The Women in Tech Show: A Technical Podcast

Cloud computing technologies are changing how network services are developed. These services had been traditionally deployed in physical boxes and required more maintenance. Heather Kirksey, VP of Community and Ecosystem for the LFNetworking, explains how network services moved from hardware to virtual machines and now to containers. We talked about how this is implemented and the benefits of this approach.

Learning from data is something that is being used to improve processes across different industries. Kelley Rivoire, Engineering Manager at Stripe, explained how machine learning is used for payment processing applications. We talked about what machine learning is, and about Stripe’s real-time machine learning based system to evaluate user risk. Kelley also explained the process of deploying machine learning systems to production and the challenges.

Running software at scale comes with its own challenges. Deepthi Sigireddi, Software Engineer at PlanetScale explained what database scaling consists of. We talked about different types of databases, horizontal and vertical scaling, and how to reason about what to choose. Deepthi also talked about her experience working across companies of different sizes.

Technical marketing is an area that has changed a lot with the development of new technologies. Kim McMahon, Marketing Strategies and Communications for McMahon consulting, explained different marketing strategies. We also talked about the importance of the message and how that can affect your market strategy. Kim also explained how social media and messaging tools are being used in technical marketing.

Starting a technology company and leading product development is a process that is constantly evolving. Christine Spang, CTO of Nylas explained various stages of leading a tech company. We talked about developing software in areas like Email, finding initial clients, and evaluating the product. Christine also talked about the importance of wellness and gave advice on things that she does that have allowed her to focus and succeed in a digital world.

There are many paths to working on technology and software development. Some people get exposure when their young, others through high school or college, and others learn after they worked in other industries. Leah Petersen, Engineer at Two Sigma explained her trajectory from professional motorcycle stunt rider to software development. We also talked about cloud computing and Kubernetes, which is what Leah is currently working on. Leah also explained what Two Sigma is and how technology is being used in investment management.

Virtual Reality allows us to experience simulated environments. Mar Gonzalez Franco, Researcher at Microsoft Research explained what Virtual Reality is. We talked about the role of human perception and how sensors create and enhance simulated environments. Mar also explained various brain mechanisms that enable users to believe that a computer generated world is effectively real.

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The combination of art and technology can lead to interesting innovations. Kitty Yeung, Manager of the Microsoft Garage at Silicon Valley, talked about how she infuses technology in fashion. Kitty explained how to embed technology in clothing and the challenges faced by the fashion industry. We also talked about tools and open source projects in hardware.

Product forecasting involves data analytics and making recommendations. Pooja Sund, Data Analytics Group Manager at Microsoft explained the data that financial analysts look at for product forecasting. We talked about what financial models are and how software is being used to help financial analysts. Pooja also talked about management, technical training and diversity and inclusion.

To develop and maintain software we can have systems that allow us to deploy to production and respond to incidents. Hannah Foxwell, Associate Director at Pivotal, explained the impact these systems can have on the developers and their health. We talked about extreme cases where deployments are done overnight requiring the engineers to be at the office. Hannah explained how processes can be improved to avoid this and metrics that we can use for guidance.

In cloud computing one way to develop and deploy applications is by using containers. Kaslin Fields, Cloud Advocate at Oracle explained what containers are and how they are similar to chocolate chip cookies. We talked about the advantages of containers and how they compare to using virtual machines. At the end we also talked about Software Quality and the role of a Quality Assurance Engineer.

Cloud computing enables sharing resources between an organization or with entities outside an organization. Multi-tenancy helps enable this. Tasha Drew, Product Line Manager at VMware and co-chair of the Kubernetes Multi-tenancy group explained what multi-tenancy is. We talked about the benefits of multi-tenancy and how it relates to Kubernetes. Tasha also over scenarios where it is used.

The early days of the internet were very different than what we have today. The internet was primarily accessible only to people in academia or the government. Mitchell Baker, Co-Founder and Chairwoman of Mozilla explained how the internet evolved and made its way to consumers. At the time, Mitchell was working on Netscape, which was the dominant browser for consumers. We talked about the browser wars and how Microsoft later dominated with Internet Explorer. Mitchell also explained why the code for Netscape was released as open source and the impact this had on how the internet is today.

