Dedicated Support Engineer Role Details

Dedicated Resource:

• Dedicated resource for up to two customers, working on the customer site and remotely to promote customer health for existing systems and new solutions.

Technical Expertise:

• Delivered by highly skilled engineers with deep technical expertise in a given technology. With understanding of design, deployment and supportability.

Relationship Management:

• A natural communicator with strong customer facing skills; with the ability to develop working relationships with varying levels of customer stakeholders and manage customers’ expectations.

Passion for Technology:

• To be innovative and passionate about providing solutions using the latest Microsoft technologies. People who enjoy learning about new technologies, and are enthusiastic advocates for how Microsoft’s latest technologies can change the way people live, learn and work.

Partnering:

• Formation and maintenance of effective working relationships with Microsoft Partners, the Microsoft Product Groups, ales and other functions within Microsoft as well as external bodies.

My Personal Development

What is it?

The first thing to understand is that Development, be it Technical or Professional, does not always occur in a classroom; it is actually divided between Classroom, Self Study, Academy, Distance Learning, Offline learning, mentoring and "on the job" training.

Microsoft Services On-boarding program (MSSU (Microsoft Services University))

All new to Microsoft employees joining Premier Field Engineering attend a 3 week on-boarding program held in Redmond, Seattle, where attendees learn about the culture of Microsoft and PFE, tools, processes and some technical training, plus have the great benefit of meeting other new PFE colleagues from around the world.

Technical and Professional Development

Technical development:

• is key to Microsoft satisfying it’s customers, and to this end, a program of classroom and distance/online development is scheduled to ensure that new products, plus our existing applications are fully understood. Certification within product is not currently seen as essential and is up to personal choice.

Professional Development:

• This works hand in hand with technical, if we cannot present the technical content in a customer friendly and technically aware manner, where the customer gains maximum knowledge in a clear and concise manner, then satisfaction will drive down and willingness to adopt new product will falter. Professional skills range from Presentation Skills through negotiation to delivering difficult messages, in recent months we have now started onsite coaching sessions, where external coaches attend site with engineers to monitor them first hand.

Offerings Accreditation:

• PFE are the delivery arm within Services for a number of offerings for which engineers require to gain accreditation before they are authorized to deliver to the customer.

The Quarterly Release Program, FastStart and RoleGuide are three tools by which we monitor the completion of required by the business training, this can include some high level technical awareness, through to Privacy and Security training.

All areas of PFE enjoy the community spirit, with local email aliases that then role up into PFE Global aliases, there to enable engineers to discuss issues and to find answers to their specific technology area questions.

My Career

Twice yearly reviews:

Performance management at Microsoft is a continuous process to inspire and develop Employees. My Objectives are aligned with those of my manager, organization and customers. Regular 1:1 sessions support me and provide development, helping to ensure my personal satisfaction and growth.

The Annual Performance Review assesses my performance against my objectives from the last fiscal year and sets new ones for the coming one. The Microsoft performance philosophy means the higher the rating you achieve, the higher the reward so you can be assured that you’re being recognized for the results you’re achieving.

The Mid-Year Career Discussion is a dedicated time for managers and employees to work together on identifying career and professional development plans and also serves as a checkpoint on performance against objectives to date.

The Career Model is a framework for moving across functions and professions within Microsoft. It enables me to manage my career not only within my existing role but to understand what I need to do to move into others. It identifies where I am within my current career stage and reviews the results expected of the next stage. It focuses on developing competencies and gaining experiences as part of a personal development plan.

The Talent Management Program identifies individuals who have the potential to take on roles of significantly greater responsibility, in an accelerated timeframe; Development Programs stretch and develop those individuals with ability, commitment and an aspiration to succeed such that they grow to be top performers at the next level.