Getting to know datacenter employees: Matthew Reyes

Microsoft’s success depends on our people. We are proud to introduce some of the talented folks in your community who work in our global datacenters. Discover what inspired them to pursue a career in the tech industry, the different pathways they pursued, and what a day in the life of a datacenter employee looks like.

Introducing Matthew Reyes

Datacenter Technician

Quincy, WA

Employee since March 2021

Early days

Matthew Reyes was born in Washington, raised in Texas in a small town called Lasara, and moved back to Washington in 2000. As a kid, Matthew spent most of his time exploring outside or playing video games. His family did a lot of seasonal work, so Matthew grew up doing field labor, which helped him learn the value of industriousness. He is the oldest of four, with two brothers and a sister.

The path to technology

Matthew didn’t get into computers until he was an adult. He bought his first PC and realized afterwards that it didn’t meet the specs for most of the games he wanted to play. So, he began converting it into a gaming PC piece by piece. Matthew started working right out of high school at a food processing plant and continued that type of work for many years. Ending up in Moses Lake, Washington, Matthew was working at another processing plant but wanted to do something more challenging to give himself better opportunities to grow a career. He had gained good knowledge about PCs from building his own and fixing issues for his family and friends, so Matthew looked for something in the IT industry and ended up learning about the Microsoft datacenters. He went to Big Bend Community College and signed up for their computer science program. After he started attending school, he found it difficult to both do school and work, so he ended up quitting his job and going to school full time. Matthew applied for the Microsoft IT Scholarship and got it, which enabled him to focus fully on school. At the end of the program, Matthew was awarded the opportunity to be an intern at the Microsoft Datacenter in Quincy. After a three-month internship, Matthew accepted a full-time job. “I never thought I would have ever had the opportunity to work for Microsoft,” Matthew says. “I’m so glad that I took the step to better my future and new career. “

Superpowers

Matthew’s superpower is coming in every day ready to work. “I’m always ready and willing to help my coworkers when needed. I like showing and teaching others what I have learned.” Matthew feels a great accomplishment when he takes on a new task and completes it. “There’s so much to learn and every day I learn something new.”

A day in the life

Matthew works the night shift, so he gets to work around 6:00 PM, gets ready to start the safety meeting, checks over his tickets, and plans out his shift as best he can. Some of his favorite work is investigating and resolving anomalies.

Favorite childhood food

Matthew’s favorite thing related to food is having cookouts/BBQs, getting everyone together, and having a great time outside in the sun. Growing up, his family would have cookouts with all their family and friends together, and it was always a good time.
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