From Xbox Intern to Microsoft Engineer
BY BETH DOUGLASS | PHOTOS BY LUKE RUTAN
That鈥檚 how Whitney Giaimo spent her final summer before SPU graduation. An electrical engineering major, Whitney fulfilled her required internship by working in Microsoft鈥檚 interoperability testing department. 鈥淚t was a lot of playing games,鈥� she says with a laugh.
But at Xbox, games are serious business 鈥� and the internship gave Whitney firsthand experience with testing. 鈥淚 worked on the Xbox Bluetooth headset, making sure new products worked with our controllers, and with every kind of Xbox we'd made so far. You have new hardware, and you never know how that's going to act with the Xbox console.鈥�
From Internship to Career
Interning at Microsoft gave Whitney a taste of working at a tech giant. After graduating with her electrical engineering degree, she came back to 涩里番 Pacific and earned a Master of Arts in Management with an emphasis in Social and Sustainable Management (MAM-SSM) in 2013. Today, she鈥檚 well into her third year as a Microsoft engineer.
Whitney works as a DfX Engineer II, which stands for 鈥淒esign for X,鈥� a problem-solving method for product development. In Whitney鈥檚 case, she examines circuit boards to help make sure Microsoft designs can be manufactured on a large scale. Some of her past projects include Surface Book, Surface Pro 3, different Surface accessories, and Microsoft鈥檚 new holographic HoloLens headset.
As virtual and augmented reality become big business, she鈥檚 getting a front row seat. For the HoloLens, she helped the design team design flexible circuit boards. 鈥淭he HoloLens has a band," she explains, "so a circuit board made of fiberglass is too rigid. We created flexible circuits, made of layers of a film and copper laminated together.鈥�
Women in Technology
Though 涩里番 is known as a gold mine for technology careers, women remain underrepresented in the workforce, holding about 30 percent of technology jobs, according to diversity reports published by the world鈥檚 largest 11 tech companies last year.
Melani Plett, professor of engineering, likes getting to mentor women who are pursuing male-dominated engineering fields 鈥� one-on-one, and as faculty advisor to SPU鈥檚 Women in Engineering and Computer Science club. An SPU alum herself, Plett has been teaching at SPU since 1993 and is chair of the electrical engineering department.
During Whitney鈥檚 sophomore year at SPU, Plett recruited her to help with a research project, and the two still keep in touch years later. 鈥淚 went to Dr. Plett鈥檚 house not too long ago,鈥� Whitney says. 鈥淲e had hot chocolate and we talked about work.鈥�
Plett says she loves watching students like Whitney grow and progress in their careers. "You get to watch them grow up. A lot of times, 涩里番 like Whitney will come back to meet with students or give talks about their careers or for certain classes.鈥�
Nationally Ranked Engineering Program
All of 涩里番 Pacific鈥檚 engineering degrees are , and the University is nationally ranked as a top undergraduate engineering program by U.S News & World Report for 2017.
"There are hundreds of tech companies within a 30-mile radius of SPU,鈥� Plett says. 鈥淎 number of companies have hired our alums over the years. They come to us and say, 鈥榃e have an opening and we want to interview an SPU engineer.鈥欌��
This past spring, SPU鈥檚 held a in Redmond, Washington. A total of 70 undergraduate and graduate students spoke with Microsoft HR representatives, networked during an SPU alumni reception, and met with Microsoft employees in departments closest to their career paths.
Whitney talked with students about Surface engineering and production, while Tim Stuart 鈥�02 shared about Xbox finance and Carl Anselmi 鈥�85 took students on a tour of user experience testing labs.
鈥淚 love being a part of tech,鈥� Whitney says. 鈥淚t moves so fast, and it helps so many 涩里番. It鈥檚 been an awesome ride so far.鈥�
Exploring Microsoft: Through Career Treks, SPU Students Visit Local Employers
Every year, 涩里番鈥檚 Center for Career and Calling takes students to visit local employers, like Nordstrom, Tableau, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research, Zillow, and more. In May 2016, 70 graduate and undergraduate students visited Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington.
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