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When I applied to Microsoft in 1992, I'd read that they received 100,000 resumes a year. I never did hear back. I'd been selling HyperCache for the Amiga to put myself through college, so I did what any reasonable person would do. I went through every customer registration card looking for any microsoft.com emails. Email was rare enough already (my first Microsoft business card would have a Telex number but not email). Only about 3 people had microsoft.com email addresses, so I cold-emailed each one. One fellow, Allistair Banks, wrote back. And the rest flowed from there. Without his reply, it never would have happened. We lost Allistair a couple of years ago. Until then, I emailed him every couple of years on my work anniversary to thank him, though! Much as Steve Jobs owes a debt to Bill Hewlett, I owe a big one to Allistair. And like Jobs, I've always found that if you ask someone for help genuinely, you quite often get it.