Sometimes it's hard to figure out what a job's title actually means. What exactly does a field marketing manager do? How does the typical business development analyst spend her day?

During his recent job search, graduating Informatics student Bennett Hornbostel ('07) had just this kind of question. When a Microsoft recruiter mentioned the company had jobs available as a "technical account manager," Hornbostel got in touch with Informatics alumnus Prem Kumar ('06), who has worked as a Microsoft TAM since his graduation last year. Although they were in different graduating classes, Hornbostel knew Kumar through their work in the Informatics student organization IUGA.

"We had a short conversation where he gave me some basic pointers," Hornbostel recalls. "After I was offered the job, we met for lunch and discussed the position at length so I could get a better idea of what a TAM does on a daily basis." Kumar's insight helped Hornbostel decide it was the right job for him, and he'll start after graduation in June.

So what will he do for Microsoft? As Kumar explained to Hornbostel, "A TAM is an advocate for customers that purchase support agreements with Microsoft. The TAM is the customers' main point of contact at the company and helps them utilize all the resources they've purchased. This includes everything from ensuring appropriate engineers are assigned to clients' tech issues to sitting down at the customers' sites to plan how they want to use Microsoft's proactive services for a year's worth of projects." TAMs then translate their clients' needs and issues to a pool of support engineers who provide the technical solutions.

When Hornbostel starts his new job, he and Kumar will both be working at Microsoft's new Sammamish campus in its Consulting Services Group, part of the company's growing support services business. Each will be part of an integrated team that includes a technical account manager, an account executive, a sales and service rep, and a team manager. The skills they gained in the Informatics program make a strong fit with the job. "With almost any job you need good project management skills," Kumar explains. "It's also good that Informatics grads have that technical side and the human-centered side. Having both sets you apart [in many job searches]."