Most Important Skills For a Finance Manager at Microsoft
For a Finance Manager role at Microsoft, Andrew emphasizes that "being curious and willing to learn" is paramount, especially when working with engineers and navigating complex products. Building strong, trusting relationships with business partners through accurate and consistent work is also crucial, as these skills enable quick adaptation and effective collaboration on projects.
Financial Analysis, Curiosity and Learning, Relationship Management, Communication Skills, Problem Solving
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Andrew Sullivan
Finance Manager
Microsoft
Wake Forest University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Finance
Technology
Finance
Honors Student, Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Curiosity and willingness to learn are crucial for quickly adapting and taking on significant responsibilities, especially in a rapidly evolving environment like Microsoft.
2. Building strong relationships based on trust, accuracy, and consistency is essential for effective collaboration with business partners.
3. Asking questions, even if they seem basic, is vital for understanding both the customer perspective and the backend infrastructure, enabling informed decision-making regarding costs and scalability.
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
The number one skill you need coming into this role is curiosity and a willingness to learn. Nothing will truly prepare you for everything you'll learn at a company like Microsoft, especially if you're coming from finance without a heavy computer science background. There are an infinite number of things to learn and do.
You'll learn everything on the job. What truly sets some people apart is their ability and willingness to ramp up quickly, take over big projects, and have significant responsibility. This comes from their eagerness to learn and ask questions.
Be curious. Many companies have been doing the same processes for a long time. They want people who ask different questions and inquire about the reasoning behind certain methods. This prompts critical thinking.
When working with engineers on the finance side, you won't understand every concept. It's essential to be able to ask those difficult questions, even if they seem simple at times. This curiosity helps you fully understand the product from both a customer's perspective and the infrastructure side.
You don't need to be an expert capable of building the product yourself. However, to understand costs, unit costing, and per-user expenses, you need to grasp the backend infrastructure. This includes understanding fixed and variable costs, as well as any costs that arise from scaling, like going from one million to two million users.
Being able to ask these questions is incredibly important. Relationships are also huge. You need to be trusted by your business partners and, of course, be accurate with your numbers. Good relationship management comes with trust, which is built on accuracy and consistency.
Being able to manage relationships, be curious, and ask questions are some of the biggest skills you can bring to this role.
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