The growth of an application leads to changes in various areas of its architecture. Shraya Ramani, Senior Software Engineer at BuzzFeed explained how the growth led to changes in the microservices architecture and in the way these services were being secured. We talked about Single Sign-On ( also known SSO), and BuzzFeed’s SSO open source project. Shraya also explained the process of releasing code as open source.

In the early 2000s, after the Dot-com bubble burst, it was difficult for and entry-level software developer to find a job. Nivia Henry, Senior Engineering Manager at Spotify talked about her time as a recent graduate during the Dot-com bubble. We then talked about her experience in Project Management, Software Testing, Quality Assurance, and Bias in Machine Learning. Nivia also explained concepts around leading teams and how to prepare for the growth of an organization.

The process of designing a Software Architecture involves different aspects such as the type of project, the organization involved, the people involved and many others. Stefania Stefansdottir, Lead Developer and Consultant at ThoughWorks, explained through a series of examples what Software Architecture Design can consist of. We talked about how one can start tackling a project and the role of the architect and tech lead. Stefania also explained how to validate a solution and the risks of a project.

Security and compliance are two fundamental components of software. Wendy Knox Everette, Senior Security Advisor at Leviathan Security explained what security and compliance are. We talked about the software development cycle and how security can be involved throughout the cycle. Wendy also explained what compliant software means and the process of making software compliant.

Data analysis of the human genome is more accessible thanks to advancements in technology. In this episode I talked to two Senior Product Scientists and Managers at 23andme: Jamaica Perry and Alisa Lehman. Jamaica an Alisa talked about the human genome and areas of research in this. We also talked about data that can be generated from analyzing it and the ways in which this can be presented to a consumer.

Cindy Warner, Senior Vice President at NetApp has a career in technology that spans over 30 years. We talked about various technology transformations. Cindy explained how data and data analysis became fundamental to businesses. We also talked about the process of building software, data services, and the ethical side of data.

The insurance industry is incorporating technology to reduce bottlenecks, improve experiences and bring to market new solutions. Vivian Li, Principal, Corporate Ventures, Capital & Labs at CSAA, explained recent advancements in the insurance industry. We also talked about Corporate Venture Capital and different types of investments such as early stage financing and seed capital. Vivian explained the finance process and the role of business plans.

Infrastructure as Code is an important approach used in cloud computing. Kerry Munz, Director of Engineering at HubSpot explained what Infrastructure as Code is. Kerry also talked about leveraging multiple cloud providers and migrating more than 400 SQL databases from AWS to Google Cloud Provider. At the end we talked about ways to evaluate the impact of the new computing environment.

Technological advancements are improving many industries, one example is the finance industry. Trisha Price, EVP of Product Development and Engineering at nCino gave an overview of the bottlenecks in financial services and examples of how these can be improved with technology. We also talked about cloud-based solutions for banking leveraging the Salesforce platform.

Running an application in the cloud involves different tools and technologies, a lot of which are open source. Priyanka Sharma, Director of Technical Evangelism and Cloud-Native at GitLab, explained the tooling panorama in the cloud ecosystem. We talked about different tools and the challenges in integrating them to have an end-to-end cloud workflow using GitLab as an example. We also talked about Serverless and Knative.

Open Source Software has characteristics that affect how marketing is conducted for it. Kiersten Gaffney, VP of Marketing at Buoyant explained what Open Source Software is and how it can be marketed. We talked about the objectives of a marketing campaign, the role of the open source community and software tutorials. Kiersten also explained metrics of success for open source projects.

Kubernetes is one of the main open source systems used for cloud computing. Janet Kuo, Software Engineer at Google explained various Kubernetes patterns. We talked about stateless, stateful, daemons and batch. Janet also explained the declarative nature of the Kubernetes API and examples of its application.

Migrating legacy applications to modern technologies in the cloud computing space can be done in different stages. Idit Levine, Founder and CEO of Solo described how legacy applications can leverage a Hybrid Architecture when migrating to the cloud. We talked about migrating a monolithic application to other architectures like microservices and serverless. Idit also explained software tools that can simplify the migration process.

