Carolyn Lesser
Director of Engineering
Microsoft
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
Found a love in sports, especially soccer, and enjoy the teamwork and friendly competition.
Challenge accepted: I built a bridge out of tongue depressors and glue that withstood my weight.
Cut from JV basketball and became the manager - immersed in a world of stats and data.
Then I took a Pascal Programming class and I LOVED creating programs that solved problems.
Went to an engineering expo and hidden in the back found the Computer Science major. I'm Interested!
I interned at Microsoft, and fell in love with designing and engineering SOFTWARE.
Volunteered teaching tech to 4th grade Girls computer club. Took many tries to explain Y2K bug.
Found a team that combines 2 loves: SOFTWARE + LEARNING.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Midlothian High School
Midlothian High School
Career
Director of Engineering
I lead a multi-discipline engineering team that creates inclusive online learning experiences.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Engineering
Education
Learning / Being Challenged
Day to Day
A great day starts and ends with learning, all centered around our customers. It includes a check-in on our real-time vision, business, operational, and behavioral dashboards and some time spent using our own products and services. I touch base with my engineering leads and conduct a quick huddle for addressing possible problems and concerns. I connect with our organization's functional leaders and business stakeholders and work through a prioritized list of items that need my attention.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for college students
Find internships! Technology (and Computer Science) is such an expansive field. There are a multitude of disciplines and domains. Use internships to explore your areas of interest and find the types of roles and fields you're interested in. You'll often find that what you experience in your internship will be new learning opportunities. I learned object oriented programming in my 1st internship before covering it in school and was exposed to different software development practices.
Recommended Education
My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Peers:
"You won't be able to install this. You won't figure it out."
Challenges I Overcame
The Minority
