wm_in - Channel 9

Tracey Trewin: Tackling Tough Problems - From Math to XBox

Charles — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:48:00 GMT

Tracey Trewin, Technical Assistant to Technical Fellow Mohsen Agsen, talks to Charles and Ritzy about how she’s always sought out hard challenges, whether it was majoring in math or helping lead the Xbox 360 team to launch. A 13 year Microsoft veteran, the former Hawaiian has lead 2 incubation teams to ship as a Product Unit Manager during her tenure at the firm. Prior to joining Microsoft, Tracey ran her own business for 12 years building customer business solutions for businesses. Tracey will be attending the PDC this year, so make sure to find her. She’ll be attending the Women in Technology reception on October 29.

Seema Ramchandani: From Brain Science to Silverlight

Charles — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:33:00 GMT

Seema Ramchandani is the performance and controls PM on the Silverlight team. Seema talks about how cool Silverlight is including it being FREE, runs on the Mac, and leverages existing developer skills but she also tells us how she moved from being in the business of brains to software. Yes, brains! Before joining Microsoft almost 5 years ago, Seema was getting her master’s degree at Brown in the area of brain sciences, which is the convergence of applied math, computer science, and neuro science. (Is she a smarty pants or what?!) Specifically she was working on implanting chips into the motor cortex of humans so locked-in patients can control a cursor. Pretty cool, eh? Find out more by watching her WM_IN interview with Charles and Ritzy.

Jillian Venters - A Goth inside the Deathstar

Charles — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:08:00 GMT

Jillian Venters is a technical editor for ASP.NET within the developer division, editing documentation for Visual Web Developer to ensure all text and copy is clear and concise. With a diverse background in games and music engineering, Jillian is another fantastic example of how you can have a happy and successful career at Microsoft without being a hard-core programmer or developer. But, even more interesting (at least for Ritzy) is that Jillian is a full-fledged Goth. What’s a Goth, you ask? Goth has roots back to the 1700’s, the current incarnation is an off-shoot of the punk and new wave movement that includes influences from Victorian mourning clothing, so good they’re bad horror movies, Dracula and more. Guess what else? Goths aren’t just disgruntled teens trying to upset mom and dad! Lots of adults are Goths (there’s a formal group of them at Microsoft), and as Jillian describes one of the best ways to think about Goth is that it is an aesthetic preference which finds beauty in unconventional things. Wanna know more? Check out her etiquette and advice blog site, Gothic Charm School. Not only that, but Jillian is writing a book coming out next year on the Goth movement! (Good gig for an editor, eh? It should be well written.) It takes all types, and Microsoft proudly accepts them all. Enjoy!

Jasmine Park: SkyDriving User Experience

Charles — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:28:00 GMT

Meet Jasmine Park, program manager in Windows Live, who works on SkyDrive and FolderShare. Want 5 gigs of free password-protected online file storage? Sign up for SkyDrive. Need to keep your latest files with you, no matter which computer you're using? Install FolderShare for free and you can keep files in sync across your computers, share folders with friends, and access your files from any computer. When Jasmine joined Microsoft a little over 4 years ago she stepped right into the middle of a re-org, not an uncommon experience around here, but it all worked out and she’s been contentedly endeavoring in the online space since day one. Although not a techie, Jasmine shares her story of diversity and how there’s a happy home here at the Mother Ship for all types.

Tara Prakriya: Solution Architect

Charles — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:02:00 GMT

Architect Tara Prakriya is in the business of finding solutions to hard problems. What are hard problems? Ones that are complicated by both the business model and new domains, and then trying to figure out a technical solution that would be feasible within the confines of the market. Plus, being the architect doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the decision maker, you may be more of the influencer and so that means you have to understand all of the issues and being smart about your recommendations, which may not be the “right” decisions (because who’s to say there’s only one right answer). Working in the Unlimited Potential group, Tara has been specializing in education opportunities in emerging markets. The mission of the Unlimited Potential team to enable sustained social and economic opportunity for those at the middle and bottom of the world’s economic pyramid—the next 5 billion people. In the short term, Unlimited Potential aims to reach the next 1 billion people by 2015 by exploring solutions in three key interrelated areas, each being crucial to developing sustained economic opportunity: transforming education, fostering local innovation, and enabling jobs and opportunities. Tara is a big part of this team, and she shares her story with Charles and Jennifer on the newest edition of WM_IN.

