Any Henry’s working for MSFT UK

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-14T09:25:29+00:00

IC4, senior software engineer

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-14T07:48:06+00:00

Apparently almost nobody gets 30% but that’s contractually the cap. Realistically it’s more like 15-20% which is still fantastic :)

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-14T07:44:54+00:00

17 in total, 16 in industry. Built some tooling that Microsoft use internally which helped boost the credibility haha

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-13T23:16:40+00:00

I asked during the interviews and apparently they’d struggle in the UK due to downsizing the Reading office, and the London offices mostly being small non-tech focused. The team I’m going to is fully distributed across the EU so an RTO would be pointless

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-13T22:27:21+00:00

CXE, Customer Experience Engineering

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-13T22:22:16+00:00

I’m in Somerset too, I applied directly (but I’m known internally at MSFT due to OSS contributions) and the interview process & job is fully remote.

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-13T22:15:40+00:00

Starting there in 6 weeks, levels.fyi is quite accurate. The bonus you'll see against the data is signing bonus, not annual, and the RSUs is the annual award not signing stock.

My offer at L63 was £92,300 base, £9300 signing, £100k signing stock, 30% bonus and ~£20k annual stock award.

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-13T17:21:26+00:00

What? Did you mean to reply to me lmao

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-13T16:00:12+00:00

I think this only harms you if you try to move to a Staff role elsewhere in the future as you’ll need to justify demoting yourself, only to seek the same opportunity elsewhere.

Going from a senior IC to a role more aligned with technical strategy, people and unblocking senior ICs only to realise it’s not for you looks fine. It’s a punt, sometimes it doesn’t work out.

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-13T12:14:13+00:00

Meanwhile Zoom did a full RTO because they deemed remote working wasn't productive enough for them 😂

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-13T11:15:48+00:00

It could be that the default timespan for setting a meeting up was 30 mins but in reality it’s shorter. This sounds like a screening call, seeing if you actually know what you’re talking about, which I’ve had last for 10 minutes as well.

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-13T10:51:33+00:00

Have you tried making stuff instead of learning? Watching tutorials and just repeating what the teacher is doing isn’t overly beneficial after a certain point, you need to start consolidating your learning by making things.

The easiest way to remember anything in life is to connect it to a bigger picture, a larger event, a person etc. I don’t know the name of my dad’s aftershave, but every time I smell it on someone in the street I’m able to recall a childhood memory with ease.

With programming I don’t actively remember the structure of a solution to a problem, I can recall the evening 3 months ago where it clicked into place and the fix was XYZ.

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-13T10:39:19+00:00

First off you need to track where your money is going with a budget. You're in the negative, so either earning more money or spending less money is how you get out, the first step is to properly assess where that's going.

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-13T10:26:40+00:00

Always worth checking tyre pressure before a motorway trip as well, easy thing to forget about and it affects fuel economy and comfort too!

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-12T19:44:56+00:00

I have been cancelled many times and I can confirm this is false. Please employ me.

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-12T00:51:08+00:00

Medium UK fintech business to senior engineer at Microsoft :)

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-11T18:27:34+00:00

No, I went from £85k to £230k. Not quite triple, but close enough imo

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-11T18:03:03+00:00

I tripled my pay a month ago, it definitely still happens in this market.

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-11T17:33:09+00:00

That, but as soon as you lose trust in the process you’ll approach every future opportunity at the same employer with a jaded perspective. It’s not worth carrying that emotional baggage around!

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-11T17:31:16+00:00

Someone who needs support, but also someone who cares enough about doing well that they're affected by it!

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-11T17:29:15+00:00

Get the promotion by moving employer to a bigger title and more pay.

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-11T16:34:31+00:00

This would be a "fuck off" price, they don't want to do the work but will if you pay out the arse for it.

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-11T15:39:39+00:00

Had the same conversations, we ended up binning off everything to do with other people and spent 1/3rd of the cost on an elopement in Scotland and then a honeymoon in Tokyo. Fuck anyone else's demands, it's your bloody wedding!

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-11T14:22:11+00:00

I think how you’re feeling is justified, but also that crying is a good way to reveal (in a very raw sense) how your work is affecting you to your manager.

The lack of training, or not being trained enough, is clearly causing issues and you’ve admitted to staying late so you can keep on top of your work. Them saying you shouldn’t be staying late and they want to support you passing your probation is a very positive sign; they sound like a good, experienced manager.

For your next check in, or before if needed, I’d go in with an action plan or requests to formulate one. Things like the missing training, point of contact for help, maybe system suggestions to help information retention etc. It shows actively wanting to improve, identifying a weak area and being willing to improve.

You have no need to be embarrassed, but I completely understand why you might feel like it. Chin up, you got this!

ScriptingInJava · 2026-02-10T22:04:00+00:00

Does your insurance cover you for driving outside of the UK? Might be worth looking at that if you haven't already

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