So this week was pretty stressful. We are finally starting to do actual work and I'm realizing how hard it is to do software development, even on a small scale like the project i'm involved with. Our biggest challenge so far, is coming up with a gadget that will actually be useful, and that is feasible in our 8-week time limit. We had to first pick who we wanted to target, either the tenant admins who buy the server product and deal with more details, or the end user who only cares about usability features. We tried to do a mix, and have come up with an idea for a gadget that takes a users credentials when logging on to windows, and shows the storage space for that users mailbox, as well as the status of the server. It will also show details like when the user last logged on and where for security purposes. This is still in the works, however, but i'm REALLY hoping these features will stick this time (we have been through sooo many ideas) and that the PM's can draw up specs (drawings which write/draw out all the details of the product) so that I can begin work on the development specs (how we will approach this from a development standpoint, and what technologies we will use) and then begin writing code. Its a much more complex process that I had ever thought and I cant imagine writing something as huge as the entire Exchange server product that has millions of lines of code. But today was better, I didnt just have to sit in front of the computer and learn different languages. We started today by going to a keynote given by Steve Ballmer, Microsofts CEO. It was just a general talk about where Microsoft is as a company and what their goals are in the future. It was just cool to have seen him in person, we were all pretty excited. Also, we had a fire drill the other day and one of the other interns saw Bill Gates evacuating. We were keeping an eye out for him but he must have gone out a back exit because the girl that saw him was in the building behind us. So close! The day went by really quickly because we had so many meetings, but towards the end of the day I got to job shadow a PM (project manager). The role of PM is what I think I would be best at and what I think I would enjoy more. I have chosen to be developer, however, because I am most scared of it and want to get experience while i'm in an internship with so many resources and a team to help me out. Also, most out of college hires are developers because there are so many positions, so I think it is really important to be strong in this area. The PM that I shadowed, however, had a pretty cool job. He basically was sent every bug that the product had, and his job was to decide if it was worth fixing, and if so deign the way to change the system to fix it. There are other PM's who's job is to deign products from scrach. Both are pretty cool.  I will be shadowing more PM's, developers, and testers in the next few weeks, so i'm excited. Its a nice way to break up a work day and get to spend time with different people that do such different things within the same team. My manager is also trying to get us a job shadow with someone from the XBox team!! Keep your fingers crossed for me! Also today, we all sat down individually with our manager to put together a list of personal goals. It really made me feel better, because lately I had been getting nervous about how productive we had been so far, and about how well we were working as a team. He put me to ease, though, and told me that he had noticed how worried we had all seemed about making progress faster but that the first few weeks were always slow in any project and to calm down. He also talked about how you have to get used to the job you are in. I am a developer, but still try to be so active in the duties of PM because I care so much about their decisions. I have to learn to trust them and just do my own job. It is really taking a lot to get used to how to work in a company, rather than in a school setting, and I feel so lucky to be getting this experience so young. So today was good, but i'm soooo happy tomorrow is friday. This working full time thing wares me out. And sorry I'm not writing as often, most of the things I do all day are really technical and I would bore everyone by trying to explain them. Hopefully I'll get to do more exciting things over the weekend!!