Jane Kim: From Inventing To Implementing IE Features

Charles — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:11:00 GMT

Jane Kim, senior program manager on the Internet Explorer team, talks about how the IE team really cares and connects with the community in this episode of WM_IN. A Northwestern grad and seven year Microsoft vet, Jane discusses how the IE team has their own voice via the team blog and how they are striving hard to engage with their customers.

As a PM on the team, Jane helps create new feature sets based on customer research and she works with the team to understand the scenarios in which customers will be utilizing those features. Listen to Jane as she tells the story of how she went about pitching one of the new IE8 features, WebSlices, to her management. (WebSlices enable users to subscribe to specially marked content on a Web page. When the content changes, the user receives a notification on the Favorites Bar.) Ritzy and Carmine meet yet another woman who was good in math as a youngster in school (Perhaps this is a pattern, people?), and they enjoyed hearing Jane talk about why she became a PM instead of a developer (Debugging is for the birds!).

Carolyn Napier: Developing for Windows and Playing Pro Football

Charles — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:24:53 GMT

Carolyn Napier is a 9 year Microsoft veteran and she’s actually one of the truly technical women we’ve interviewed on WM_IN in a while (a former programmer she’s now a principal development lead on the Windows Application Platform team within the Core Operating System Division), but watch the whole interview and towards the end you’ll get the real scoop on Carolyn which really excited both Charles and Ritzy: Carolyn is a PROFESSIONAL football player!! Carolyn’s a member of The Seattle Majestics, the local women’s professional football team where she plays a rover on defense and a wide receiver on offense. This isn’t flag football, this is serious hardcore tackle football that is played with NFL’s regular rules (yes, she has a lot of bruises!). And guess what? As an athlete, there are many analogies Carolyn can draw between things that happen on the job and things that happen on the field. Go number 29!

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Mai-lan Tomsen Bukovec: From the Peace Corps to IIS 7

Charles — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:01:47 GMT

Meet group program manager, Mai-lan Tomsen Bukovec, who has been at Microsoft for nine years (Talk about a blast from the past . . . remember Microsoft Transaction Server? Mai-lan was on that team back in the day.). Mai-lan is currently on the Internet Information Services (IIS) team where she manages PMs working on IIS and the Windows Server Hosting System. What does that mean? Well, for starters, she and her team define the features of the core web server, as well as the management tools and administration interfaces plus they work on media server and providing the right tools for the web hosters of the world (like GoDaddy, for example). Phew! That’s a lot. From the Peace Corps to working at a couple of start-ups during the Internet boom when she left Microsoft for a bit, Mai-lan really has a worldwide global perspective. Watch this episode of Low res file here.

Betsy Hjort: On Making Windows Server, Singing with Bill and Being Technical

Charles — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:12:16 GMT

Betsy Hjort, principal program manager, turns the camera on Jennifer & Charles (literally!) as she tells us about her role on the Windows Server team and reflects about her tenure at the company over the last 12 years. Way back in the day Betsy was a Pascal coder, but things started to change when she got hired at Microsoft. Betsy joined the Exchange team in 1996, and in this lively interview she shares stories including how Microsoft allowed astronauts out on mission in space to have private communications with their spouses for the first time (being able to say “I love you” privately to your wife is a great example of the power of technology changing people’s lives), and how she and Bill Gates sang “Islands in the Stream” to each other (well, not really, but you gotta hear the story – it’s a classic!). This is one of Jennifer’s favorite interviews; watch it all the way through to see Charles get schooled by Betsy! It’s worth the entire 37 minutes, we promise.

