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Microsoft Silicon Valley Hosts More than 300 at Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner

Girl Geek Dinners, which originated with a girl geek who was tired of being the only girl at industry events, has certainly come a long way! Microsoft Silicon Valley hosted the Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner on Thursday, October 13, at the Mountain View campus. The event provided an opportunity to mingle with women (and men) in technology-related career fields, listening to fantastic speakers and simply having fun. The gathering brought together a diverse mix of women, including established professionals from the technology industry and students pursuing degrees in the technical fields. Attendees had an opportunity to share experiences and trends found in the technology industry. Ideas were exchanged on how to address the challenges that a skewed gender ratio presents. 

Megan Wallent, general manager of Client Management Team at Microsoft, shared some of the lessons she learned while expanding her team. Wallent shared some of the challenges she faced, including leading a team distributed across more than six development centers around the world. She also shared the wisdom gleaned from scaling her group across regions and cultures. Tara Roth, corporate vice president of Testing & Operations at Microsoft also shared her personal account of her journey in technology as well as lessons that she learned along the way.

Attendees also had a chance to speak with Kelly Berschauer, marketing director at Microsoft, and Judea Eden, business administrator on the PowerPoint team at Microsoft, for additional counsel on careers in technology.

Microsoft provided a sneak preview of Windows 8 at the event and a chance to win an Xbox 360 Kinect combo. A vibrant makeshift studio was set up at the venue for attendees to have their photograph taken with funky props and their fellow geeks.

The goal is to encourage people to embrace their passion for technology and to explore what they can do with it.  Women make up less that 10% of people working in technology and the number of young women applying to universities for a technical degree is still comparatively low. Such events are a great way to encourage and nurture those interested in technology as well as break social stereotypes.