Why a Microsoft employee quit his job to talk about Microsoft products

You don't need a job at Microsoft for the company to make you a decent living.

What you need to know

• Kevin Stratvert joined Microsoft in 2006.
• In 2020, he quit his job.
• Now, he's in a better financial position making videos about Microsoft products than he was while working at Microsoft.

It's a strange world we live in, where people can depend on Microsoft's activities to sustain a living while not actually working for the tech giant. It's even more strange when people can make their money doing how-to content on Microsoft products better than Microsoft itself can. But many people do just that, including an ex-Microsoft employee who ditched the tech giant in order to wholly focus on talking about the tech giant.

Kevin Stratvert is the man in question. He joined Microsoft in 2006 and left in 2020 amid the pandemic, intent on doing his own thing over on YouTube. As reported by CNBC, that thing he does is making videos about tech, more often than not of the Microsoft variety.

If you check out his YouTube channel, you'll see he has a ton of Microsoft-related content. He discusses Windows 11, whether Bing is better than Google, and has plenty of how-tos on Microsoft's products. The kicker is, his how-to videos and related content often eclipse those of Microsoft's in viewership and engagement. Not to mention, Microsoft doesn't publish videos on a lot of the topics he covers and instead relies on blog posts or users to intuit steps themselves.

Stratvert has taken advantage of this opening in the market and made a home for himself in the Microsoft-enthusiast-sustained corner of the internet. According to him, his YouTube endeavors have left him "better off" economically than his job at Microsoft did.

CNBC's report is well worth a read if you want a better understanding of how this reflects on Microsoft's own marketing and educational endeavors, from the perspective that an ex-employee is garnering more traction in certain sectors covering his former employer's products than said employer was able to manage for its own goods.

On a related note, if you want some of the best Microsoft how-tos on the web, don't close out of your current tab and head over to Microsoft's websites. Stay here and learn how to move Windows 11's start menu, how to ditch Windows 11 entirely and revert to Windows 10, and loads more.