This weekend I had a chance to chat with Anthony Salcito, Microsoft’s Vice President of Worldwide Education about the Imagine Cup, women & technology, and how to prepare for a tech-y job even if you’re not a Comp Sci major.
Here I am with Anthony on the showcase floor
Her Campus: Tell me a little bit about the involvement of women in the Imagine Cup.
Anthony Salcito: One of the things I was most impressed about was the improvement in female participants from year to year. We had one all female team compete last year, they were back again competing in action this year and they actually won 1st place in our software design competition. We also had another team that placed in the finals. In addition, many of the other teams featured strong female team memebers and I thought that was amazing.
H.C.: Why is it important for more women to go into the field of Computer Science?
A.S.: We need to get more people in general across our country in technology, science, and math careers. Certainly the easiest way to do this is to get more women involved not only for their contributions to diversity, new perspectives, etc… but just because of the sheer number of people we need.
H.C.: Have you made any concerted efforts in order to get more women to participate in the Imagine Cup?
A.S.: One thing we saw was that by grounding the focus to making change in society and onto helping the environment and helping to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges, we increased the attractiveness of the competition in general to a wide range of student participants [including more women]…we’ve inspired students of all backgrounds to engage.
H.C.: Other than taking Comp Sci courses in college, what are some ways to prepare for a job in a technology field, say at Microsoft for example?
A.S.: One of the things about technology careers its that they’re getting very diverse, so [some of the most important skills are] core communication backgrounds, collaboration skills, working in a team…There’s a wide variety of uses of technology in every industry – weather it’s health, entertainment…technology careers are in every facet of work and certainly embrace every skill set… Focus on core skills, especially on math & science. Also focus on collaboration skills, and written and verbal communication skills. Most importantly, be excited about what you’re doing and remember that the field of technology offers a broad variety of career options.
See Also:
Saving the World One App at A Time
Windsor Goes to Washington
Pics from Windsor’s Trip to Washington