Abie Award Series: Natural Language Processing (Thamar Solorio)

Finding a Path with Mentors with Marrissa Hellesen: Today’s episode is a bit more on the career development and mentorship side. I had the opportunity to speak with Marrissa Hellesen and we talked about the time when she went from being in a gifted program to taking several jobs through her teenage years while not being enrolled in a high school. As she struggled to get her life back on track for a better future, she emphasized on the importance of mentors in her life. Marrissa has been a volunteer, educator, and mentor and she’s currently a Software Engineer at Microsoft. I hope you like this episode. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Web Animation with Val Head: Web Animation can have personality and character, just like Disney Animation. Val Head, UI Animation Pro, talks about applying Disney Animation principles to web animations. We talked about creating effective and immersive animations by using CSS and javascript. Val also explained what aspects of web animations can lead to poor performance. At the we had an interesting discussion about the future of web animation. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

About Design: Tabitha Yong – Khan Academy Product Designer: Tabitha Yong is a Senior Product Designer at Khan Academy. Tabitha studied graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design, and we talked about what graphic design is, and how it is affecting technology. Tabitha also gave an insight on how products are developed at Apple and Khan Academy, the technologies she uses, and her workflow as a designer. I really enjoyed this conversation and hope that you will too. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Becoming a Better Programmer with Sonali Sridhar: Sonali Sridhar is Co-Founder of The Recurse Center, a free three month educational retreat for new and experienced programmers. Sonali talks about building a successful learning organization for programmers and how to establish and maintain a diverse environment through a set of lightweight social rules. She also explained what people work on while they are at The Recurse Center and strategies to become a better programmer. The Recurse Center is a very unique experience because it is not a boot camp and there is no curriculum, programmers build their own path to learning. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Unconscious Bias in Hiring with Stephanie Lampkin: Stephanie Lampkin is Founder and CEO of Blendoor. Stephanie was named by MIT Technology Review as one of the 35 innovators under 35 in the category of Entrepreneurs. After graduating from MIT and Stanford, Stephanie applied for an analytics job at a major tech company but was offered a job in sales instead. After this experience, Stephanie created Blendoor on her own at a Hackathon. Blendoor is a job search platform that hides candidate’s names and photos in the initial stages of the process. This is helping tackle bias issues that can occur in the hiring process. We talked about how the idea of Blendoor was formed, and how she built a team and has been growing the user base. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Mobile First at Zillow with Rebekah Bastian: Rebekah Bastian talks about the current state of mobile and developing for mobile web vs native apps. Rebekah is a VP at Zillow and has been successfully driving the execution of products. She got an early start on mobile and also saw the potential for building effective experiences in this platform. We also talked about measuring engagement in mobile, her hobbies, volunteering opportunities, and about her blog post titled “Why I’m not a Woman in Tech”. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Halo: Storytelling in Video Games with Kiki Wolfkill: Kiki Wolfkill is Studio Head at Halo Transmedia in 343 industries. Kiki loves storytelling since she was young and we had an interesting conversation on the process of developing a story line for Halo, one of the most successful video games of all time. Kiki also explained how the Halo Universe has expanded to other platforms such as novels, comic books, toys and the challenges of maintaining a consistent story and deciding what to explore in each platform. We also talked about the involvement of fans in Halo and how that affects the video gaming industry. Video games have become more sophisticated and the reasons why Halo is so popular is because of its rich story line, so it was very interesting to learn how this is tied with the other areas involved in video game development. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Research in Tech with Jessica Su: Jessica co-authored “The Effect of Recommendations on Network Structure” while at Twitter and is currently a PhD student in Computer Science at Stanford University. We talked about doing research in the industry and academia, the state of recommendation systems and their implications, and also about careers and technical interviews. I hope you like this episode. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

