Chinese play starring roles at Microsoft

Jackson Hong, born in Chengdu, Sichuan province, immigrated to Canada at the age of 14. After studying and working in Canada for years, he joined Microsoft Redmond in June 2012 as a software development engineer working for the Intune team.

"I was told of all the engineers at Microsoft, China and India each is home to one-third of the entire population," Hong recalled.

Andy Ran, 32, joined Microsoft directly after graduating from Purdue University in 2008. Working at Microsoft for almost seven years, Ran still loves the company, where he feels valued, respected. He believes it's the kind of place where an employee can realize their potential and get maximum support.

"Nowhere is there more massive, diversified enterprise than at Microsoft," Ran said, "where Chinese science geeks are 'geniuses' who try make a name for themselves in the history of technology."

"All the Chinese American engineers I know, of all ages, are diligent, confident and humble," Ran added.

Of the most famous Chinese Americans at Microsoft, both Hong and Ran mentioned "The Big Two": Qi Lu, Harry Shum.

Qi Lu

Qi Lu, the first Chinese American serve as executive vice-president at the software giant, is currently executive vice-president of the applications and services group, leading Microsoft's business across productivity, communications, education, search and other information services. He sets the vision, strategy and overall direction of the group, and is responsible for all of the research and development teams across Microsoft Office, Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, Yammer, Lync, Skype, Bing, Bing Apps, MSN and the Advertising platforms and business group.

The most often heard rumors about Lu are that he wakes up at 3 am, often works until 10 pm and only wears jeans and a T-shirt.

Born in Shanghai, Lu studied at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. After attending a talk by Carnegie Mellon professor Edmund M. Clarke, Lu was invited to apply for a PhD at Carnegie Mellon. In 1996, Lu graduated with a PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Lu spent 10 years as a senior executive at Yahoo. His roles included serving as the executive vice-president of engineering for the company's search and advertising technology group, where he oversaw the development of Yahoo's web search and monetization platforms, and vice-president of engineering responsible for the technology development of Yahoo's search, e-commerce and local listings of businesses and products.

He left Yahoo in August 2008 and thought about a start-up in China. But Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer called him and asked him to consider taking over Microsoft's online operations. "He's absolutely the best guy on the planet to run a search business," Ballmer said.

Lu's mantra is, "Have your head above the clouds but your feet on the ground."