Brown women see ‘Windows’ of opportunity

Correction appended.

While some students were poring over Excel spreadsheets at their unpaid internships this summer, nine Brown undergraduates spent their internships developing code that makes programs like Excel work. And defying the stereotype that computer science is a man's world, all nine of the students are women. The group, which included all seven female computer science concentrators in the class of 2011, spent the summer interning at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters. Along with the rising seniors was one student from the class of 2012 and an engineering concentrator within the computer science department from the class of 2011.

Why Microsoft?

Alexandra Schultz '11,  a computer science and classics concentrator, chose her Microsoft internship over an offer from Apple and retracted her application at Google.  

"Microsoft definitely has the best (human resources) people. The process is really seamless. People were calling me to make sure everything was OK. Microsoft was super friendly," she said.

Schultz heard about the summer internship at the fall career fair and from the company's recruitment efforts within the computer science department.

Fellow computer science concentrator Laura Parkinson '11 said she also attended events on campus for interning at Microsoft and knew people who had done the internship in the past.

This was Parkinson's second summer at Microsoft. She chose the program based on her positive experience from last year and for its proximity to her home.

"I knew that since I was there last summer, I had some say about what I would be working on this summer, and I knew the stuff I was working on was going to be cool," she said.

Although Microsoft actively recruited from other schools as well, the company "has a really good relationship with some women in the (Brown) CS department," said Amy Tarbox, who runs the Industrial Partners Program, which helps put students in touch with businesses for internship opportunities and full-time employment.

Microsoft gravitated toward Brown students because of the University's alumni network within the company, she said.

Schultz said Microsoft picked so many Brown students to intern this summer due to the strength of the University's computer science department.

What Microsoft looks for "are people who are innovative thinkers … people who can think out of the box, and that's something Brown students do really well," Schultz said.

Applying for a Microsoft internship is a multi-step process. After an on-campus interview and submission of a resume, Microsoft selected a few applicants to be flown to Redmond for a second round of interviews, Parkinson said.  

"No resume will go unread; we are pretty thorough with our interview process. So if you're passionate about technology, we'll be able to see it," Yin Lu, recruiter for Microsoft, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.

Making their mark

Both Parkinson and Schultz were tasked with many things this summer at Microsoft, including writing code.

"The first summer, I wrote the code for a feature that will be in the next release of Photo Gallery. This summer I was prototyping," Parkinson said.

Schultz spent her summer as a software developing engineer.

What interests students in the Microsoft internship program is "real work," Lu wrote.

"You're putting your signature on products that millions of people use, like Windows, Xbox, Word, Excel," she wrote.

With the economic downturn still a reality, finding internships this summer was difficult for many students.

Despite the recession, Tarbox, said the computer science industry has not received the hard hit that other industries have taken.

"Honestly, CS hasn't been that affected by the economic challenges. Even if it has, it hasn't showed in our department," she said.

Still, with the industry growing, "competition for students across the board is high," said Caroline Bulmer, intern program manager at Microsoft. She said competition was particularly high among female students.

Girl power

In response to hiring all the female computer science concentrators in the class of 2011, as well as many female interns from other universities this summer, the company hosted female-only events.

"We had a few events with wine and cheese and appetizers and manicures and pedicures so that women could build a community together," Bulmer said.

With a shortage of female interest in the sciences, Tarbox said she hopes there will be more female interest in the computer science department at Brown. She said one of the methods of getting more women interested in computer science is the Artemis program.

The Artemis program, according to its website, is a free, five-week summer day camp at Brown geared toward Providence-area girls heading into the ninth grade. The program is usually run by four undergraduate women in the computer science department.

"We also have faculty to inspire girls. It's a nationwide problem that more women need to get involve in the computer science field," Tarbox said.

The library versus the field

As a female concentrator in the department, Schultz said that what makes computer science so special to her is the language associated with the field.

Schultz, who is also a classics concentrator, said that learning languages, including that of computer science, "opens up a world of communicating with other people."

"It's really cool that language has infinite possibilities in computer science," she said.

Both Schultz and Parkinson said they learned valuable lessons while at Microsoft this summer. For Parkinson, it was learning to have confidence in her own ideas.

"I think I learned that you have to take a big part in shaping your work, and if there's something you want to do then you should try for it and try to sell that idea to other people," she said.

For Schultz, the most important lesson she learned was the distinction between computer science in the classroom and the industry.

"You get a project in school that says you need to implement certain tools. In software, in the engineering world, you need to choose what tools to implement and how to implement them, without deadlines and with vague outlines," she said.

"It's necessary to have the knowledge from school," Schultz said, adding that "when you get into the industry, it's your job to figure out how to apply that knowledge."

According to Bulmer, usually 80–85 percent of the summer interns at Microsoft will receive offers to return to the company.

This is the case for Schultz, who is currently deciding whether to go to graduate school for classics or to accept a job offer after graduation at Microsoft.

"I know that Microsoft has the best benefits. For most people in CS, the decision is basically going to grad school or going into the industry," she said.

Parkinson is unsure about what she wants to do after she graduates, though she said she would be open to taking a job at Microsoft.

"I'm probably going to work a while at least," she said.

Bulmer said she hopes the partnership between Brown and Microsoft continues.

"We have a great program," Bulmer said. "We hope that more Brown students will come to the program."