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Ask HN: I have 1 year before starting to work at Microsoft. What should I learn?

5 points by andremat ↗ HN
I'm from Brazil, almost getting my CS degree. Microsoft has offered me a job as a Software Development Engineer. Because of visa bureacracies, my start date is 1 year from now. So, HN, what kind of skills should I brush up?

5 comments

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arbinder
It's a very legitimate question since most of the H1-B applicants go through a similar waiting period in between the job offer and start working. However, in my humble opinion this question would have had a longer lifetime and better answers if you had posted in Quora.

I am in a similar situation with a joining date in next October. I decided to finish reading the books I never had time for reading, work on a few community projects and spend more time with my family. I hope it won't get too boring.

Avalaxy
Depends on what you're going to do... General stuff like 'Writing secure code' and 'introduction to algorithms' are useful to read.
tostitos1979
Become fluent in C# at least. Get experience with the CLR. Learn about unit testing. Watch Tudors to learn about court intrigue.
Wezc
Congrats !

Do you know the job description ? On what subject will you work ? I would suggest to be fluent in C#, C++ and the .NET framwork. Btw: How did MS make you an offer ? You applied or they came for you ?