Women in Tech

Episode 34: Vulnerability disclosure with Katie Moussouris

January 19, 2021 michaela DevOps, Entrepreneurship, Security, Testing, Women in Tech 00:35:32

In this episode, I talk with Katie Moussouris, founder and CEO of Luta Security.  Luta Security specializes in helping businesses and governments work with hackers and security researchers to better defend themselves from digital attacks. Katie is also an expert when it comes to bug bounty programs and how to successfully prepare organizations to implement a vulnerability disclosure program.

We talk about:

  • vulnerability disclosure,
  • the security challenges faced by military and government organizations,
  • her entrepreneurial path,
  • how to establish yourself as a hacker or security expert,
  • and how to build security in your software development process. 

Today’s episode is sponsored by ConfigCat – your favorite feature flag management tool to release more frequently with less risks!

Links:

Continue reading

Episode 33: From intern to CEO with agile testing expert Alex Schladebeck

December 22, 2020 michaela Company Culture, Testing, Women in Tech 0:50:08

In this episode, I talk to Alex Schladebeck, a testing expert, and a powerful voice in the tech community. Alex is the CEO of Bredex, a dev shop that offers tailor-made IT solutions but also specializes in quality assurance and testing.

A decade ago, Alex graduated in linguistic and came into tech by accident. So, I obviously have to ask her about her career transition, and testing.

What we talk about:

  • transitioning into tech from a non-traditional background
  • what it takes to get from an intern position to becoming the CEO 
  • which role testing plays at Bredex
  • how mob or ensemble programming is used to facilitate learning
  • how to lead remote software teams
Continue reading

Episode 28: How design systems help create an inclusive user experience at Github

October 13, 2020 michaela Company Culture, Remote Work, Testing, Women in Tech 00:45:12

In this episode, I talk to Diana Mounter, the Director of Design Infrastructure at GitHub. Diana traveled the world and lived in many different countries – even continents. She started as a print designer and spent some time in government before she got into web and design. Now, she leads the design systems at GitHub.

We talk about:

  • what design systems are and why we need them,
  • how GitHub deals with legacy code and refactoring.
  • how the designer role interplays with other roles at GitHub,
  • how and why designers do code reviews,
  • and how GitHub strives for inclusive designs that make everyone feel like an expert.
Continue reading

Episode 27: How I got a job at Spotify during a pandemic – Emma Bostian

September 29, 2020 michaela Company Culture, Hiring, Women in Tech 00:43:51

In this episode, I talk to Emma Bostian, who recently started as a software engineer at Spotify. And Emma is the kind of person, that not only applies and interviews for jobs, but at the same time writes a complete book about her interviewing experience hunting for this dream job. This book sold so well, that she could pay back all her medical debt. Before joining Spotify, she worked for LogMeIn, and IBM. She won competitions and moved countries several times.

We talk about:

  • her interview experience with Spotify and Google,
  • her experience moving countries during a global pandemic,
  • what makes for a great onboarding experience and
  • how we can take action to make sure workplaces are friendly and welcoming.
Continue reading

Special Episode 25: From art school to Microsoft Research

September 1, 2020 michaela Company Culture, Entrepreneurship, Hiring, Remote Work, Women in Tech 00:28:56

In this episode, I talk to myself. Yeah, to celebrate the one year anniversary of the podcast, I tell you about my own journey into tech, and my experiences working at Microsoft and Microsoft Research. I share with you the turning points in my career and also how and why I started my own business.

I talk about:

  • how I got into tech without any previous computer knowledge, 
  • how my dream of becoming a researcher in the industry became true,
  • and why I transitioned to remote work.
  • Finally, I talk about starting my own business because of the need for more flexibility to combine family and work.
Continue reading

Episode 23: Wearing many hats – From Sysadmin to Developer to Solution Architect at Red Hat

August 4, 2020 michaela Company Culture, DevOps, Hiring, Monitoring, Women in Tech 00:52:34

In this episode, I talk to Angela Andrews, a solution architect at Red Hat. Angela is a curious learner who has worn many hats over the last +20 years in the tech industry. 

We talk about:

  • her experiences as a sysadmin,
  • how she learned to program,
  • and how she transitioned into becoming a solution architect at Red Hat.
  • She also shares why she has a wall of different certifications,
  • and started a bunch of different learning circles and communities that help people learn to program and reach their goals.
Continue reading

Episode 22: Becoming a Machine Learning Engineer at Twitter

July 15, 2020 michaela Company Culture, Open Source, Women in Tech 00:41:53

In this episode, I talk to Jigyasa Grover, a machine learning engineer at Twitter. Jigyasa is my first data engineer, and so it’s great to learn from her about what her day to day work entails. But in addition, she is also very ambitious and tells me about her successful career path through internships and research projects.

We talk about:

  • what a machine learning engineer does, 
  • how to get started as a machine learning engineer,
  • open source and Google’s summer of code projects,
  • and her role at Facebook combing data and software engineering. 
Continue reading

Episode 19: Checking the Disability Box at Apple Changed My Life

May 26, 2020 michaela Company Culture, Hiring, Remote Work, Women in Tech 00:58:28

This episode is part 2 of my interview with Cher. In this part, we deep-dive into her interview experience at Apple and how she worked her way up to a Staff engineering position.

We talk about:

  • the hiring process at Apple
  • the tasks and responsibilities of a Staff engineer
  • mental health, and bipolar disorder
  • and how the “disability” box can be a life-changer when it comes to getting accommodations for your special needs.
 
Check-out also part 1 of this interview, in which Cher talks about how she overcame poverty and hardship. 
Continue reading

Episode 18: From Hardship to a Staff Engineer at Apple

May 12, 2020 michaela Company Culture, Hiring, Women in Tech 00:27:17

In this special episode, I talk to Cher. Cher shares her inspirational story about she overcame hardship and poverty, and worked her way up to now be a staff engineer at Apple. 

Cher has incredible strength in her, and bravely shares her struggles dealing with mental health issues publicly. 

She also regularly reminds people that they belong in tech independent of their education or background. 

I am impressed by how she openly shares her vulnerabilities and encourages and lifts up others. 

Continue reading

Episode 17: Why we hate to read code

April 28, 2020 michaela Company Culture, Hiring, Remote Work, Women in Tech 00:48:41

In this episode, I talk to Trisha Gee, who is the Lead of the Java Developer Advocacy Team at JetBrain. She is an expert for Java high-performance systems, and developed software for a variety of industries, such as finance or manufacturing.

We talk about:

  • how she got started in tech, 
  • why it’s harder to read than write code,
  • how it is to work at JetBrains,
  • her hiring experiences,
  • and how she overcame imposter syndrome and started to feel confident with her competences.
Continue reading