We Belong Here: Lessons from Unconventional Paths to Tech

Today, Chris and I chat about his path to becoming an Architect at Microsoft.

After graduating from college with a degree in communications, Chris tried his hat at pioneering podcasts and shares the challenges of trying to circulate content without the internet in the ’80s.

He eventually learned to program while working in IT. And although his first company believed that a requirement to be an engineer was to have a CS degree, he soon found a company that was excited for him to join their team as a software developer. There they didn’t care about his degree, but rather what he capable of building and creating. And build he did. He went on to develop one of the first ever Java integrated development environments, he released his first iOS app to the app store the day it originally opened, and he has dozens of patents in the field of user experience and digital photography.

Chris believes that software engineering is a team sport and that there’s great importance in building a strong group of diverse individuals to come together to work collaboratively.

We dive into the problematic nature of traditional whiteboarding interview techniques and he shares ideas of how we can improve that process.

He encourages listeners to go check out the new Edge Browser and is eager to hear feedback from listeners- so go make some pull request folks!

Chris is an incredible ally and advocate for those entering tech via unconventional paths and I feel so happy to had the chance to interview this today. This episode is not one to miss!