This is not the first time we’ve heard about job cuts at Microsoft, but usually the reasons are a bit more concrete and don’t revolve around nebulous words like “cloud.” Generally, the cuts have been much more profound than than the one reported today–estimates range in the low hundreds and are centered in Seattle. According to an unnamed source as quoted in ARN, the cuts from above come because the company “believes its future business is firmly centered on the cloud and we are rebalancig the organization globally in order to create a number of new cloud-specific roles across the business.” While the spokesperson was unable to pinpoint the new roles that would emerge specifically, he or she made it quite clear what the transition is and that out of job loss will come job creation. This does not necessarily come as a surprise and one should keep in mind that just recently Microsoft hired around 500 new sales and marketing folks to evangelize their particular cloud offerings–it is a sad give or take but could mean new jobs on the horizon overall.
Microsoft Cuts Jobs as Part of Core Shift to Cloud
July 8, 2010