Tech Heroes Podcast
Episode 119: International Women in Engineering Day Celebration
Hosted by Aliza Carpio
Guest Kayla Nussbaum
where you can also catch up with past episodes
Episode Transcript
Aliza: Welcome to Tech Heroes podcast powered by Intuit. I'm your host, Aliza Carpio. I'm a Tech Evangelist, which means I get to work with technologists from across the globe to build an amazing tech culture at Intuit, and I'm a lover of all things nerdy. This podcast is about technologists, the tech that they're obsessed with, and the work that they're passionate about. Tech Heroes is produced by Ashley Kross, and our editor is Mark Fassett. Be sure to subscribe to Tech Heroes on Soundcloud or iTunes. You can always hear more about amazing stories from technologists. To be featured or to nominate a tech hero, email us at Techheroes@intuit.com. To hear more about our careers, please visit us at intuit.com/careers.
Hello, Kayla. Welcome to Tech Heroes podcast. And great to see you again. How are you?
Kayla: Hi Aliza. I'm doing well. Thanks for having me on today's podcast.
Aliza: Of course, happy early International Women in Engineering Day. It's June 23.
Kayla: Thanks, you as well, what a great day to celebrate.
Aliza: Exactly. Now before we get started with our chat. Let's begin with introductions. Kayla, please introduce yourself, your role at Intuit and if you could answer the following: we all evolve. What is your favorite childhood show or book that you just love to just dive into? And what is your favorite today?
Kayla: Yeah, so I am a software engineer at Intuit. And right now I work on Intuit’s core micro front end platform. So I basically help to develop, maintain and build development tools for the front end engineers at Intuit. And I've worked full time now for about two years, but was previously a co-op on a team for TurboTax. And before that, I studied software engineering at RIT.
And I guess my favorite childhood show growing up would probably be any of the cartoons on Nickelodeon like SpongeBob or The Fairly Odd Parents. But now I guess my favorite feel-good show is probably Friends. I always just put it on for a laugh or something in the background.
Aliza: Oh, I know. And that's that's still that's still in a way vintage. Right? So wow. Okay, cool. Friends is always light hearted. There are moments of like conflict, but it's always quite light hearted. I totally get it.
And Kayla, you just mentioned about, you know, having studied at RIT. Now I remember meeting you at RIT, which is Rochester Institute of Technology, when a small group of us were there to recruit for software engineer co-ps, and co-ops for those of you out there who don't know they are six month interns. And man you have come a long way. Do you remember that?
Kayla: Yeah, I do Aliza. I mean, it seems like it was just yesterday, but also forever ago at the same time. It's been so awesome, just to have Intuit be part of my early college and career journey. So I'm so thankful, you know, for meeting you when I did.
Aliza: When did you know? Or did you always know you wanted to be a software engineer? Could you share when you realize that this is the path that you wanted to take?
Kayla: Yeah, so I guess I've always just been intrigued by technology. Even when I was a kid I really enjoyed, like, you know, customizing technology for different user experiences that were personal to myself. So whether it was rearranging my Windows XP widgets or something on my desktop, or customizing a MySpace layout, I even personalized my mom's flip phone, her razor phone.
Aliza: Oh my gosh.
Kayla: Yeah, just you know, I was just always intrigued by how you could customize technology kind of recreate it to make it your own. And so that always kind of sparked my interest there. And then when I decided I wanted to pursue it as a career was actually my first exposure to programming itself, which was in high school. We had a computer class, and we did some drag and drop coding. And I realized that this was something that you could do as a profession. I was like, wow, I could build cool stuff all day and get paid for it. That sounds awesome. And so also in that class in high school, my friend and I were the only females in the entire class that honestly inspired me to like break the glass ceiling and be like, watch out, I can do this. This is fun, and you know, I'm going to pursue it. So I guess that's kind of where I went from there.
Aliza: I love how you said “Watch out”!
Now I know for those out there who may still be at uni or university and are thinking of the career path of software engineer. How would you describe it to them? What would you say?
