The technical passion that is embedded in the DNA of Microsoft often extends outside the bounds of our workday taking us to events and conferences where we share ideas, learn new things, and rub shoulders with great technologists in specific fields. It’s only natural that we’d want to get out of the office and even Redmond to put our passion to test.

One such event attended recently by ‘Softies from our Online Services Division was the annual ACM SIGKDD conference. This is the premier international happening for practitioners and researchers in the field of data mining. This is the story of the people who attended from Microsoft - submitted by employees who were there!

Bing, MSN, Global Foundation Services and Microsoft Advertising make up our Online Services Division. Data is at heart of these groups. A staggering amount of data that is then reviewed, analyzed, tweaked and used to develop a killer search experience and mind-blowing products and services that help our customers reach their full potential. And that’s where our data mining experts come into the story. The folks from Bing Data Mining and Microsoft Ads Platform are some of the best minds in the industry when it comes to this field and they were ready to soak up the San Diego sun! And the view from the hotel wasn’t so bad either.

Our booth was dedicated to having fun.We had our Kinect all set up and ready for action, but we also had a drawing this year for an Xbox/Kinect bundle and gift certificate to our retail store. Congrats to Ricky Ho and Jing Dai who won the raffle this year! We had a great time talking with everyone who came by and look forward to staying in touch until next year.

Cruising the harbor. Aside from the traditional keynote speakers, workshops, competitions and paper presentations, we wanted to get outside the conference space this year. So we decided to host a party aboard the California Princess. This gave us the opportunity to talk with peers in a more casual setting all while enjoying the incredible San Diego skyline. We had a blast! 

 

 It’s not just about discovering new patterns in data. It’s also about making connections. This year was unique because we hosted an event especially for all the women in data mining. A first of its kind networking event celebrating women in this field. Esin Saka, Applied Researcher in Microsoft Ads, kicked off our event by discussing her first year at Microsoft. We were all treated to some tasty dessert bites while drilling down on a trivia challenge. It was a great way to connect this group in particular. And it was so much fun a LinkedIn group formed to create an active community of women in data mining and machine learning, which will promote career awareness, mentorship opportunities, and facilitate an exchange of ideas in research and development. No worries if you didn’t attend the event or conference this group is open to all women in data mining and machine learning.

That’s our story from this year’s KDD conference. Thanks to everyone who made this a great experience. Hope to see you next year!

Where can you find out more about the event and the groups feature in this story? We’ve posted more pictures from the event on our Facebook page. Make sure to tag a picture if you see yourself!

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WE ARE HIRING! If you want to find out more about a career in data mining at Microsoft, current openings can be found on our Talent Network. We look forward to hearing from you!