Wendy Hsu’s journey into software engineering started by taking a step into the unknown. Initially unsure of her career path, she followed a friend into a coding bootcamp and the rest is history. With her days now powered by coffee, curiosity, and problem-solving, Wendy influences the user experience of how people interact with AI on our platforms. Always one to learn and teach, Wendy proves passion can be found and nurtured.
How would you describe your job and what you do? I am a Software Engineer. Most of my day consists of coffee, meetings, documentation and coding.
How did you first become interested in engineering and what motivated you to pursue it as a career? I was lucky enough to stumble upon this career path by following a friend into Coding Bootcamp, which I knew nothing at the time about nor had particularly any interest in. It was a period in my life where I didn’t have much direction and was open to trying anything. Software development was incredibly challenging for me in the beginning and took me completely out of my comfort zone. I think this was also the reason it drew me in more and more, as every day I feel like I learn something new.
What educational background or training do you have that has helped shape your skills? Most of the knowledge and skills I possess today come from hands-on experience on the job. I find that I learn the most when there is a problem where I have to dig in layers of code, in this process I become more familiar with different parts of the repository. Another great way to retain the information is to teach or explain to another developer how to do something, this reiterates what you already know.
“Curiosity is a gift. Use this to find out where you fit in.”
Wendy Hsu, Software Engineer at Microsoft AI
What are you currently working on? I was recently driving the MSN Daily Brief podcast powered by Copilot, that was incredibly fun, because I got to get a glimpse of what the MSN brand is going to be shaped into and the capabilities of Copilot. The next thing on my list is to improve the performance on msn.com and bing.com. This is going to set the stage for the next generation of Reimagined MSN. Stay tuned!
Can you share an overview of your role as a Software Engineer and how it specifically relates to Microsoft AI? There is a big push to incorporate AI into all aspects of our platform as well as our daily work stream. Under our org, we don’t directly work with AI models, but we are heavily involved in influencing the user experience on our platform who interact with AI that are integrated into our platforms.
“Software development was incredibly challenging for me in the beginning and took me out of my comfort zone. I think this was also the reason it drew me in more and more, as every day I feel like I learn something new.”
With the introduction of AI, what changes or shifts do you anticipate within the industry? Last year, Microsoft took the lead in showcasing breakthrough AI technology paired with close collaboration with OpenAI, on top of that, taking first-mover advantage over competitors. This put the Microsoft brand synonymous with AI, when people think of AI, they think Copilot and Microsoft. This year, Microsoft will need to work harder to stay in the lead and find ways to differentiate itself from others in the same space.
Looking back at your journey, what advice would you give to aspiring engineers who are just starting out on their own path? Curiosity is a gift, use this to find out where you fit in. Passion is something that can be nurtured along the way. Most important of all, hard work and 100% effort will catch up to your aspirations, true story.
