[Welcome to I Want Her Job's second Women at Microsoft Week! We're celebrating the female force behind the company as we lead up to the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference, beginning Wednesday in Phoenix. If you're going to be there be sure to tweet us @iwantherjob. Today's article is the first in a series of four that will help you find out what it's like — and how you can — land your dream job at one of the biggest companies changing the face of business.]
If you asked Rebecca to use one word to describe herself, we’re convinced she’d tell you “dabbler”. Using the word to describe her passion for technology multiple times, Rebecca Deutsch, product owner for Microsoft’s Xbox Video, truly believes the key to her success is an innate, neverending curiosity to dabble in all things. She consumes herself with the process of finding how and why others use products, tries them out herself and then focuses on creating the best user experience.
“I love problem solving,” Rebecca says. “ … Computer science has taught me how to write a problem down and say, ‘There’s an end-result I want in this function.’ This is one of the most valuable things I’ve learned in computer science. I know how to figure out my end goal, and then I work backward to take the steps to get there.”
Rebecca’s career path is proof of concept that she lives by dabbling as well. In January 2006, Rebecca co-founded Technically Learning, a Seattle-based nonprofit enabling teachers to inspire and engage students in science, technology, engineering and math (otherwise known as STEM) subjects. Just seven years later, Technically Learning merged into Code.org to combine efforts and reach more students nationwide.
Yes, she co-founded a successful startup on top of her incredible career path at Microsoft that’s taken her from the Windows to the Xbox team. How does she find the time? [Hint: Her company supports this!] Read on as we talk tech and life with Rebecca to learn how she balances both.