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Shawn Richardson: A winding road to Software Security

Charles — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:46:21 GMT

From being an economics major and MBA to working with a veterinary ophthalmologist in Florida, Shawn Richardson tell us about her non-linear path into the world of technology. As a security program manager, Shawn is on the Windows Security Assurance team where they make sure the OS, when it goes out the door, is as secure as possible. (Plus, Shawn gets to personally sign off on the security of the OS. Cool!) She’s been at Microsoft over six years, and a time that really stands out for her was when she volunteered to help during the Blaster virus breakout. She realized then the impact we have on our customers, whether it’s our moms or the largest enterprise companies in the world, and helping to do the right thing for our customers no matter what is a very important part of her work philosophy today.

Meghan Perez: From Software Developer to Technical Advisor

Charles — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:51:12 GMT

Meghan Perez, the Technical Advisor for Senior Vice President and Channel 9 veteran S. Somasegar (Soma), talks about her role overseeing all of the products and technologies in the developer division and synthesizing that information for her boss (one of the nicest guys she’s met and one our favorite Channel 9 celebrities!). Fresh with a computer engineering degree from the University of Notre Dame, Meghan started at Microsoft in 1999 as a developer on the VS platform after completing a couple of internships at the company. She’s been Soma’s TA for a little over a year, and she’s having a blast. Watch Charles and Jennifer interview her on a usually ultra causal day (how many times can Jennifer say “cool” in one interview??) in another fresh episode of Low res file here.

Linda Apsley: Protocol Specifications, Compliance and Leadership

Charles — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 18:02:31 GMT

Ten year Microsoft veteran, Linda Apsley, tells us about her role in Windows Server running the Windows Protocol Compliance team making sure the engineering teams are complying with all government regulations. That’s unique on its own. But how did she get there? Not the “normal” way. Linda stayed at home after graduating from school, had six kids (yes, six!) and then headed into the workforce. See? Any route is possible as long as you follow your passion. Hear about her story in another edition of WM_IN.

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Terrell Cox: Evolution of User Experience (UX) at Microsoft

Charles — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:42:23 GMT

Terrell Cox, Principal UX Manager for our Management Solutions Group in our Server and Tools Division, talks to us about how the world of developers and designers are blurring (yes, even for our server products!).

User Experience is becoming more and more important at Microsoft, and Terrell tells us how her team leads the charge on making sure the customer is always represented and that the programmer doesn’t forget the original design of the product.

Hello…..did somebody say MIX? :)

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Becoming an Evangelist – Get the inside scoop from not one but two U.S. Developer Evangelists!

Grace Francisco — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:48:56 GMT

Join me – Grace Francisco – as I sit down and chat with Developer Evangelists Lynn Langit and Asli Bilgin as we talk about the interesting paths they both took to get to where they are today. Definitely off the beaten path! They answer the question “What the heck is an Evangelist really?” and share their perspectives on what it’s like to be an Evangelist and a woman in a technical profession – you’ll be surprised and entertained by Lynn and Asli’s candid responses.

Make sure to check out Lynn’s Channel 9 show – Sara Ford is a Visual Studio program manager in the Developer Division’s Customer Product Lifecycle group and her job is fascinating which she describes in the first part of this interview, but you must listen to her incredible story about Hurricane Katrina and her little hometown of Waveland, Mississippi. Katrina deeply impacted Sara’s family, friends and interestingly enough . . . her blog. How does technology factor into a natural disaster and how can it be used to help after a community is entirely wiped out? Sara has lots of idea. Watch and learn.

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Emma Williams: Building Visual Studio with Intentional Engineering

Charles — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:48:56 GMT

Emma Williams is very passionate about building innovative software in a highly reliable, scalable way. Her's is the art of engineering engineering. What?

As General Manager of Visual Studio core engineering, Emma's main objectives are to build both a superior development suite of tools and to design and deliver on engineering processes that result in fewer bugs and faster release cycles for Visual Studio. How do you make great products without great engineering practices? It's been done, but the journey is longer than customers care for. How do you innovate development processes? Tune in and meet one of the pioneers of "Intentional Engineering" to learn about the future of engineering process at Microsoft, beginning with Visual Studio.

