Early In Career – HerHelloWorld

How to Improve your Resume in Less than an Hour

Holly Boothroyd — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 12:47:00 +0000

Your resume is the first impression that a recruiter or scanning software has of you. To make it stand out, you need to demonstrate why you would be a good candidate as quickly as possible. Here are some tips on how to improve your resume in less than an hour.

Impact Words

A resume is essentially a sales pitch for yourself and your skills. Using strong, descriptive words to describe your competencies is a quick way to elevate your resume with little effort.

A competency is a specific skill or behavior that is necessary for success at a company. Some common examples are customer focus, adaptability, and problem solving.

You can find the competencies that a company is seeking on their website or on websites like Indeed, Glassdoor, or GeeksForGeeks.

Some online tools, like Rezi, will scan your resume and the job description to tell you how much your resume fulfils the job description. You can use this information to choose impact words that highlight the competencies that the company is seeking.

Let’s look at a use case – to demonstrate critical thinking and engineering skills, try using words like engineered, investigated, analysed, pioneered, crafted, and innovated. In practice, instead of saying that you “Fixed bugs”, you can say that you “Investigated logging data and engineered a solution to fix app errors, reducing product crashes by X percentage”.

XYZ Method

The XYZ method is a format recommended by Google recruiters to help you share your experience in the most effective and efficient way by focusing on the, ideally quantitative, results and impact. It is described as “Accomplished X as measured by Y, by doing Z” or otherwise known as XYZ.

Instead of saying that you “Helped run events for the computer science university club”, you can say that you “Enhanced leadership and teamwork skills through creating successful events, such as career lectures, hackathons, and social gatherings, and driving toward short and long-term visions in the computer science club, receiving recognition by club members and advisors.”

Or, instead of saying that you “won 2nd place in a hackathon”, you can say that you “won the 2nd place out of 100 teams by ideating and collaborating on a project to use data to track ocean plastics for removal”.

To find out more about improving your resume, head to SheCanCode for the full article!

3 Things you Should do Before Finding a Mentor

Holly Boothroyd — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 13:27:00 +0000

Finding a mentor is often spoken about as being one of the best things you could do for your career. Mentors can help you find your direction, overcome new challenges, provide you with a fresh perspective, and so much more.

But before you run to go find yourself a mentor, pause to reflect on these three areas to ensure the career relationship you initiate is as productive and impactful as possible.

Understand the Different types of Career Relationships

Mentor. Coach. Sponsor – Do you know the difference? People often seek out mentorship, without fully understanding the variety of career development relationships and who drives them. Confirm that a mentorship relationship, vs having a coach or sponsor, is most applicable to your needs.

"A coach talks to you, a mentor talks with you, and a sponsor talks about you"

A mentor, whether its formal, informal, or ad hoc, helps you navigate your career and gives advice about career direction, handling situations, and meeting goals. The mentee, you, drive the relationship and the mentor plays a reactive role in response to your career or interest areas.

A coach is much more proactive than a mentor and is possibly a short-term relationship. They enable you to learn new skills (typically soft skills), overcome challenges, and/or improve your performance. The relationship is driven by both parties. You’ll find that companies will hire coaches for their leadership team.

Finally, a sponsor is senior leader or someone with influence who helps you get high-visibility opportunities, promotions, or new jobs. The sponsor drives the relationship by advocating about you to others in different settings. They champion your work to important people.

Ask yourself "what do you want to learn" and remember to be prepared for each session

As we have established, a mentorship relationship is supposed to be driven by the mentee where the mentor is responding/reacting to the needs of the mentee.

To help your mentor support you in the most effective way, be clear about what it is you want to learn or takeaway from the relationship and how they can help you. Of course, life will throw new opportunities and obstacles your way over time but knowing what you want to initially learn puts you on the right track from the get-go.

As each session goes on, preparedness continues to be important. Be sure to at least have a theme or a couple questions to chat about in each meeting. Or if you have nothing specific to talk about in a session, make it clear to your mentor that you just want to chat and connect – there is still value in building positive relationships.

Being prepared for meetings demonstrates that you respect your mentors time and will help your mentor support you in the most efficient way possible.

Some possible themes that you may want to talk to a mentor about are:

What are different career paths I could explore?
What skills, both hard and soft skills, are valuable in different roles and how can I build them?
What opportunities do you know are available to network with different people in the spaces I am interested in?
How can I position myself for a promotion?
How to I have a productive difficult conversation?

To learn how to see if your values align with your mentor, head to SheCanCode for the full article!