Communities are an important component of open source software. Karen Chu, Community Manager at Microsoft, talked about communities in the cloud computing space. Karen explained different ways to manage and nurture a community. We talked about marketing, workshops and conferences. Karen is one of the creators of “The Illustratated Children’s Guide to Kubernetes” which we also talked about.

Many technologies that we use today are the product of decades of research. Christine Peterson, Co-founder of the Foresight Institute and CEO at a Stealth company is researching technologies that are of fundamental importance to the human future. One of them is nanotechnology. Christine explained what nanotechnology is and challenges it can tackle in renewable energy, improving health and longevity, supplying clean water among others. We also talked about the misuses of nanotechnology and important things to have in place to prevent them. In 1998 Christine coined the term open source. She explained how that came to be and the impact it had in the software community.

Podcasts are a way to scale mentorship. Through thoughtful conversations, a podcast listener can learn helpful things. Colleen O’Brien, Executive Communications Manager at Microsoft, and Sonia Dara, Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft talked about how they’re scaling mentorship through the Women in Business and Technology podcast. Colleen and Sonia gave an overview of the highlights of running the podcast, and various topics that have been explored. They explained how the podcast provides actionable advice that individuals and organizations can take to build inclusive environments.

When you work at a startup, it can expose you to work on different areas in a short amount of time. Jessica Lachs, Head of Analytics at DoorDash leverages data science to improve the business. We talked about what data science is, and examples of how it is used at DoorDash. Jessica also explained what it involved to launch the business in other cities.

Building robots that can interact with the physical world involves a team of scientists, engineers, academics, and business operators. Sara Wojciechowski, Mechanical Design Engineer at Kindred explains the types of problems that robots can tackle and current limitations. We talked about the components of Mechanical Design and how it’s applied in robotics. Sara explained how ideas are prototyped and developed for building robots.

Behind some of the software products that we use is a team of researchers. Research in the software industry plays an important role in the development of new products. From coming up with ideas to evaluating existing approaches, researchers work with other teams within an organization to provide insights and direction. Beth Toland, Head of Experience Research at Asana, explained the role of research in a software product. Beth talked about what user research consists of and how this influences how a product is developed. We also talked about the process of conducting research at a software company and some examples of its use at Asana.

Growth and adoption of software involves gathering metrics, evaluating them, and deciding among different strategies. Katie Guzman, Product Manager Lead at Asana explained different strategies in growth and adoption of software. We talked about metrics that can be used to evaluate this and examples of how Asana leverages that information. Katie also explained software monetization strategies and factors that can help determine what strategy to choose. At the end we talked about team leadership and how an internship program in Product Management is structured.

Getting work experience while studying in school has become more accessible, especially in the software industry. Safia Abdalla, Open Source Maintainer on the nteract project talked about her experience as an independent consultant while she was in college. We also talked about Safia’s contributions to open source software since she was a first year college student. At the end we explored topics around data science and tooling.

Taking an idea into a product involves steps like evaluation, prototyping and commercialization. Maggie Ng, Vice President at Xinova explained the process of developing products. We talked about projects from different industries and the role of intellectual property. Maggie also talked about project trends from around the world.

Product Marketing in technology varies depending on the product and the audience. In some cases it involves deep technical knowledge and understanding how developers work. Karri Alexion-Tiernan, VP of Product Marketing at Skytap, explained what product marketing consists of. We talked about effective ways of engaging with enterprise customers and developers. Karri also talked about modernizing and migrating legacy applications to the cloud and how people at Skytap are approaching this.

The way we develop software is constantly changing. Throughout the decades we see different processes and practices emerge in how we write software. Laura Butler, Vice President and Technical Fellow at Microsoft talked about her time working on Windows 95 and what it was like to write software in the 90s. We talked about debugging, performance, and becoming a better programmer. Laura also talked about leadership and building strong teams.

Developer relations is a core component of platforms that allow developers to publish applications or games. Grace Francisco, VP of Developer Relations at Roblox, explained what developer relations is and different ways of interacting with creators. Roblox is the world's largest social platform for play. We talked about how to gather feedback from the community and the different stages of the development process. Grace also talked about growing up in the Bay Area, and her early experiences with technology.

