I turned down a job offer from Microsoft today. What does this mean?

I'm giving up a comfortable upper-middle-class lifestyle. I'm giving up over $100 a day in completely disposable income. I'm giving up a really great job with a really great company.

What, am I crazy? Yep.

I want to live in the loft another year. I want to do cool research with Cindy and Bill and Robert. I want to not just visit but live in Australia and Amsterdam and tropical beaches in the Pacific.

I may always wonder if I made the right choice.

Here is a verbatim copy of what I told the Microsoft folks.

From ********** Wed Apr 18 12:48:47 2001
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 12:48:01 -0500
From: Kevin Goodier 
Subject: Here it is

I've been thinking about your offer every day since last Monday.  Trust me 
when I say I've put a lot of time into thinking over my decision.  I want 
to first thank both of you -- you've been tremendously helpful and 
wonderful throughout this whole process.

It pains me to say this, but I'm afraid I have to decline the offer.

I love Microsoft.  I can't think of a better company to work for.  The work 
environment, the people, the benefits, the flexibility, the location -- all 
good.  My offer was superb -- certainly better than I expected.  My job and 
group are great.  I agree with everything Lindsay said in her email last 
week.  I would be able to buy all the cool toys and gadgets I could ever 
want.

So why am I saying no?  I feel I owe you two an explanation after all we've 
been through.  :)

I haven't been deciding whether I want to go to Microsoft or not.  I've 
been deciding *when* I want to go to Microsoft and I think in the long run 
the answer is "not now".  My time horizon is probably 1-3 years from now 
for when I'll be looking for the kind of job you are offering.  Right now 
I'm looking for freedom and the ability to go off and do whatever I want to 
do whenever I want to do it.  I don't want a comfortable upper-middle-class 
life right now.  I want adventure, travel, and excitement on a shoestring 
budget!  :)  If I took a job now, it would be with the intention of leaving 
after a couple of years to pursue my own things.  I don't think this would 
happen, or it would certainly be difficult -- who wants to give up stock 
options, lots of salary money, a great job, nice furniture, etc etc.

Another factor is I've been presented with a wonderful opportunity to work 
in a research environment for a year doing very cool things that are right 
up my alley (robotics, computer graphics).  There's no way I would ever be 
able to come back to this kind of thing in the future and I've always been 
curious about the research side of CS.  This job also happens to coincide 
with the remaining 15 months I have on my lease here in the loft, which is 
a small but non-trivial factor for staying in St. Louis longer.  If I leave 
for Seattle I'm still obligated to pay rent for that time.

Want to chat?  I'll be home for at least a couple more hours today.  (314) 
621-5766.

~kevin

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== Kevin Goodier {**********}
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