Currently a v- @ MS (Score 1)

I've been contracting at Microsoft for about six weeks now. I haven't seen any overt discrimination against orange badges, other than my working space: I'm in a cube, and it seems most blues have offices, though I do know some oranges with offices as well. Doesn't really matter to me, I just need a place to jack in my laptop.

I have access to the same break room with the fridge full of drinks, tea, coffee, etc. as blue badges do. I park in the same lot, I walk in the same door, I eat at the same cafes.

Some have commented that oranges aren't involved in team meetings, but to me that is a blessing. Less management overhead = more time to get my work done, less stress about dealing with politics and beaurocracy. And the beaurocracy here is huge. I process security-related tickets, and the process is very complicated. About 90% of my brain-time is spent dealing with the system and the remaining 10% on the actual technical aspects of my job.

It's not the most engaging or exciting work I've ever done, but the hours are great, the benefits from my company good, and it pays well. That's all good for the home life, so I can take my daughter to daycare every morning and pick her up at night, and we can have dinner every evening as a family (at a reasonable hour).

But if you told me that this would be my job for the next 10, or even five or three years, I'd start looking for a better gig immediately--I don't think I could put up with the repetition and monotony of the tasks for that long.

I respect Howard's desire to participate in more of a community as an orange badge, but it isn't compelling to me. Unlike past jobs, this is just that, a job. My goal isn't to join the ranks of the blues, and to be honest, after getting a glimpse of the internal politics and beaurocracy here, I don't know that I'd accept a full-time position.