Entries tagged 'digi-girlz'
Lynn Langit: Evangelist and Intrapreneur
The ‘Softie in Question: Lynn Langit
Job title: Senior Developer Evangelist – US/West.
As an evangelist, Lynn Langit’s job is to share her passion for technology with others. But it is not just a job for Lynn. At Microsoft, Lynn has molded her passion and lifestyle into a thriving career.
From her early days as a budding linguistics student in a North Dakota farming community to running programs that introduce young women to technology from Southern California to South Africa, Lynn cuts her own trail and brings 100% of her electric presence to everything she does.
Microspotting sat down with Lynn (actually, we sat down while she logged a few miles at her treadmill-desk) to discuss women in technology and her idea of intrapreneuring.
{in-tra-pre-neur (In¹tre-pre-nur) n. A person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea <they are passionate about!> into a finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation [intra(corporate) + (ENTRE)PRENEUR.] -intrapre-neuri-al adj. -intra-pre-neuri-al-ism n. -in'trapre-neuri-al-ly adv.}Lynn, tell us about your work with young women in technology.
I work on two programs. The first is “Teaching Kids Programming” (TKP), which I co-founded. There I design and teach courseware to introduce middle-school aged girls and boys to programming. I work on TKP with contributors from Microsoft as well from the open-source programming community.
Second, I teach at and contribute courseware to Microsoft DigiGirlz, which is a series of events that showcase tech careers for high school girls. I have taught my TKP courseware in 15 US states and in places such as Denmark and South Africa.
What‘s the greater goal of these programs?
There are still very few women in programming. With TKP and DigiGirlz, we’re trying to provide a pipeline of technical women from which Microsoft and other tech companies can hire. Pipelines for female programming talent simply don’t yet exist, particularly in the US.
Can I fulfill my creative passions with a career at Microsoft?
Hi, I'm Marie Watkins, a new JobsBlogger, and I'm so excited to be part of this! Ever heard of DigiGirlz?
DigiGirlz offers technology programs to get high school girls hands-on with technology, to connect them with Microsoft employees and to help dispel stereotypes about working in the high-tech industry. I recently worked with the DigiGirlz team in Southern California when they held events in San Diego and in Orange County.
At DigiGirlz, I had the opportunity to talk 1-on-1 with many of the teens and I found that there was a common tension permeating the conversations. One girl expressed this eloquently when she told me about the balance she is trying to find between her mom (the artist) and her dad (the computer scientist). Both parents are trying to get her to go into their disciplines. The teen is artsy, but loves technology, and is trying to live up to both of her parents' expectations. She also called it an "anxiety" and, after hearing from her and the others I spoke with, it seemed like many of the girls were struggling with the same art vs. science conflict when considering what they want to do for a career. Their anxiety was rooted in the fear they wouldn't have a "good job" (high pay, high prestige) if they follow their passion.
