Microsoft’s Mission Enables Opportunities and Connections for Employees
When it comes to government jobs at the world’s largest technology companies, you may think that it’s all business all the time. But things aren’t always what you expect. Sometimes missed expectations can drive personal growth and new connections. That’s certainly the case with employees who join and find their niche both in role and in the community.
For Nathalia, a former Department of Defense employee, trying to find her niche at Microsoft developed her growth mindset to curate something meaningful and fill a need for other employees. Finding that true “tribe” at Microsoft lead her to cultivate a new group to meet the needs of other early in career Latinx and Hispanic Microsoft employees. Nathalia sees it like this, “I’m one of the youngest on my team and one of two Latinx members (who are in Redmond). My team is great, but a community to me is one that would evolve to outside of my work community too”.
Supporting innovation, learning and growth
A native of Brazil, Nathalia joined Microsoft with a degree in computer science. Once there she found out about Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and joined HOLA, Microsoft’s ERG for Hispanic and Latinx employees. After a year at Microsoft, Nathalia wasn’t finding exactly the right fit for the group she wanted to belong to: a young, Latinx and Hispanic group.
Necessity drives innovation and Nathalia decided to take on the challenge to create a new and unique culture group. For Nathalia, “The impact and need of a ‘young Latinx and Hispanic’ group at MS was a lot bigger than just my personal needs. We have a lot planned for this group and I’m slowly starting to have a sense of community here. Many people are also relying on this new group for their support, and it’s an initiative I plan to fully see through and successfully establish”.
Driving confidence, collaboration, and success
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, and Nathalia sees her role in engineering on government projects as working towards a mission that is, “bigger than myself…my job function as a software engineer is more than just weekly meetings, stand ups, and making sure my code doesn’t break after 8 hours of debugging. It’s about providing a product to support all sovereign powers; that it will empower them to support those who rely on them.”
Working on government projects and supporting Microsoft customers is more of a mission than a job and connections with others drives confidence, collaboration, and success. For Nathalia it was important to forge deeper connections to the Latinx community that she is part of. “People have to have a connection to this company and feel like they belong here, like they are truly part of this mission every single day. I want to support my peers, to empower them to make differences in their corners of the world, I want to inspire others to act on their dreams and I want to bring more Latinx employees into this company—into tech. Microsoft’s mission enables me to create spaces, opportunities, and connections for all this to happen. It wasn’t until I started something of my own that I felt like I could relate to the mission, or even living it out.”
When Nathalia started her Latinx and Hispanic group, she saw that the small connections and interactions with others truly make a difference; that empowerment can begin with a simple email or Microsoft Teams chat. She doesn’t need to see the final result to know that she’s contributing to the greater culture & mission at Microsoft. And it isn’t just about growth and community for Nathalia that makes Microsoft a great place to work. Wellbeing and flexibility are an important part of the bigger picture. She knows she’s got the support of her managers in doing her best work, whether that means taking time off, taking care of her health and wellness, or managing her work/life schedule. “My life and well-being come first; my job is to supplement that. My managers have taught me so much more, and they are the best thing about my job.”
Are you interested in learning how you can use your diverse perspectives and technical skills to further our mission, grow your skills and empower others? Find out more about joining Microsoft’s community.
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