Succeeding In Industry Jobs
Straight Talk about the First Five Years
Transitioning from an academic environment to a position in industry can
be a daunting life experience. As women who have recently experienced
this transition, the members of our panel are well-positioned to discuss
our experiences transitioning from academic programs to leading
technical institutions. Women working at Microsoft
will discuss the challenges they faced and the set of tools they
used to address them to expose the audience to the current industry
environment. Their status as recent graduates allows them to communicate
their experiences from the viewpoint of ambitious young women.
Topics covered will include: mentoring, networking, balancing home and
work, career advancement. Panelists will also discuss how they have
dealt with challenges differently such as flexible work arrangements,
building credibility at work, negotiating a two career household, and
finding the right fit at work.
DIANE CURTIS is an Academic Developer Relations
Manager at Microsoft. Diane graduated from Ohio State with a B.S. in
Mathematics and a B.S. in Computer Science. She started at Microsoft
as an intern on the .NET Framework. She worked as a Software Design
Engineer in Test on .NET Client and later became a Program Manager on
Windows Mobile and Safety Technologies. Diane recently joined the
Academic Developer Relations team, and focuses her efforts on
fostering student developer communities.
HILARY PIKE
recently joined Microsoft as an Academic Developer Relations Manager
where she helps students connect to technology. She spent the past 2
years as a Software Engineer at IBM working on high availability
design, development, and administration for Financial Market Data
Platforms. She has completed her M.S. and B.S. in Computer Science and
Engineering from Ohio State University where she studied security in
the context of fault-tolerant distributed systems. Hilary's awards
include a Women in Engineering Leadership award from Ohio State and a
Bravo! award for outstanding teaming at IBM. In her spare time, she
enjoys inventing, outreach, and yoga.