From Intern to Corporate Vice President at Microsoft with Joy Chik: Joy Chik is a Corporate Vice President at Microsoft on Cloud and Enterprise. We talked about her career journey that started as an intern at Microsoft in the 90s and how she has kept a growth mindset throughout those years. Joy also explains what a path to leadership looks like and the challenges involved once you are in a leadership position. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Making Art with Code with Emily Xie: Emily Xie is a Software Engineer and Artist-In-Residence at Pioneer Works. Emily is currently making art with code, and this was a fun episode because we talked about seeing coding as a craft compared to as an art. We also explored topics around the creative process involved in coding as well as the art projects she has worked on and what technologies she uses for these. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Path to Programming with Preethi Kasireddy: Preethi Kasireddy is a Software Engineer with a passion for sharing everything she learns. Preethi explained how she learned to code in her free time and her experience at a boot camp in San Francisco. Preethi also talked about one of the first projects she built and her initiative to start an email-based course targeted at advanced beginner and intermediate programmers. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Machine Learning in the Medical Field with Evelina Gabasova: Evelina Gabasova is developing machine learning models and mathematical models for cancer research. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Cambridge. We talked about how to apply machine learning models in the medical field and the state of AI. Evelina also gave an insight into the types of problems that are being tackled with machine learning and some of the implications on having access to medical data. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

AI that Thinks in Pictures with Maithilee Kunda: Maithilee Kunda was named one of MIT's innovators and visionaries under 35 for her work on an innovative approach to Artificial Intelligence. We talked about incorporating aspects or characteristics seen in people from the Autism Spectrum to Artificial Intelligence and the different perspective this brings to solving problems in the realm of AI. We discussed the experiments that she has conducted as well as the results. We also talked about the role of Machine Learning in AI, and possible applications of her research. Maithilee is currently a Researcher and Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Computer Engineering at Vanderbilt University. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Building Products with Bri Connelly: Bri Connelly is a driven engineer, product manager and entrepreneur. While at college, she participated in the IBM Watson University competition along with other students and developed an app that makes social services more accessible to people. We talked about this, and also about entrepreneurship, software engineering, product managment and Gboard, Google's latest keyboard. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Retaining Women in Tech with Rosario Robinson from The Anita Borg Institute: Rosario is a Director at The Anita Borg Institute. Our conversation explored the experiences that led her to get involved in communities that improve the careers of Women in Technology. We also talked about how she works closely with businesses to make sure they have inclusive environments to retain women in tech, and the role of men in helping with this effort. Rosario also explained the benefits of being a part of communities from The Anita Borg Institute as well as volunteering opportunities and The Grace Hopper Conference. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Data Driven Marketing with Jessica Jobes: Jessica Jobes is the founder of OnTheGrid, a marketing agency which brings data first to decision making. Jessica brings years of experience working at Microsoft as a Program Manager at Bing. We talked about the key insights that she learned during her time and how they helped her launch a company in online marketing. While at Microsoft, Jessica also worked as Chief of Staff with Derrick Connell, CVP at Bing and Julie Larson-Green, Chief Experience Officer at Office. We talked about what a Chief of Staff does as well as the work involved in creating effective demos. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

From Scientist to Software Developer with Blithe Rocher: Blithe Rocher graduated from a PhD in Physical Chemistry and went from being a Scientist to a Software Developer. In this episode we talk about this career switch and the steps she took to get immersed in the field. I liked this conversation a lot because I think these aspects also apply to people that are already working in the tech industry and they are looking at working in a different area of technology. We also talked about her work on APIs for the Hilary Clinton campaign website among other interesting projects. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Microservice Architecture with Michele Titolo: Michele Titolo is a Lead Software Developer at Capital One. Michele has built microservices at Capital One which is a Bank in the United States. We talked about the increasing popularity of microservices, what they are, and the value that they add to an organization. Michele also gave an insight on her experience developing microservices and good practices. We also talked about mobile app development and how it has been evolving. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Taking Initiative at Microsoft with Katharine Holdsworth: Katharine Holdsworth has been a Program Manager at Microsoft for 13 years and she is currently part of the Windows Insiders team. We talked about her experiences at Microsoft, the Windows Insiders program and about Program Management. Katharine also gave her advice on career growth and getting involved in speaking at technical conferences. We also talked about the "Meet our Leaders" speakers series that she started at Microsoft along with other women, and how this is helping the community at Microsoft. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Making a Better World Through Code with Maria Naggaga: Maria Naggaga is on a mission to make a better world through code. She is actively involved in projects to help the community, and this is one of the reasons of why she is in technology. We talked about the diverse projects she has worked on, and also about her work as a Technical Evangelist at Microsoft. Maria enjoys building projects, using ASP.NET, contributing to open source, expressing herself artistically and is currently a Program Manager at Microsoft. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Wearables with Asta Roseway: Asta Roseway is Research Designer at Microsoft Research. She designs wearables that are intuitive, engaging, and beautiful. We talked about DuoSkin, a wearable that looks like a beautiful metallic tattoo and its capabilities. We also talked about the intersection between health, wearables, technology and fashion, and where this is headed. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

