A Long Way From The Osborne

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Growing up, I distinctly remember how technology first made its appearance in my life and how it evolved over time. My dad used to bring home from work his ginormous Osborne computer in the 80s, with its black screen, green typeface and no GUI (I played a lot of Zork on that thing). Computers gradually became more common place as I got older, but it was still considered a “leg up” to type out your term papers for high school and I felt lucky to have one at home (we upgraded to a “modern” PC). When I went off to college I got my first email address and learned the wonder of communicating with pretty much anyone around the world.  After graduating, I got my first cell phone – a large Motorola phone with a retractable antenna that cost me $7 / month for the “emergency only” plan – after all, why would I want to use my cell phone for anything other than emergencies?

The turn of the new millennium proved to be pivotal for me, as with many people. The dot com phenomenon, and the bust that followed, made technology and the “tech industry” a daily headline. 9/11 happened, impacting everything at a global scale and also my hometown of Washington, D.C.  And I went back to school in 2001 to get my MBA at the University of North Carolina. Being located near Research Triangle Park, the school was considered advanced at the time in terms of its technology outfitting and its inclusion of technology curriculum in the program.  And this is where I really started to understand what a career in the technology industry might mean.

Most of my fellow MBA students were looking at jobs in consumer packaged goods or investment banking, given the prevalence of those businesses on the East Coast, and I thought I would follow suit, looking at Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, McNeil Consumer Healthcare and others. But after a visit from an alumni working at Microsoft, I started to seriously consider a career in technology. There was something about the fast-paced nature, the constant innovation and most importantly, the ability to truly change the world that really appealed to me.  In particular, as the granddaughter of two teachers, technology’s ability to democratize education and support economic growth everywhere really resonated with me, from the child I met in a small Peruvian village who knew everything about the American constitution and had dreams of starting his own business, to the women in African villages who were starting their own businesses because of micro-financing and mobile payments technology.

I ended up getting an internship at Microsoft between my first and second year of business school, and came back full-time, and I’ve been here  ever since, just recently celebrating my 11th anniversary.  I should point out that while I love technology and have built a marketing career in the tech industry, I wouldn’t consider myself super “technical.”  I did a pretty awesome “Hello!” program in BASIC as a kid, and a bit of SAS programming as a consultant post-undergrad.  And just recently I’ve started to learn how to build an app using Visual Studio.  When I first started at Microsoft in the management tools group, I knew nothing about health monitoring or software models or desired state configuration, or really what IT professionals even really did. But I focused on what they cared about – by talking to the customer and to the sales teams, asking lots of questions, I learned about what challenges they faced, and how could our technology help them – and THAT is what I was passionate about.  I also really focused on building skills around strategic frameworks – how to identify the problems or challenges, how to create an approach to solving those problems and how to align stakeholders to get to desired result. Finally, I’ve pushed myself to think creatively – to not get stuck in how things have been done, but to identify the adjacencies or new opportunities to solve problems or reach customers in new ways.  These skills have served me well as I’ve moved to different marketing roles at Microsoft, from enterprise server solutions to VoIP and video conferencing to online search to developer evangelism, allowing me work on some really great projects and build a fulfilling career.

No matter what your role is in the technology industry, these skills are incredibly important.  It’s a fast paced environment, where the customer’s needs, the competition and the ways we can innovate are constantly changing. Whether you are on the technical side or the marketing side, or somewhere in between, the ability - and passion -  to identify the customer’s needs, and the skills to turn ambiguity and noise into actionable strategy are hugely important and help establish your credibility regardless of gender or level of technical aptitude.

I would also say that finding your own personal brand and staying true to that is hugely important, no matter your gender or your career path ( I recommend you read One Piece of Paper by Mike Figliuolo). I actually don’t think it’s about “leaning in” -  instead I think it is about spending the time to understand the unique, amazing value you have to offer and what your personal philosophy is –how you want to live professionally and personally, and then be true to that.  When you have a clear sense of your unique value and purpose, navigating your career, achieving success and reaching personal fulfillment gets a whole lot easier.

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