I am a software engineering manager at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington. I lead a team of engineers building DirectX, Microsoft's computer games technology for Windows 95.
Research has shown that even though people say they are buying a personal computer to keep track of finances and run educational CD-ROMs, they actually spend a large part of their computer time playing games. So, we decided to help out by providing a set of software tools called DirectX that enable games to use high performance graphics, sound and networking on Windows 95. DirectX has been a real hit with gamers and is an excellent use of the multimedia capabilites of the PC. As a result, many of the hot games released this Christmas will be built around DirectX and Windows 95.
I lead a team of software engineers building the multiplayer game component for DirectX. Our goal is to enable multiplayer support in every new game, allowing gamers to play with people around the world over the Internet. I spend a lot of time talking to game developers to determine their needs and develop a plan to deliver a product that meets these needs. I then work closely with the engineers to build and test the software. I even get to write some software when the engineers let me.
We see all the new games while they are in in development, and often we get paid just to play computer games all day - not a bad job at all! And yes, I have even met Bill Gates, but he has not invited me out to his house - yet.
I graduated in 1985 from Middlebury College in Vermont with a degree in Mathematics. I worked at a small company in New England that built the Synclavier digital synthesizer, and then spent 7 years at Apple Computer in California working on digital audio for the Macintosh and QuickTime. I have been at Microsoft since February 1996.
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Copyright September 1996,
updated February 2004.
Kristine H. Burns,
Florida International University
Questions? Contact me.