A Year of Code with Jackie Luo: Jackie Luo is a Software Engineer at Nylas and Student at Columbia University. In this episode I talked to Jackie about how she, with little experience and exposure to coding, took on the challenge of writing code frequently, committing to github daily. We talked about the types of projects she worked on and what she learned with each experience, and also about putting school on hold, as she took a leave from Columbia to start a full-time Software Engineering role in the bay area. Jackie is a very driven person, and I learned a lot from talking to her and I hope you will too. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Hacking for Good with Vidya Srinivasan: Vidya Srinivasan is a classical singer since she was 3 years old and has been translating ideas into action at Microsoft as a Technical Program Manager. She is a tech-for-good hacker and has won several awards hacking including the Microsoft global hackathon for the past two years. We had some interesting conversations about hackathon projects, diversity in tech, program management, career strategy and Grace Hopper. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Launching a Tech Company with Andrea Goulet: Andrea Goulet is the CEO and Co-founder at Corgibytes. When Andrea was 24 years old, she started a consultancy where she worked with some of the world’s largest brands. We talked about how she leveraged that experience to lead Corgibytes, a company focused on continuously improving codebases through software remodeling. Andrea also explained the process of working with legacy code, and the community she built around it called Legacy Code Rocks. We also explored topics on building inclusive environments in tech and her personal experiences in the field. I really enjoyed this episode because Andrea shares the path to starting Corgibytes as well as the early exposure she had to the world of computers when she was a kid. Show Notes: Legacy Code Rocks! Code: Debugging the Gender Gap Purple Cow by Seth Godin by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Leveling Up: A Career in Video Games with Katie Stone Perez: Katie Stone Perez is a Senior Program Manager at the Independent Developer Xbox Team. Katie comes from a background in Psychology and we talked about the interesting perspective that this brings to building a team and how to approach product development in the gaming industry. We also talked about independent game developers and how these are changing the gaming industry by creating very unique games that have contributed to engaging a more diverse community. One interesting example is a video game called “I hope” where you are battling cancer. We also explored topics around career development and initiatives to bring more diversity to the gaming industry. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Ethics in AI with Francesca Rossi: Artificial Intelligence is changing every industry. Francesca Rossi, Distinguished Research Staff Member at IBM talks about the applications of AI and the idea of embedding an Ethics module in these systems. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

CTO Insights with Yvette Pasqua: Yvette Pasqua is CTO at Meetup and has been in leadership roles for more than a decade. We talked about the process of growing and evolving the Engineering Organization at Meetup. Yvette explained key strategies to align the company with new technology solutions and how she involves people from different divisions at Meetup. We also talked about the experiences that prepared her to take on the role of CTO and how she stays up to date with technology trends. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

From Punch Card to Cloud with Paula Paul: Software development has evolved a lot in the last decades. From shipping software on magnetic tapes to just downloading it with a button, it has transformed the way organizations work. Paula Paul, Technology Principal at ThoughtWorks, explains what it was like to write software on punch cards and her recent work on cloud computing. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

The Importance of Mentorship with Cynthia Tee: Cynthia Tee is Executive director at Ada Developers Academy. For 20 years, Cynthia worked at Microsoft leading diverse products and during this time she also served as a mentor for many women. We talked about the ways in which she has helped other women grow in their careers and her work at the Ada Developers Academy. The Ada Developers Academy is a tuition-free program in Seattle where women can become Software Developers and get work experience. We also talked about her perspective on staying at a company for 20 years and how she would approach her career if she was starting it in 2016. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

Secure Programming with Jean Yang: Security vulnerabilities are an important concern in systems. When we specify that we want certain information hidden for example our phone number or our date of birth, we expect the system to hide the information. However, this doesn’t always happen due to human error in the code because programmers have to write checks and filters across the program. In this episode Jean Yang, Assistant professor at the Computer Science Department in Carnegie Mellon, presents Jeeves, a language that allows programmers to specify security policies more intuitively making it harder to leak information that is meant to be protected. Jean explained how Jeeves was implemented and how it can be used. We also talked about what it takes to bring research concepts from academia to the industry. Jean was also named one of the 35 innovators under 35 by MIT Technology Review. by The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

20 min listen

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Abie Award Series: Natural Language Processing (Thamar Solorio)

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