Milken Alumni Scholar Work Visit: From Intern to Software Engineer at Microsoft

Published 10/25/2024 in Alumni Features

Written by Waly-Meissa Ndiaye, Torres, Evelyn | 10/25/2024

It is important to designate an exact meeting spot when visiting someone on Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, WA. With 125 buildings spread over 500 acres, it’s easily understandable why your employer must provide a shuttle service to get from one side of the campus to the other. After 15 minutes of driving around the visitor parking lot to find a spot, you soon realize that this is not only a place of employment, but also a popular tourist destination!

On a beautifully sunny and crisp morning, Waly-Meissa Ndiaye, MS ‘20, waited for us at the bottom of a set of colorful stairs to lead us on a nice walk through greenery and trails that wove in and around buildings, before sitting down to catch up in what was definitely a very fancy work “cafeteria.” 

What does a typical week look like for a software engineer at Microsoft?  

Generally, I work a hybrid schedule, so about 50% from home and 50% from the office. I live in Seattle, while the Microsoft campus is in a suburb called Redmond. So, on days I go into the office, I take either the public bus or a corporate bus that has some different routes with stops around the general Puget Sound area, including near me. They take about the same amount of time, but the corporate bus has free Wi-Fi and outlets, which is nice. I usually work from my main building, but I sometimes like to move around and try out some different spaces on campus (there is a pretty cool library). I've mostly been onboarding and working on an initial project in Microsoft’s Azure Data Organization, specially on Power Query, but a day for me usually involves a short daily standup, where everyone in my team briefly details their progress in the past day.

Why did you choose this career pathway and what do you most enjoy about it?

I enjoyed the programming courses I took during my college experience, and I got to try out software engineering through an internship during my junior year, also at Microsoft. I've been interested in the technology space for a while now, and I wanted my first role after graduation to allow me to gain experience as an engineer in the field. I received an offer to return full-time to Microsoft after finishing my senior year, which I accepted. I felt that I preferred to start out at a larger company to get to see many different spaces in technology and understand how larger products work. I find software development enjoyable (when the code works) because, at times, it is a bit like putting a big puzzle together until everything fits.

Any advice on career launch for Scholars getting closer to this stage?

To Scholars interested I would say that it is really helpful to try and get an internship in the field so that you can better gauge how you feel about the field. Internships can be a great opportunity to figure out what you do/do not like early on with few strings attached. In addition, internships in your later years can lead to offers to return for full-time, which can be nice as well. I would also recommend reaching out to other Milken Scholars who might have already walked the path you are considering and ask them to have a little chat! I'm also fairly interested in product management in the long-term, so I talked to a few Alumni Scholars during my junior year that gave me helpful advice and insight regarding that field.

Feel free to reach out and connect to Waly for any additional questions and further insight on his academic and career pathway!