5 Things You Should Know Before Applying to Your First Internship

Holly Boothroyd — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 21:45:00 +0000

Internships are gamechangers! Regardless of your path into tech – university, bootcamp, and/or self-taught – internships are an immensely valuable opportunity to get a soft landing into the industry and professional working. Plus, there’s a pretty general consensus that you learn more on the job than in formal studies, so expect to walk away with lots of new skills.

One of the best rewards is that internships often lead to grad roles – in many ways they can be considered an extended interview. I consider them to often be the easiest way to get into a Big Tech company as they hire for potential.

That being said, here are some tips for prepping for and landing an internship:

Pay attention to application timelines

One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to get an internship is missing the application deadlines! Or even if they make the official deadline, roles are often filled on a rolling bases – meaning they interview sooner than the final deadline – so there are still no open spaces left by the time you apply.  

The easiest way to combat this is to follow a timeline that lines you up to apply as soon as applications open. The timeline below does just that:  

Summer – 1 Year Before Internship: Yes, you want to start a year in advance! This is when you should do your groundwork. Research the companies you want to apply to, create/update your CV and start building relationships with those who can help you. The key is to stay organized – track each application in a document eg. Excel.

Autumn – 9 Months Before Internship: Internship applications open at the start of the university year around September-October. You want to apply as soon as you can – of course, taking time to complete the application thoughtfully.

Winter – 6 Months Before Internship: Many internship applications close around December. Ideally by now you will have received an offer. If that is not the case, then no worries because there are still options. Keep applying, attend career events, and be sure to tailor your CV to each application.

For those attending universities with a placement year, you may be able to do up to 15 months work experience. If you start a 12-month internship in June, then you can squeeze in another internship before the next university year starts. That gives you double the chances for a grad offer, a bigger network, and, of course, more experience.

You don't need to know everything!

For full-time roles, you don’t need to know everything on the job spec to apply – that is even more true for internships! Companies expect to train you. In fact, training you is part of the career development given by your colleagues.

All you need is the confidence to believe that regardless of what the challenge is, you will be able to learn what you need and complete the task. There is always help on the team! Ultimately, just don’t let “imposter syndrome” hold you back from applying to an internship.

Seek out external advice and career services

A second pair of eyes is always helpful! At the most basic level, have someone else read and provide feedback on your CV. On a deeper level, seek out formal career services to help you prep- universities usually provide these services for free.

In particular, informational sessions on phone, video or 1:1, as well as assessment centre interviews can all teach you about the structure of that style of interview, what interviewers are looking for, and tips on how to be successful. This additional training helps you be more confident, relaxed, and ultimately more prepared for the real interview which translates well to your interviewer.

Understand what work you will actually be doing

During conversations with the recruiters and interviewers on the team you are applying to, be sure to ask for details on what the role entails. Other options are to speak to past interns and read reviews on sites like Glassdoor.

Your network can open doors

The saying “your network is your net worth” has some truth to it! Your network can help get your foot in the door and elevate your application. While it likely won’t get you the job outright (and it shouldn’t), it may mean you can skip some interview steps and raise your application’s visibility.

The key stakeholders you want to connect with are the recruiters, team members, and most importantly the hiring manager (they are the final decision maker). Think about who in your network you can pull on to connect you to one of these people or refer you for an open role – use every “in” you can!

If you don’t have a super strong network yet, events run by recruiters are a great way to get an “in” if you don’t have one in your network. Connect with company recruiters on LinkedIn to watch out for information events on internships. They review the CVs of those who attend these events and will boost your application, particularly if you are engaging, ask questions, and make yourself known. You can also reach out to key stakeholders directly on LinkedIn if you want to make your name known – express your interest and share what you can bring to the team.

For a bonus tips all about money, head to SheCanCode for the full article!

Personal Branding 101

Holly Boothroyd — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 17:38:00 +0000

You’ve probably heard the term Personal Brand being thrown around with increasing frequency in the last few years – but what is it and how do you build your own?

What is it and why should you care?

A personal brand boils down to what you are known for and how you are perceived. In our highly competitive world, a personal brand helps to differentiate you from the pack and communicate your value in a more effective, concise, and consistent manner.

This differentiation and resulting visibility crucially leads to new opportunities that elevate you closer to your goals and builds trust with those around you.

Your career is your business where one of the most important roles you have is as head marketer for your brand.

What makes up a personal brand

Personal brand should reflect YOU. You can break it down into four key components: Your strengths, unique selling point (USP), values, and vision. These are grounded by your purpose.