Kayla: So for, you know, for anyone who loves technology, or you know, just problem solving in general, but with computers, and is thinking about this career, I would first and foremost, just say, do it. You know, the technology space is continuously changing and thriving. So my job always stays pretty interesting and challenging. And I mean, my role right now is basically to incorporate the latest technologies into our platform in a way that makes our customers and other developers happy. So like I said, each day is different. And I'm constantly solving problems and working with really talented people. So I'd say that it's maybe not the easiest career path early on, when you're thinking about, you know, “what do I want to do for the rest of my life?” Or, you know, “can I do this journey?” It's not the easiest one, it will definitely challenge you. But I think it'll challenge you in a healthy way where it'll keep you learning. And there's so many different areas that you can learn. So, you know, software engineering is not just siloed to one thing, and one thing only, you know, there's different sectors that you can be a part of. So even if you decide to pivot, or you get bored in one area, there's so, so many possibilities.
Aliza: So Kayla, you're so wise with the word “challenge” and “challenges” that you mentioned.
Is this what has surprised you, I guess, I want to understand, I, you know, I know you've been in your career for you know, a little over two years now. But what has surprised you, including what has been your biggest lesson learned so far?
Kayla: Um, I guess for me, something I didn't quite realize going into this was that software engineering is a lot more than just coding. So coding is, you know, definitely the preliminary requirement of the role, you know, and the rest, you kind of learn on the job. But it's more important, or it's just as important as the coding, if not more. So, I guess things like communicating with external customers and working with stakeholders to come up with solutions before you even get to code them. And then once you code them, it's architecting, reviewing, contributing to an existing code base, you know, using latest technologies and practices. So it's just so much to know, I think, going into this that really did surprise me by all the different hats that that software engineers wear, you know, we don't just, we're not just programmers day in and day out, we do so much more than that. So I think, you know, those things have really challenged me, but they really pushed me to kind of grow and excel in the space, like, more than I thought I could in such a short amount of time, actually.
Aliza: Right. Right. I think that it just is so multifaceted. I love what you shared earlier, though, in something that you said just now, which is around connecting or communicating with your customers. And that is definitely a big value at Intuit, you know, that's been instilled in us, you know, since with our founder, Scott Cook, can you talk a little bit about, you know, what you mean by communicating with customers and this whole notion around customer obsession?
Kayla: Yeah, I mean, customer obsession is probably my favorite thing about Inuit. It's really something that resonates with me, and, and how I am as a person, but also in my professional life as well. So Intuit really prides itself on speaking directly with their customers. So back when QuickBooks was, you know, coming up to be what it was, I mean, our founders did things called Follow Me Homes, and they worked with actual customers and people who do these tasks day in and day out and said, like, “how can we make this better? Do you like this experience?” Kind of triage them for questions on their, just how they operate daily.
And so these Follow Me Homes are so valuable to just kind of gather information from your customer, and design a product that really fits their needs, and, you know, considers what they want first. So, for myself, I'm always very customer driven, I have a lot of empathy for just anyone I meet in life. So I always want to know more about them and what they do in their life. And you know, how I can be a part of it. So I think that kind of has just translated in my career here at Intuit as well. And it was kind of a match made in heaven, because I already had the mindset and that's Intuit’s, you know, one of their main goals. So it really works well.
Aliza: Thank you for sharing that. Definitely something that is ingrained, I think, in all of us and part of the DNA at Intuit. And I think a lot of people think about design thinking or customer obsession is just being for designers or maybe product managers. But as engineers, we need to be just as customer obsessed as all the other roles in the team. So thank you for sharing.
Kayla, as you think back in your career that you've had started. Really it started at RIT. What are you most proud of? What is your biggest win? Do you think so far? So far, because there's many, many wins. But what do you think is your biggest win in your career journey so far?
