and then find some way to make money out of it.”
We had to ask Lucas about Bill Gates and, of course, he had a story. He told us that one time he was riding his motorcycle around a blind corner and nearly hit the billionaire and his father as they were crossing the street! Bill waved Lucas to go ahead, but Lucas explained that there was no way that he was going to go ahead of “the man of Microsoft.” Lucas took his hands off of the accelerator and eventually the Gates family finished their trip across the street in front of him.
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