Molly Kent
Software Engineer
Microsoft
Milestones
My road in life has taken me all over.
Attended a liberal arts college where I divided my time between art and science.
Realized that my shiny new Masters was going to land me in Houston, working for an oil company. Yuk.
Stuck my degree in a drawer and started a papermaking business out of my parents garage. It failed.
Got a job at my alma mater, saw a real programmer at work, and got VERY curious.
Heard about coding bootcamps on NPR. Had an epiphany.
Quit my job, took classes. Ate a lot of cheap food.
Landed an internship at Microsoft.
Converted to full time at Microsoft.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Software Engineer
I work on new and existing software to improve my team's product and help customers succeed.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Technology
Design
Being Creative
Day to Day
I spend a lot of time tracking down bugs in the existing code since I'm pretty new and that's a great way to learn the code base. I am also working on some smaller new features, which involves a lot of abstract, creative thought, and asking a lot of questions of my teammates; we have frequent meetings to check in with everyone. We are very collaborative and we have to work together or the whole project can come screeching to a halt - it's a lot of fun, even when it's frustrating or slow.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for professionals
Learn where (and how) to look stuff up - absolutely no one has all this stuff in their head, and you don't need to waste time trying to memorize everything. Good developers are good at looking stuff up to remind themselves how to do things. The other important thing is to have something else in your life that doesn't involve sitting in front of a screen. Seriously. If you can walk away and leave it behind for a bit every day, you'll be more focused when you sit back down to get to it.
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
"You should pick science as a career, and keep art as a hobby. Creatives never succeed."
Challenges I Overcame
Woman in Tech