Kayla: Um, that's a really tough question just because I feel like I've had many small wins throughout, you know, going from college to full time at an awesome company, and I had some co-op at other companies as well. But I think, coming right into Intuit as a full time engineer, one of the first things that I feel like I really invested my time on was kind of I realized my influence as an individual contributor. So coming into this, I didn't know how much influence I had as a fresh new employee of Intuit. But once I realized the magnitude of what my impact was, I took a look at our product, the platform for the team that I'm working on, and I realized that a lot of our terminology and concepts that we're using weren't matching what was out there in the industry right now. So a lot of it was kind of legacy terminology or stagnant to what's going on in the world. So I brought this attention out to our customers. And I actually spoke to our customers from my team, our internal developers at Intuit. So I actually did Follow Me Homes with them. And I noticed that they had a lot of confusion around how we named our internal components and how they teach the platform to other co-workers on their team. And then I took these names that have been used for years. And I kind of evolved them and adapted them and used what is in the industry today, to make a different terminology concept, and also to align the concepts with the technology a little bit better. And so I worked with my team and a whole bunch of different stakeholders, and it really made a big impact on the platform itself. So you know, I pretty much spearheaded this change early on in my full time career here. And it changed how the concepts are interpreted by the system and used by our customers, which really grew our adoption rate internally. So definitely a really big win that I'm proud of.
Aliza: Okay, so I'm a little bit - wow, like, that's amazing. There's so much wisdom, Kayla, I am so proud of you! That's pretty cool. And I love your story and how you made it real around, like the impact you make, because I think a lot of times, especially when we just graduated from from college or from uni, you know, we kind of think “oh, no one's gonna listen to me or I guess I'll just like keep to myself” but man, what what a huge change. And I know you're one of your even today, one of our teachers, if you will, for our new engineers that started at Intuit. So wow, you've come a long way, sister.
Kayla, now I know none of us arrive alone where we are. Who are your role models or mentors that have helped you and supported you along the way?
Kayla: So that's a great question. Aliza, I think throughout my career, which I do consider my career starting partly in college, because that's how that's when I began growing my professional experiences and networks. But I've had so many people in life who I pull inspiration from, I mean, I'm just genuinely someone who gets really inspired and hyped up by successful people and speakers and presenters, really just anyone who's ambitious and willing to share their knowledge for others. And so you know, I truly love going to conferences too, because I simply come out like a new woman full of ideas. But I would say that I don't have any true mentors, per se. But someone that sticks out in my mind is in college, actually, I had a friend who was a few years ahead of me. And she was super, awesomely ambitious, and really successful kind of early on in college. And I looked up to her, I was so inspired and wanted to kind of follow in her career path. So she was the very first person I really kind of networked with and in a professional sense, and she got me into researching with a professor in college and kind of opened the door for a lot of opportunities that I took. So yeah, I just really look up to a lot of the people around me and kind of thrive off of their success and their energy and it kind of fuels my ambition.
Aliza: Well said, Kayla, thank you. I'm going to switch things up a little bit. I'm going to ask you a diversity question. Since graduating from university and starting a career in software engineering at Intuit, what is it like to be a woman in tech in an actual tech company? What's it like?
Kayla: Yeah, so I'm going to be very honest. It has been a challenge, you know, to pursue a male dominated career as my own. But maybe it's just me, but it really helped that, that idea in itself actually really helped to inspire and push me to be like 110% of what I thought I could even be. And, you know, while it usually feels like a boys club, sometimes, you know, especially in college, it really did. But growing into being like a young professional has really changed the pace of gender bias, in my opinion. So like I was saying earlier, I feel like my ideas and thoughts are actually really valued in my job day to day, which has been really great to see and pretty eye opening compared to what it was like in college. So you know, the industry is continuously growing with females, and I'm so truly looking forward to the day where we don't have this as a concern anymore.
Aliza: Right. Right. One day, one day. No, on the other side of that, how can we as an industry continue to attract women in tech, and other underrepresented groups to engineering? Like, what ideas do you think we should start to try or consider or reimagine even?
Kayla: Yeah, that's a great question. You know, I'd love to see more diversity in the industry, in general, in any industry, you know, but tech, it's really hard to even attract women or other, you know, underrepresented groups in general. So I think maybe what Intuit or other industries can really do is kind of, you know, to leverage that funnel is to maybe find, like a common ground or interest of those groups. And between the interest and the technology that you want to recruit for, so I can only speak for women, but, you know, women are busy, and we're going a mile a minute. So, you know, we don't want to waste our time on things that we can't project aren't like, you know, that we can project aren't a good fit for us. But if someone pulled me aside, and was like, showing me a cool project that maybe piqued my interest, or, you know, related to some of the hobbies that I might have, and said, “Hey, well, what if you could change this and make this better, or make it your own?” I feel like I'd definitely be inclined to take on that opportunity. So it's just finding that common ground and connecting that bridge of day to day with technology that really, I think, could open the doors for a lot of different types of people. And just, I'd also, you know, advocate for Intuit to continue to attend attracting talent at the women in tech conferences, so Grace Hopper, and maybe some of the other university programs. And I guess, beyond University, I'd even encourage reaching out maybe a step before that, to help fund or sponsor some high school programs. You know, because high school was the very first like exposure I had to programming. And technically, it was almost too late when I even, you know, discovered what programming was, because in high school, you're trying to pick a major for college, and then hopefully, that major becomes your career. So I think starting earlier, with exposure, would also helped a lot.
