Microsoft is on the look out for a software development engineer, to join its Entertainment Division team, to begin a new "top-secret" project to provide a new type of Kinect experience. What type of experience, is anyone's guess at this point, though the job posting does hold a few other choice details.
"A new team is forming in Microsoft's entertainment division with a specific purpose: to push the envelope of today's and tomorrow's technology as we explore new ideas from the ground floor," says the job posting. "It begins with veterans from Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and Kinect. But we're growing as quickly as our imaginations can be translated into code."
However contrary to the usual positive spin found in these ads, this one suggests that the new department will fail often and fail hard, before finding the new experience that Microsoft is looking for. "Joining this team comes with risks. Most of what we work on is top-secret; you may not know what your new project is until you've accepted an offer. Not all of our ideas will fly. We will fail, and fail fast, on some projects. We will celebrate those failures because they are vital to making sure the right ideas take off in a big way."
It continues on to suggest that if you want a job that's cushy, or one that doesn't test your abilities, you shouldn't apply. Failure will happen in this position and you need to get used to it quickly.
"You'll learn more than you even knew existed about machine vision, data mining, AI, voice recognition, and embedded systems. You'll become an expert in one or more of those areas. You will work on a truly agile team to build and iterate on prototypes to evolve and demonstrate our creative vision."
With rumours that Microsoft is working on new controllers for the next-gen Xbox, as well as potential augmented reality and Kinect 2.0, there's lots of possibilities for a position like this.
What kind of future do you guys see with Kinect?