{"id":5867,"date":"2020-11-11T15:07:26","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T23:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=5867"},"modified":"2023-06-11T14:31:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T21:31:10","slug":"interns-transform-microsoft-without-stepping-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/interns-transform-microsoft-without-stepping-on-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Interns transform Microsoft without stepping on campus"},"content":{"rendered":"
This content has been archived, and while it was correct at time of publication, it may no longer be accurate or reflect the current situation at Microsoft.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Lily Zhang changed Microsoft during her internship, all without setting foot on the company\u2019s campus or meeting anyone there in person.<\/p>\n
That’s the life of an intern during COVID-19 and remote work.<\/p>\n
Our goal was to be seen as one of the premier engineering organizations at Microsoft. To do that, we needed to be bringing in top talent to the organization, and our internship program is one of the most important ways we can do that\u2014not only is it a way to bring in graduates from top colleges and universities, it\u2019s a way to bring in people with diverse backgrounds, talents, and skills.<\/p>\n
– Danielle Fox de Aguilar, senior director of Workforce Strategy, Microsoft Digital<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cI feel like I made a difference during my internship,\u201d says Zhang, a graduate student in Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. \u201cI got to work on a project that was meaningful and made a difference for Microsoft.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the goal of the company\u2019s internship program, even when the interns have to report for work from home, says Danielle Fox de Aguilar, a senior director in Microsoft Digital, the engineering organization at Microsoft that builds and manages the products, processes, and services that Microsoft runs on. She\u2019s leading the effort to transform the way Microsoft Digital approaches recruiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal was to be seen as one of the premier engineering organizations at Microsoft,\u201d she says. \u201cTo do that, we needed to be bringing in top talent to the organization, and our internship program is one of the most important ways we can do that\u2014not only is it a way to bring in graduates from top colleges and universities, it\u2019s a way to bring in people with diverse backgrounds, talents, and skills.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fox de Aguilar says it was critical to make sure Zhang and Microsoft Digital\u2019s other summer interns had a high-quality experience even though they would never get to walk on the campus or physically meet with their managers, mentors, peers, and fellow interns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe interns coming into Microsoft Digital have great backgrounds,\u201d she says. \u201cThey choose to come here over our competitors, so we needed to make sure we gave them a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
I worked on an onboarding tool for new Microsoft employees. We used to have to record lots of metadata about new employees by hand\u2014that process was very tedious and prone to errors. Now everything is much faster and more accurate. Human error has been reduced significantly.<\/p>\n
– Lily Zhang, graduate student in Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Interns are put on mission-critical projects that empower them to learn a lot while working on the company\u2019s technology and developer tools. Giving them access to work with Microsoft Azure and access to the Microsoft Azure DevOps development platform was also a must.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, they needed to feel like they were doing work that was both meaningful to them and would make an impact within their organization and the company\u2014something that rang true for Zhang.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked on an onboarding tool for new Microsoft employees,\u201d Zhang says. \u201cWe used to have to record lots of metadata about new employees by hand\u2014that process was very tedious and prone to errors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her work automating how employee data is inputted and extracted from the tool has immensely improved the experience for users. \u201cNow everything is much faster and more accurate,\u201d she says. \u201cHuman error has been reduced significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n