{"id":6516,"date":"2021-04-08T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T16:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=6516"},"modified":"2023-06-13T13:11:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T20:11:28","slug":"unsung-superhero-powers-microsofts-ability-to-build-inclusive-products-and-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/unsung-superhero-powers-microsofts-ability-to-build-inclusive-products-and-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Unsung superhero powers Microsoft\u2019s ability to build inclusive products and services"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This content has been archived, and while it was correct at time of publication, it may no longer be accurate or reflect the current situation at Microsoft.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
Dwight Jones has a far-reaching legacy of building inclusive products and services at Microsoft and other tech companies.<\/p>\n
When he started his career 35 years ago, he wouldn\u2019t have guessed that he\u2019d be a leader in this space. Now, his career as an IT pro at Microsoft has come full circle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know that I would go on to pursue technology and work for a company like Microsoft,\u201d says Jones, who\u2019s currently a principal program manager in Microsoft Digital, the organization that powers, protects, and transforms the company. \u201cI barely got through my high school programming class, and I thought that was it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
If I wanted a fulfilling career, I had to push past the \u2018nos\u2019 to get it. For me, this involved leaving Georgia amid the forcing functions of economic downturn and losing contracts so I could pursue work that enabled me to provide for my family.<\/p>\n
– Dwight Jones, principal program manager in Microsoft Digital<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Jones\u2019s father passed away when he was 12, and he is the youngest child of eight. Coming out of high school, he didn\u2019t have anyone to support him as he applied for college.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a Black person being raised by a working mother, my starting line was further back than many others,\u201d Jones says. \u201cWhen I went to my high school counselor, she told me that by the age of 21, I\u2019d be in jail or dead. That was the expectation that was set for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones didn\u2019t listen to that.<\/p>\n
Instead, he enrolled in college, where he discovered business information technology coursework. Those coding classes paved the way for him to land his first job as an assistant computer operator.<\/p>\n
That was his foot in the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was hungry and very appreciative for the opportunity,\u201d Jones says. \u201cI worked on so many systems that I ended up getting promoted four times in five years, all during my early 20s. I had discovered my gift, which was working on technology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones\u2019s life changed forever when he decided to take the leap and fly to the Pacific Northwest to interview for a role at Microsoft. He believed that this decision had the potential to change his life, even though it required him to leave his home state of Georgia, the place where his grandfather set his family on a path toward success after being a slave, and where his father took that one step further by starting the first Black-owned interstate long haul trucking company in America.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best meals aren\u2019t made in a microwave, but are the slow cooked ones that take hours to prepare,\u201d Jones says. \u201cIf I wanted a fulfilling career, I had to push past the \u2018nos\u2019 to get it. For me, this involved leaving Georgia amid the forcing functions of economic downturn and losing contracts so I could pursue work that enabled me to provide for my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones landed a role as a network engineer with the MSN Global Network Services team, which positioned him to chart a path not only for his own career, but for other Black and African American people, along with other racial and ethnic minorities, to make their way into IT-related jobs at Microsoft and its peer companies.<\/p>\n
After moving to the Pacific Northwest, Jones and his family had to find community with colleagues and through organizations like Blacks at Microsoft, the company\u2019s oldest employee resource group.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was raised around Black doctors, educators, civil and other leaders in Atlanta, and the Pacific Northwest felt significantly less racially diverse,\u201d Jones says. \u201cI\u2019ve had the privilege to travel the world on behalf of Microsoft and today I have an extended family of colleagues from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early in his career, Jones delivered the first network automation tool for the MSN Global Network Services team. Jones also led service improvements on internet protocol security, which handles permissions to connect Microsoft devices to each other. To this day, his work serves as the foundation for network security at Microsoft. He identified the initial requirements, led monthly meetings with partners and stakeholders, and brought the protocol into the company\u2019s network environment. His work supported the next generation of major redesigns of this protocol, earning him a major internal award that was voted on by fellow employees in the IT organization at Microsoft.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt other companies, I had brought initiatives to life without getting recognition,\u201d Jones says. \u201cAt Microsoft, my team and leadership empowered me to get visibility for my work. As a Black man, I didn\u2019t think that I would get recognition, so it meant a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I love Microsoft and the opportunities it has afforded me, but we have to see the bigger picture. We can\u2019t just think of social injustice as something happening elsewhere. We have to look internally and ask, \u2018What can I do at home?\u2019<\/p>\n
– Dwight Jones, principal program manager in Microsoft Digital<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In his current role, Jones works on initiatives to ensure that United States government agencies can work safely in the cloud. This was after his past work to move infrastructures used by corporate users of Skype for Business from physical datacenters to the cloud and ensuring that Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams were included in the Microsoft 365 licensing framework.<\/p>\n
With all his past experiences under his belt, Jones was ready for anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith all of the outside obstacles and shifting deadlines amid COVID-19, teams had to push their dates by six months,\u201d Jones says. \u201cWe met our initial deadline, which is a testament to us taking on the most challenging technical issues head-on.\u201d<\/p>\n