Aliza: Yeah, I know that those are really great ideas. And I really, I think it's quite interesting to go younger. And I know that there are many organizations and companies out there, even organization started by other engineers, like Code With Her are starting to try to, like get younger, because that's really how you want to start fostering that love for problem solving that love or even, you know, getting interest, if you will, in coding. Thanks. Thanks for that.
Now, I'm going to switch things up again. And I want to have you pretend like we're going back to either RIT or any other college out there. And let's say a computer science student comes up to you and says, “Kayla, I want to be an engineer just like you.” What's the one piece of advice that you would give them? I know, you're kind of laughing like, really?
Kayla: Yeah, I guess some piece of advice I'd probably give is just to be, you know, willing to learn early and often. And actually, to take advantage of opportunities as early as you can. And so like what I mean by that is just, technology's always changing. And there's so many vastly different sectors of what is even considered tech. So it's impossible to learn them all as a student, you know, but having the mindset just to be open to learning and kind of going broad on topics and narrow in a different, you know, subset of areas can really help to align your skills early on. So kind of growing that mindset at the beginning is super helpful. And I think I just I with the opportunities, the other, you know, piece of advice, like taking the opportunities, I just learned, like so much, you know, valuable experience and on the job knowledge from doing internships and co-ps, you know, talking to real, real world tech professionals is so much different than taking a class in college. So I just really encourage anyone who wants to end up like me to have the courage even if you're a freshman, you know, in college, whatever, go and take those opportunities, like go to the career fair, shake someone's hand and ask for a job. Like just say, yes!
Aliza: Kayla, you did exactly that - you got in line, you definitely did that. I think one of the things that I really admired by what you said was around mindset, but also about, but having almost open arms, not just an open mind, but open arm, arms in terms of, you know, when, when an opportunity comes along to take it. I absolutely love that. Thank you for sharing.
And then a follow up to that is, what do you think students would love about a career in software engineering? I know you shared a bit about yours, but what do you think they will love?
Kayla: Oh, wow. I mean, there's so much to love. But, you know, I think any upcoming computer science student or software engineer, I think they’d love how fun it is to just tinker with a problem and then have the freedom to like, architect a solution that fits for it. So I mean, the problem solving in itself is just really a creative way of, you know, expressing yourself through code or building stuff. And, like, people don't really realize that software engineering is so creative. It's so inventive, and there's a lot of different ways to exercise your mind with the tasks that you know, you'll have to do day to day in the job. You know, but besides all like the tactical things they'd love, I think they'd also just really enjoy the culture. I mean, software engineering, culture is fun. It's like laid back and cool, you know, wearing hoodies in the office. You know, our team actually, we got matching mechanical keyboard keys.
Aliza: What? Like keys in all different colors and stuff, too?
Kayla: Yeah, so actually, like I got a boba resin key for my keyboard, for my so my entire team, we all have mechanical keyboards, and we all kind of geek out about, you know, what, what bindings we have, and you know, the different sounds and stuff at the switches make and yeah, it's been really fun. I feel like, you know, day in and day out, I kind of just like, I go to work, but I'm like working with my friends. You know, I'm solving problems. But like, I'm eating free snacks when I'm in the office. And we're just like building really cool stuff. So, I mean, it's, it seems like an awesome career. And I love it so much. And I think anyone would too.
Aliza: I love that you said it's cool and chill. Like C & C. Oh, that's pretty cool. I and by the way, kale, I did not know that about your team and the mechanical keyboards. I'm actually gonna connect you with another software engineer who just loves to customize keyboards. And and I, you know, she's a new word to Intuit. So I'm definitely going to connect to you too. With all the different lights she had, and I’m like “what?” So cool, and so ridiculous. Fun.
