Kristin Deal, Software Developer Lead, Microsoft
Kristin grew up on the Eastside. When she was in 8th grade she played an online game that she liked, and found the code for the game. She started to mess with the code and realized she could change things about it, like the color. This was her introduction to coding!
At high school she took AP computer science so she could get more experience. Her high school also had a tech honor society, where she was able learn more about technology and jobs in technology. She knew she wanted to study computer science in college. She went to Whitworth University (Spokane, WA). She decided to go to a smaller college than a big university because she liked the experience of smaller classes. Whitworth is also a liberal arts college which meant she had a broad range of electives she had to take. She liked being exposed to many different areas of study during her degree program. Kristin received a BA in Computer Science, with a double minor in Math and Business.
During her college years she got internships in the summer. Her first internship she got for a company in Redmond through a personal contact. One summer she applied for an internship at Microsoft but didn't get the offer, but she did get an internship for Liberty Mutual Seattle. She really enjoyed the experience. Kristin explained that companies offering tech internships often treat their interns extremely well because hiring good technical talent is very competitive so they want college students to have a great experience with them so you'll want to work there after college. She had a good experience in Seattle, and because she was a high achieving intern they flew her (and a few other interns) to Liberty Mutual's headquarters in Boston. They were impressed with her performance on her internship and offered her a full-time job after she finished her final year at college. Several tech companies offer full time jobs to interns, students appreciate this because it means they can 'enjoy' their final year at college because they know they have a job lined up for when they finish their senior year.
When Kristin arrived at Liberty Mutual she took part in a Technical Develop Program which required her to attend a 5 week boot camp on how to manage a project from end to end. This course helped her develop technical skills, leadership skills, and make good friendships. During her time at Liberty Mutual Kristin developed strong skills and experience, however after 4 years she realized she wasn't excited about what she was working on. She decided to apply to Microsoft again!
This time Kristin was successful and became a Software Developer Engineer! She felt she had more confidence in the interview process this time and also she had prepared for the interview. She had searched online for information on interviewing for technical jobs, interviewing at Microsoft, and also reviewed different areas of coding that she could be asked about.
She has been at Microsoft for 3.5 years. She started as an individual working on projects, and has increased her responsibilities over time. She started to manage interns and mentor new employees on the team she worked on. Today she is a manager of 4 people.
One aspect of her job that she enjoys is that she never knows what work each day is going to bring, because her work requires her to be involved in different parts of the project. She likes that she gets to work on all parts of the software development life cycle. This means she is involved at the beginning of the cycle when decisions are being made about what to build. She participates in prioritizing the work and planning when it should be done. She enjoys being part of a product that has a global audience as she has to think about how people might use it in another country, or how to change the language from English to another language, or how people with disabilities might interact with the product. The team she works in also has to consider customer feedback and decide how to respond to requests and problems. Because she works on a portal web service, team members are on-call sometimes so if problems occur they can fix them when a customer needs the fix.
Kristin highlighted that Microsoft works to support women in tech, and to create inclusive environments. One way they have done this is encouraging attendance at the Grace Hopper Conference, which is the biggest women in tech conference in the world! It's a great place to be to feel empowerment of women in tech, and to find connections and jobs! Some colleges send students to this event so make sure to see if the college where you attend does this.
Kristin had some lessons learned to share at the end of her talk.
Kristin grew up on the Eastside. When she was in 8th grade she played an online game that she liked, and found the code for the game. She started to mess with the code and realized she could change things about it, like the color. This was her introduction to coding!
At high school she took AP computer science so she could get more experience. Her high school also had a tech honor society, where she was able learn more about technology and jobs in technology. She knew she wanted to study computer science in college. She went to Whitworth University (Spokane, WA). She decided to go to a smaller college than a big university because she liked the experience of smaller classes. Whitworth is also a liberal arts college which meant she had a broad range of electives she had to take. She liked being exposed to many different areas of study during her degree program. Kristin received a BA in Computer Science, with a double minor in Math and Business.
During her college years she got internships in the summer. Her first internship she got for a company in Redmond through a personal contact. One summer she applied for an internship at Microsoft but didn't get the offer, but she did get an internship for Liberty Mutual Seattle. She really enjoyed the experience. Kristin explained that companies offering tech internships often treat their interns extremely well because hiring good technical talent is very competitive so they want college students to have a great experience with them so you'll want to work there after college. She had a good experience in Seattle, and because she was a high achieving intern they flew her (and a few other interns) to Liberty Mutual's headquarters in Boston. They were impressed with her performance on her internship and offered her a full-time job after she finished her final year at college. Several tech companies offer full time jobs to interns, students appreciate this because it means they can 'enjoy' their final year at college because they know they have a job lined up for when they finish their senior year.
When Kristin arrived at Liberty Mutual she took part in a Technical Develop Program which required her to attend a 5 week boot camp on how to manage a project from end to end. This course helped her develop technical skills, leadership skills, and make good friendships. During her time at Liberty Mutual Kristin developed strong skills and experience, however after 4 years she realized she wasn't excited about what she was working on. She decided to apply to Microsoft again!
This time Kristin was successful and became a Software Developer Engineer! She felt she had more confidence in the interview process this time and also she had prepared for the interview. She had searched online for information on interviewing for technical jobs, interviewing at Microsoft, and also reviewed different areas of coding that she could be asked about.
She has been at Microsoft for 3.5 years. She started as an individual working on projects, and has increased her responsibilities over time. She started to manage interns and mentor new employees on the team she worked on. Today she is a manager of 4 people.
One aspect of her job that she enjoys is that she never knows what work each day is going to bring, because her work requires her to be involved in different parts of the project. She likes that she gets to work on all parts of the software development life cycle. This means she is involved at the beginning of the cycle when decisions are being made about what to build. She participates in prioritizing the work and planning when it should be done. She enjoys being part of a product that has a global audience as she has to think about how people might use it in another country, or how to change the language from English to another language, or how people with disabilities might interact with the product. The team she works in also has to consider customer feedback and decide how to respond to requests and problems. Because she works on a portal web service, team members are on-call sometimes so if problems occur they can fix them when a customer needs the fix.
Kristin highlighted that Microsoft works to support women in tech, and to create inclusive environments. One way they have done this is encouraging attendance at the Grace Hopper Conference, which is the biggest women in tech conference in the world! It's a great place to be to feel empowerment of women in tech, and to find connections and jobs! Some colleges send students to this event so make sure to see if the college where you attend does this.
Kristin had some lessons learned to share at the end of her talk.
- 'Failure' is sometimes for the best - she says she learned a lot between not getting the internship at Microsoft, and now being at Microsoft working as a manager. So learn from situations when things don't go the way you'd like, but don't let it put you off your goals.
- Make sure you enjoy the type of work you're doing - working at Liberty Mutual was a good first job and she learned a lot there, but then made the right decision to find a different place to work as she wanted more excitement from the work.
- Work is just a piece of your life - Kristin finds Microsoft gives her a good work/life balance so she can do the things she loves that aren't related to tech.
- High support network of women in tech & growing - There are good groups of women and men who are supportive of women in tech, and it's growing. Find people who support you.Lots of opportunity! - There is never going to be a shortage of jobs in tech!