Lori Pearce: Six Degrees of Separation from David Hasselhoff

Charles — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:26:33 GMT

What do Lori Pearce, Product Unit Manager for the Windows SDK, and David Hasselhoff have in common? They’ve both been stars on Knight Rider. Well, sort of. If you’re a fan of ‘80s TV and you ever saw glimpses of the HP 150 touch screen computer on the show, Lori was responsible for the code behind the software. And she’s come a long way, baby. After time at HP, Visio and many years at Microsoft, this former developer now runs a team of folks who churn out the Windows SDK (including the .NET Framework) and she tells Charles and Jennifer all about it in this episode of WM_IN.

Julie Larson-Green: Leading by Example, Managing the Windows Experience

Charles — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:33:12 GMT

VP of program management for the Windows experience team, Julie Larson-Green, has been at Microsoft for over 14 years. What’s different for her in the course of her MS career? She says it’s more about what’s stayed the same over time that is more interesting.

Hear from this former developer (she used to work on PageMaker) who has risen up through the ranks and is now leading an organization with over 400 people. Her leadership philosophy speaks strongly to clear communication, being a really good listener, and committing to doing what you say….say what you do.

Monica Ene-Pietrosanu: Ground Breaker. Code Breaker.

Charles — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 19:14:35 GMT

Romanian Monica Ene-Pietrosanu has a PhD in cryptography! Wow. We’re glad she’s on our side and not the dark side. :)

Sarita Bafna: VC++ "Orcas" - Marshaling Library and MFC support for Common Controls

Charles — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:07:54 GMT

If you write managed code and interop with unmanaged, you know the pain involved with marshaling string types across runtimes... If you write MFC apps and want to take advantage of new whiz bang shell UI features (aka common controls) without writing more code that specifically targets Vista, for example, well you can. All of this thanks to Sarita and team!

Sarita Bafna is a Program Manager on the VC++ Libraries team. Her current focus is on MFC support for common controls (including Vista's new set of cool common controls) and the new Marshaling library (it marshals managed types to unmanaged types and vice-versa. Only string types are supported in this release) in VC++ "Orcas".

Tune in and learn about these new VC++ constructs available in "Orcas".

Debra Chrapaty: A Company Import. A Great Leader.

Charles — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 18:38:27 GMT

Corporate Vice President of Global Foundation Services, Debra Chrapaty, is in charge of a worldwide team that runs the foundation servers for Microsoft’s data centers, networks, infrastructure and server architecture as part of our software + services strategy. Charles and Jennifer, in their on-going WM_IN Technology journey, talk to this energetic, dynamic, smart woman who fulfilled her childhood dream of being on the cover of Information Week (read geek). She used to be the CTO for the National Basketball Association (NBA) . . . and that’s just the beginning of where this successful woman gets interesting. Check it!

Dynamic Developer Duo: Sarah Parra and Kati Iceva from the Data Programmability Team

Charles — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 01:46:27 GMT

Do all roads to coding start with math? :) Find out how Kati and Sarah got into the business of software development and find out more about being successful women on the ADO.NET team.

Marina Polishchuk: VC++ QA - The best job in the biz

Charles — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:27:17 GMT

Meet Marina Polishchuk, a software engineer on the VC++ quality control team. Her mission: Outsmart the compiler with clever programs that confuse and or break it. Fun stuff. Here, we learn about what she does, why she does it and how she got here. Enjoy!

Sumit Chauhan: Developing Microsoft Access, Running a Dev Team

Charles — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 22:22:16 GMT

Meet Sumit Chauhan, principal development manager for Access. Medicine or engineering were her choices….and she decided development was her thing. Watch the newest WM_IN Technology interview as Sumit chats with Charles and Jennifer about her trail blazing ways, her time spent in the Office group, and her new salad days leading up a team of 30+ people.

Elissa Murphy: From Music to Microsoft

Charles — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 23:35:30 GMT

Elissa Murphy, Principal PM on the Windows Live team, talks about her non-linear path into Microsoft. From music production to program management . . . it’s been an interesting ride. Join us for another edition of