Let’s start identifying what makes up each of your brand components.

When I looked to build my personal brand and the HerHelloWorld platform, I went through this same exercise. To give you some ideas as you work through this, I have included my responses.

First, focus on what makes you great:

Strengths

Your strengths are what you do well. Your brand is going to emphasize these strengths to others. Make your life easier by building a brand around things that you enjoy doing – you don’t want to trap yourself into building a brand around strengths that don’t spark joy.

To identify your strengths, reflect on these situations:

Things you are good at + why

Skills you fall back onto in challenging situations
Strengths others have recognized in you
Skills you use during successful projects

With those in mind, it’s time to select the key strengths that are going to provide you the most value. Ask yourself:

What strengths repeat themselves?

What strengths + skills will be most helpful to me personally, professionally, and others?

For an example, my key strengths are organization and planning, key-subject matter knowledge on the tech industry and building a career, leadership and decisiveness , and public speaking

Unique Selling Point

Your unique selling point is a term typically used in business to describe what differentiates your product, services, and experience from your competitors. It is what you offer that people won’t get elsewhere.

In the context of a personal brand, it is what makes you as an individual different. This can present itself as having a different background, a unique perspective, an uncommon strength or skill, a rare accomplishment, an approach to solving problems, etc.

Consider traits that are not commonly found in your industry.

If you are unsure of what unique value you have to offer – remember this:

“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are” - Malcolm Forbes

Some examples of my USPs are:

Being a woman in tech (Unique perspective)
Moving from the USA to the UK to study and work (Different background)
Having strong people and professional/soft skills (Uncommon industry skill)
Working at a big tech company and winning awards for my industry work (Challenging accomplishment)

Next, it’s time to consider the things that matter to you.

Values

Your values are what underpin who you are and what is truly important to you. For a personal brand, it is what you represent and stand for. Values evolve as we and the circumstance of our lives change. When it comes to identifying your values, often it is easier to consider different experiences that are impacted by your values.

Ask yourself why each experience was important and memorable so you can hone in on what value underpinned that feeling.

Some questions to get you started:

When are you the happiest?
When are you the proudest?

When are you most fulfilled?

For example, my core values are:

Independence (in life, financially, etc)
Community
Altruism
Equality
Continuous growth

Vision

Your vision is your mission or the larger goal you hope to achieve through your efforts. This is frequently the area where people need to do the most reflection. Your vision should drive the direction you take your life and career. I urge you to consider what you can do for others – it is when we give back and help others that we grow the most, find happiness, and ultimately reach our versions of success.

For you personally, professionally, and those around you:

What can you offer to the world?
What does a well-lived life mean to you?
What legacy do you want to leave behind?

For me, my vision is to create multi-generational change and ultimately a world designed with everyone in mind by championing for the success of underrepresented communities in high-impact, high-paying careers in tech.

To find out how to define your brands purpose and put your personal brand into action, head to SheCanCode for the full article!

How YOU Can Help Make Tech More Diverse and Inclusive

Holly Boothroyd — Tue, 17 May 2022 20:01:00 +0000

Technology is pervasive – it’s influenced commerce, social interaction, entertainment, medicine, city planning, transportation… the list goes on. Plus, it seemingly knows more about us than we do ourselves. Every industry on the planet has been impacted by technology in one way or another.  

The importance of technology created with everyone in mind becomes increases as its influence on people and the planet continues to grow. If we are to build technology that is conscious of different people’s needs, abilities, and cultures, then we need teams with people who come from different backgrounds and experiences.  

When it comes to establishing these teams, it’s not just about creating them – it’s also about how we foster an environment where everyone can thrive.  

There is a great phrase coined by Vema Myers that perfectly illustrates the point:  

“Diversity is being invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance.”

 Here are 6 ways you can be part of the change to make tech more diverse and inclusive:

Promoting Diversity

We need to be dismantling barriers and supporting the development of underrepresented communities along the entire education and career pipeline. Doing so takes concerted efforts from many different players – educational institutions, companies, governments, etc. – but for now we are going to focus on what you can do!

Mentor Someone

Mentorship is a wildly powerful relationship that has the potential to change someone’s life. You are a trusted ally there to guide them along their journey and introduce them to relevant network connections. But alongside that, you are also there to help them feel like they belong.  

Before you claim you don’t have anything to share with someone else, think back to every step that has taken you to where you are now. There is someone out there a step or two behind you who would love to hear about what helped you and the lessons you learnt.  

