In '90s Microsoft, you either shipped code or shipped out

Hiring and firing at the Windows giant more The Bachelor than Survivor

Microsoft has made headlines for mass layoffs in recent times, but former company engineer Dave Plummer has explained how things were done a quarter of a century ago – and what it was like living through the tech giant's notorious stack ranking system.

While Plummer obviously can't speak from personal experience about the hiring and firing practices of Microsoft today, he was there in the 1990s.

"At the time we didn't have a big issue with it because the hiring was really selective and strict," he said. "I felt like I was really lucky to get in there."

However, despite the "merciless" interview process, there were still a few people who would make it through, even if they weren't particularly gifted in the coding department.

"Two things would happen," recalled Plummer on his YouTube channel, Dave's Attic. "If that person was smart analytically or gifted in some kind of design way or analytical way, but just couldn't code with the rest of us, then they might look at a program management job."

Program managers aren't necessarily failed developers, he said, instead it was just that this type of technical role probably wasn't right for them. Conversely, many developers have encountered situations where a brilliant engineer is promoted to management, resulting in the business losing a good engineer and gaining a bad manager.

For people who shouldn't have been hired in the first place, however, there was the Performance Improvement Plan (PIP).

Microsoft's interpretation of PIP was, according to Plummer, "you weren't allowed to transfer internally... you had to bring your performance grade up within a certain number of months or a year, or whatever the deadline was, and [if] you couldn't do that then you were 'managed out.'"

In other words, fired or terminated.

While PIP could serve as a lifeline for temporarily underperforming employees dealing with personal issues, Plummer said, "I think it's to save people that shouldn't be fired in the first place."

Microsoft's infamous use of stack ranking, however, did not fare so well in Plummer's recollections. He remembered meetings where a bell curve was applied to staff regardless of their comparative performance.

"It's basically a lifeboat drill," he said. "It's like 'we have 20 people, but the lifeboat only holds 18. Who goes?' It's very cutthroat."

In 2013, Microsoft did away with stack ranking, which some blamed for a "lost decade" at the company and infighting as employees worked to ensure they weren't the ones tossed off the lifeboat.

"You're in there naming names," said Plummer, "like 'I would fire this guy next, and I would fire your guy – that slacker – that I don't like in email because he doesn't capitalize'..." and so on.

So a bit like a reality television show in which contestants vote each other out over the course of a competition? "More like The Bachelor," said Plummer. "Your boss would come in with a rose, and he would decide which of you to give it to." ®