Microsoft is a very big company. And it has been around for some time. So in some ways it becomes... a bit dilbertesque. For a dozen of really good working bees, there would be one smart guy who only knows how to manage his own career. Most probably it is a "middle manager", because new hires get filtered out quite effectively. So how those career-focused people survive? - They create "processes" and "initiatives", and then you are the one to fight back. So it really matters if your boss stays technical -- as long as he remembers how to write code (and he must know it in the fist place!), you won't feel dilbert.