There are established mentorship scheme programs for different community groups that you can join where you are paired with a mentee and optionally follow a mentorship structure over the course of the program. For girls in STEM, a good one is the Student to STEMettes mentorship scheme.

Share your Time and Talent

Every Day Inclusivity

Inclusion is the real key – it unlocks the potential of diverse teams by enabling people to bring their unique ideas to the table.  

Inclusion isn’t something that we only pay attention to during special periods like International Women’s Day or Black History month, it is practiced every day.  

What that means to your everyday encounters will differ based on your circumstance, but there are a few inclusive actions worth highlighting:

Lead by Example

A company culture is born out of the sum of its parts, the people. Each of us has an opportunity to influence those around us. When we demonstrate inclusive practices, others often follow which establishes an inclusive standard practice. You have real power.  

We should all start by taking time to listen, learn, and research about the experiences of others and the inequities that people face. It is a part of allyship, but more importantly it is a stepping stone to being able to create informed, impactful change.

Spot and Fix Issues in Your Institution

Building a more diverse and inclusive industry takes each and every one of us. What are you going to commit to doing? How are you going to be part of the change? 

To find out more ways to make a more diverse and inclusive industry, head to SheCanCode for the full article!

Discovery, Impact, Power – A Grace Hopper ’19 Retrospective

Holly Boothroyd — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 16:32:00 +0000

As a STEMette Ambassador, I joined the Fab Five, the Student to STEMette competition winners, on their trip to the Grace Hopper 2019 Conference to document their experiences. Over the week, I learnt about their unique stories, passions and goals in STEM, and the challenges they are working to overcome. Reflecting on the key takeaways that I saw across the Fab Five, a few themes stood out: discovery of their direction, the impact of role models, and the power of camaraderie.

Discovery of Their Direction

Each of the Fab Five are in the early stages of their career with many things yet to discover about themselves and the STEM industries. I spoke to each of them at the start of the week about what they did and their passions in STEM, and it seemed like they were all at the beginning of a new chapter.

Over the week it was clear that the conference sessions, the women they met, and the general atmosphere began to focus their thoughts so they could hone in on where they wanted to take their careers, what impact they could make, and where their passions could intersect with technology.

Many of the speakers’ career journeys ebbed and flowed through different industries and seemingly unrelated roles; however, each eventually landed themselves in a career where they are thriving and making true impact. To demonstrate, in one panel a speaker started as a harp player and eventually became a GitHub lawyer!

These stories of personal discovery from incredibly successful women and real-life role models reassure those with unanswered questions about their career direction that they are on the right track.

One of my favorite things that Akua, a Makers bootcamp graduate, said to me was that she was learning to appreciate her journey. Over the week, I saw her embrace her bootcamp education more and realize that her unique perspective is an enormous asset to her team at Lyst where she is now a software engineer!

In Hadiyah and Vanessa, who do not come from computer science backgrounds but are instead maths students, I saw two things: a new awareness of the career possibilities that are open to their degree and an increased interest in the intersection of technology and maths.

The Fab Five, the STEMettes leaders, and myself at Grace Hopper Celebration

While many people are not exposed to programming before university, women have an additional societal barrier for them to overcome to pursue computer science. In my network, many female software engineers transitioned from other industries into technology after they were finally exposed to programming because it appealed to their interests in making large scale impact, love of being creative, and opportunity to problem solve.

The Grace Hopper sessions and careers fair revealed the variety of careers that are available for not just computer science students, but students from all backgrounds and particularly those studying other STEM subjects. Each of the Fab Five left with a greater understanding of their career options and what skills they needed to be successful in them.

Beyond uncovering new career opportunities, the Grace Hopper Conference also fed the Fab Fives technical interests. Ayushi, a degree apprentice at KPMG and Queen Mary University, packed her itinerary with cyber security content. When speaking to her at the end of the day about her sessions, you could feel the excitement and passion for security technology radiating from her.

Continuing along a similar thread, Becky and I had really interesting conversations about the types of technology that interest her. We spoke about her personal life, the challenges of those around her, and what kind of impact she wants to have on the world.

After speaking about Jhillika Kumar, the Anita B Student of Vision winner, on her work that increases employment opportunities for those on the autism spectrum, Becky began to explore the technologies that were personal and relevant to her and those close to her. She identified that she has a strong interest in AI and how we can use technology to build a more inclusive world, particularly for the neurodiverse.

Grace Hopper was an investment into the Fab Five’s technical education and encouraged each of them to continue learning about subjects that fascinate them.