Small electronic components enable us to have powerful portable devices. Isabel Yang, Chief Technology Officer at Advanced Energy Industries explained what microelectronics is. Isabel has over 20 years of industry experience in semiconductor research. We talked about what transistors are, their characteristics and their role in electronics. Prior to being CTO at Advanced Energy Industries, Isabel worked at IBM Research for 19 years.

Advancements in the cloud computing space have democratized how software developers manage their product infrastructure. With this, they can focus more on the core components of their product instead. Risha Mars, Software Engineer at Buoyant and Eliza Weisman, Systems Software Engineer at Buoyant explained various components that improve how an infrastructure is developed and maintained. We discussed various topics like: service proxy, service mesh, and the programming languages Rust and Go.

Learning to code opens a lot of opportunities. Even if you decide that you don’t want to code for a living, it helps you understand how software is made and the technical implications of it across different industries. Alex Sejdinaj, Founder of South Bend Code School, explained why she decided to start teaching kids how to code. We talked about the components of an immersive curriculum and the things kids learn as they get older. Alex explained different projects the kids built and the different programming languages and technologies they use.

Technology can be used to improve slow and manual processes. Ritu Vincent, Engineering Manager at Checkr, explained the bottlenecks of the background checks process and how it’s being improved. Ritu explained how a REST API and machine learning are speeding up the process of getting a background check, and reducing the unconscious bias that is present in the traditional workflow of background checks.

Many industries are using technologies to improve their processes and to provide better services to people. Natalie Gray, Co-founder and Lead of Product Design at Cover, explained the bottlenecks in the insurance process and how technology can simplify it. We talked about a mobile-first solution that addresses these problems. Natalie talked about the product design process and how ideas can be evaluated. We also talked about Stylekick, a fashion e-commerce app that she co-founded that was later acquired by Shopify.

Security threats are everywhere. To tackle these threats we can gather and analyze information about potential attacks. Barbara Kay, Senior Director of Security Product at ExtraHop, explained internal and external threats that systems can be exposed to. We talked about different types of threats and how these can be identified using machine learning. Barbara also explained the product development strategy for products in security. Prior to working ExtraHop, Barbara led security operations market research and product strategy for McAfee and was responsible for the threat intelligence and analytics solutions, as well as the security information and event management.

Creating and deploying applications to the cloud has gotten a lot easier. With advancements in containers and networking capabilities organizations can adopt a hybrid cloud approach. Lakshmi Sharma, Director of Product Management and Networking at Google explained what the hybrid cloud and the role of containers in cloud computing. We also talked about Ingress, a tool on Google Cloud that makes containers a first-class citizen in the cloud. Lakshmi also explained the process of deciding what tools to build and how some internal tools from Google developed into products that are released to the public.

Maureen Zappala, former Engineer at NASA explained what it meant to conduct jet propulsion research at the NASA Lewis Research Center, now known as the NASA Glenn Research Center. We talked about the different experiments that could be conducted there. Maureen also explained the ways in which she experienced Impostor Syndrome and what this consists of. We talked about examples of symptoms and strategies to combat it. Maureen is the author of Pushing Your Envelope: How Smart People Defeat Self-Doubt and Live with Bold Enthusiasm.

We are surrounded by a lot of devices. These devices can be connected to other devices forming the Internet of Things. Maria Gorlatova, Assistant Professor at Duke University Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering explains what the Internet of Things consists of. Maria also talked about what Edge computing is, and how we can bring intelligence from the cloud to devices that are installed close to the users. We discussed the architecture components for edge computing and how it can be used for machine learning.

Blockchain technology is being used in different industries. NASA is using it to improve their communications systems. The finance industry is exploring it in how they do transactions. Jin Wei-Kocsis, Assistant Professor in Electrical & Computer Engineering at University of Akron explains what blockchain technology is. We talked about the components of blockchain and examples of applications using it. Jin explained the implications of decentralized processing and tools we can use to use this technology.

Data is constantly flowing through a system. From telemetry data to data from IoT devices, as the amount of data increases, challenges emerge on how to process it. Holden Karau, Open Source Big Data Developer Advocate at Google, talked about how data can be processed and analyzed in batches or in streams. Holden explained the infrastructure needed to process data at scale and fundamental performance improvements for these systems.