| Hi dlp211, My name is Jude and I'm one of the developers at Fog Creek Software. I'm obviously a bit biased, but I'd be happy to talk to you if you have any questions about Fog Creek. Feel free to ping me at jude@fogcreek.com if you're interested. I was an intern at Fog Creek 5 years ago, and at the time I was also choosing between Microsoft, Google, and FC. At my final interview at each of Microsoft and FC, I asked each person (at Microsoft, the head of the Windows Live team; at FC, Joel) to tell me about why I should work with them instead of my other options. I came away deciding that they'd both be great places to work. I ended up choosing Fog Creek because of a few aspects which were more appealing to me. The biggest lure to me was that Fog Creek was (at ~15 people) and still is (at ~50 people) a small company. It meant that I'd get to see more of how a software company functions. It meant that I could get involved with more of the steps of shipping a software product, and I could have my feedback and actions directly impact the products I worked on. Those were some of my draws. Plus, it's an internship... it felt to me like a great opportunity to explore NYC without committing myself to it for years. I felt confident that Google and Microsoft would be largely unchanged if I waited a year, but I felt like Fog Creek was a little different. I still think it is. Whoever you choose, it sounds like you've got some great options. I'm sorry you've got an exploding offer to deal with. If you're still undecided, keep in mind that the recruiter will likely extend the window if you ask them to -- the deadline is forced so that you'll be more likely to choose them, not because they're actually trying to cut you off ;-) Best of luck,
- Jude |