The Impact of Role Models

This year the Grace Hopper Conference was packed with 26,000 women in technology – that scale of female tech talent all in one place is unheard outside of this event. Amongst the many thousands of women in tech, there were countless role models for the Fab Five and the other attendees. Many of the Fab Five expressed to me how they finally found role models that looked like them and were interested in the same technologies. They learnt from their role model’s industry experiences and applied these lessons to their own careers.

However, the impact of these role models didn’t stop there. The Fab Five left Grace Hopper motivated and inspired to continue sharing their stories and to become role models themselves.

This year Akua created Anomalys Views, a platform where she shares her educational experiences and lessons on resilience. Vanessa has also created the blog Vanessa Speaks where she documents her journey to make STEM subjects seem less intimidating, as well as she started Project Insight where she shares the stories of other women in STEM and provide insight into how to enter STEM careers.

As Akua learnt from an inspiring women in STEM, “you have to be the one who shouts about you the loudest”, meaning you need to share your story and make your message heard.

STS Fab Five being filmed for the GHC closing video

Their stories about how they endeavoured for greatness and pushed through barriers helps to inspire and empower the next set of women to join the industry. Having a familiar face to look up to makes a huge impact on people and can dramatically change the course of people’s lives. They uplift others just as they have been uplifted themselves. These role models encourage others to create impact with their new skills and to dream big.

Power in Camaraderie

Making memories with the Fab Five and STEMettes

What made the Student to STEMette Grace Hopper trip so impactful was the camaraderie that was built between the Fab Five. At the start of the trip, these young women were acquaintances. They had met a couple times previously, but they had a lot to learn about and from each other. Over the week, they shared their stories, found common interests, created memories that will last a lifetime, and became a tech girl gang who will forever uplift each other.

They helped each other with confidence issues, encouraged each other to make progress towards their goals, and drew inspiration from each other. The Fab Five and I now have plans to start a Working Out Loud peer support group to hold ourselves accountable for our goals that have arisen from the Grace Hopper Conference.

The magic of Grace Hopper did not end when the plane landed back in London; the true impact of Grace Hopper will become apparent in the coming years as the Fab Five keep pushing for progress with the support of each other. They started as strangers but left as sisters.

Thank You STEMettes & Deutsche Bank

After a week of being in each other’s company amongst thousands of women at Grace Hopper, the evolution of the Fab Five was phenomenal. Providing these young women with the opportunity to attend GHC came, at what I believe, was a really important time for each of them. This trip provided guidance and direction to their plans that will shape the trajectory of their future.

It was an honor to hear their stories and watch them grow as women in STEM. Attending as a group was fundamental to this change and I honestly believe that they will be lifelong friends who will cherish these memories forever. A huge thanks is owed to the STEMettes and Deutsche Bank for providing them and myself with the opportunity to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration.

We will all look back onto this week in October 2019 as one that changed our lives.

6 Months of Microsoft Lessons in 6 Minutes or Less

Holly Boothroyd — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 03:48:00 +0000

This week marked the completion of my first six months at Microsoft as a full-time software engineer working on Cortana for Windows. It feels like it was just yesterday that I walked into Microsoft’s Lift London office and crossed off day one of my career. This early-in-career checkpoint left me feeling reflective about the growth I have experienced and the lessons I have learnt.

Team Fit is Irreplaceable

Let’s take a step back first. My real first six months at Microsoft I finished back in January 2017 when I was a placement student at Lift working on Paint 3D. I had an amazing team who taught me more about the technology industry, the world of business, and technical expertise in the year that I spent with them than any lecture or online class could. I finished my placement year and subsequent internship on the Xbox team feeling confident in my abilities and ready to start my full-time career.

My 15 months as an intern meant my transition to re-join Microsoft after completing my computing undergrad was seamless. I instantly had a connection with the team, was comfortable asking questions, and felt like I belonged. A major reason I wanted to work with the Lift team again post-university was because of the team fit. Our team is wildly clever, places critical importance on quality, and strives for impactful innovation — traits I hold in very high esteem.

Surrounding yourself by people who you can learn from is of the utmost importance, particularly for a new engineer. The classic phrase “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room” is so true, because otherwise you’ll begin to stagnate.

The Microsoft Lift London Team

Beyond working traits, my team feels like family. I look forward to seeing them every day, sharing stories, hearing their perspectives, and laughing at the most absurdly random topics. Our team fit, driven by meaningful relationships, makes me an enthusiastic employee who wants to tackle challenging, unanswered questions in the emerging virtual assistant space.