So Kayla, we are now at the, what we call the rapid fire portion of our podcast. And by the way, it's just been so fun to chat with you and you are such an inspiration. Now this portion of the that is called rapid fire is where I ask you a series of questions. And it's just like just say what comes to mind. Okay, so it's really a bit of fun. There's no right or wrong answer.
So you ready?
Kayla: Sure. Go for it Aliza.
Aliza: Okay, here we go. Okay, beach or forest?
Kayla: Forest for sure.
Aliza: Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry?
Kayla: Vanilla.
Aliza: Favorite language to code in?
Kayla: JavaScript, duh! Front End engineering.
Aliza: Well, you know, you never know you could tell me something. I'm gonna I'm gonna go Wow, really? You never know. Favorite all time movie or show?
Kayla: I think I opened with this but I just love Friends. It's so funny. And just such a feel good show that you can pretty much just put on whatever.
Aliza: Okay, cool documentary, comedy or mystery?
Kayla: Mystery.
Aliza: Do you have a favorite quote or mantra by which you live by?
Kayla: I mean, I don't know if I wholeheartedly live by it. But one of my favorite mantras is kind of a combination of something I heard from a CTO at Blackbaud actually, when I was doing co-op, and a mixture of like what I do in life, so I call it my three B's, but it's “Be bold, Be kind and Be passionate.” I feel like that will kind of set you up for success in any field, doing anything. Doing whatever.
Aliza: Oh, thank you say that again.
Kayla: Be bold, be kind, and be passionate.
Aliza: Oh, those are great. And it's so easy with the three B's.Oh, my gosh, it's so good.
Kayla: Yeah, pretty simple. But you know, really, really just kind of fulfills everything, every corner and avenue of life, I think.
Aliza: Yeah, no, I think it's always good to have something that you know, you can kind of like remind yourself of, you know, what's important to you.
Okay, so next question. If you could have invented or reinvented something that exists today? What would it be?
Kayla: Um, oh, this one is hard. Maybe. Maybe something internet related, like, you know, being the person to invent Google search or something. I think that would be so awesome. I'd have bragging rights for the rest of my life.
Aliza: Exactly. You definitely would, you definitely would. Okay, next question. Once COVID is over, and it's safe to venture out, what is the first thing you're going to do?
Kayla: Oh, I am definitely going on a date with my boyfriend. We're gonna eat out at a restaurant. We're gonna sit in a booth. We're gonna get a whole bunch of appetizers. And then afterwards, we're going to go to the movies because I love going to the movies. And it's just not something we can do right now, so.
Aliza: Totally, totally. Your favorite place to travel?
Kayla: Um, pretty much anywhere snowing. I think my ideal getaway is somewhere cozy, snowy, and just super relaxing.
Aliza: Your favorite comfort food?
Kayla: Mashed potatoes.
Aliza: With gravy or without?
Kayla: Butter, just butter.
Oh, you want it to be like, you know, simple and elegant and just like, bare bones. Oh, that's pretty cool. And then last question, your personal hero?
Kayla: I guess my personal hero is probably my mom. I mean, she's got to be my hero. She is so smart. She's kind and she's strong. I feel like I just always like everyday strive to be, you know, as tenacious as she is.
Aliza: So kudos to mom and moms out there. Oh my gosh. Thanks so much, Kayla. It was so amazing to connect with you today. Thanks for being a guest today at Tech Heroes.
Kayla: Thank you so much Aliza. It was great to chat with you today as well.
Aliza: And a big virtual hug and I so appreciate you always and I'm sure I will see you at the next orientation for new hires.
Kayla: Absolutely.
Aliza: Well, thanks again.
Aliza: Thanks again for listening to the Tech Heroes podcast. Be sure to subscribe on Soundcloud or iTunes so you don't miss any of our stories of amazing tech heroes. To be featured or to nominate a tech hero, please email us at Techheroes@intuit.com. To learn more about careers at Intuit, please visit us at intuit.com/careers. Tech Heroes is a podcast and it is powered by Intuit. Our mission is to power prosperity around the world. I am Aliza Carpio, and we'll see you next time.