Team fit is created on both sides of the hiring table and discovering what kind of team fit suits your unique needs and wants is a personal journey. You produce the best work if you are surrounded by people who complement, motivate, and inspire you.

Discover your (Evolving) Motivations

True, long-lasting motivation comes from within. It is created by your passions, values, and dreams. When I first started pursuing technology, working in the video games industry was my goal. I grew up playing games and wanted to create the games that shaped me.

My hands could barely hold the The Duke Xbox controller

Over the years, as I was learning about other technologies and was gaining experience, my motivations evolved — as they should! Working on Paint 3D and Xbox taught me that I love working on user-facing products that bring fun and creativity to others.

Building on those revelations, the combination of working on Paint 3D and Cortana helped me tune into the joy and adventure of working on cutting-edge technologies that introduce additional challenges of solving unanswered questions like “How can we make 3D creation easy for anyone between the ages of 4 and 104?” and “How can we provide the best experience and most value in the new voice-enabled world?”.

Using creative curriculum to teach about technology in Paint 3D

Experience across three very different global products taught me what made my heart sing; pursuing innovation, pushing boundaries in new human-computer interaction spaces, the ability to enhance the lives of others around the world.

This discovery freed me from the small box that I put myself in where I thought I would only be happy or find success working in the games industry.

Seek Communities Outside Your Day Job

The women in STEM community brings me a sense of fulfilment that I cannot find solely in programming. Crucially, it combines my engineering skills, life experience, and my desire to make the world a better place.

During my placement year, I was fortunate to have a mentor, Linden, who fuelled my fire to bring equality and gender balance to the technology industry. Since then, female empowerment and activism has been at my core.

Once I went back to university to finish my undergrad, I was elected the VP of the Computing Society to use it as a platform for change. My efforts focused on increasing industry connections for all Surrey students and providing female students strong role-models, a powerful network, and career advice on how to succeed in male-dominated industries.

1st annual Defying the Odds: Women in STEM panel I organized for the national This Girl Can campaign

My work continues at Microsoft. Coincidentally, this week also marks International Women’s Day and the culmination of weeks of work organizing an inspiring technology showcase developed by the engineering teams in London incl. HoloLens, Paint 3D, and SwiftKey to show to 50 year eight girls during a DigiGirlz day.

DigiGirlz, a Microsoft organization, aims to inspire future female technologists by introducing them to Microsoft employees and workspaces, getting them hands-on with the latest technology, and challenging them to #CreateWhatsNext during a hackathon centered around making the world a more accessible place. Throughout the day I wore many hats — hackathon helper, mentor, judge, and co-organizer.

Maker challenge hackathon pitching

I was exhausted by the end, but absolutely thrilled with the results. The girls left feeling empowered to pursue technology with a greater understanding of how they can integrate programming skills into their individual passions.

These additional communities introduce you to people that otherwise may be out of reach.

External communities unlock a network united by shared interests that can be tapped into to accelerate your career and altruistic goals.

I have met so many incredible female leaders and have had countless career opportunities stem from my advocacy work.

The 2019 DigiGirlz Organizers

Satya Nadella wrote in his book Hit Refresh — Employee Edition that we should use Microsoft as a platform to change the world and create impact. We are all dynamic people with interests beyond our day jobs. Find a way to combine your skills, create positive change, and live a more fulfilled life.

Lock into Your USP

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve been given is to find gaps in your team’s skills and fill it. Make it your USP. Not only does it push you to learn new skills, but it also makes you an invaluable member of the team.

For me, this comes in the form of Windows UI development done in XAML. For those who have written in XAML before, you know that it can be a bit of a beast. There is a lot to learn with different quirks and “magic” that can make it hard to fully understand.

There are other amazing XAML developers team members, but as their careers have progressed, they no longer have the time to develop as much. Others find it too complicated or just outside their realm of interest. Conversely, I enjoy the challenge of XAML and developing front-facing code, so this skill appeals to my technology sub-interests.

It is a perfect opportunity to seize a skill gap and fill it whilst using the other XAML developer’s experience to enhance and increase the pace of my learnings. Note that this does not mean limiting yourself to just this skill. The intention is to grow your skills into these needed areas.

Expertise brings respect and career growth opportunities. Identify a cross-section between the technologies you love and the skills your team needs.

Taking a moment to self-reflect helped me appreciate my growth in the last six months. I look forward to the next six months of learnings leading up to my 1-year anniversary at Microsoft.