A magnet for change: engineering training for women, by women
After many of her mentees quickly landed tech jobs, Microsoft engineer Kal Viswanathan scaled her impact to reach hundreds
Below is an article originally written by Candace Whitney-Morris, of PowerToFly Partner Microsoft. Go Microsoft's Page on PowerToFly to see their open positions and learn more.
"Everyone dreads the whiteboard interview," said Kristen Thayer.
Thayer, a former educator turned Xbox software engineer, is referring to a common part of technology company interviews: candidates are given a coding or troubleshooting task, a whiteboard, and a marker and then asked to solve the problem in real time, in front of the interviewer.
Though she was anxious about the whiteboard, Thayer was prepared for it. She'd just graduated from Kal Academy, a nonprofit coding academy for women and minorities and the brainchild of Microsoft employee Kal Viswanathan— who started as a HoloLens engineer and now works in Dynamics 365 for Talent.
"Kal doesn't just teach you to code," said Thayer. "She wants women to actually be in the field with jobs, so she also has this interviewing class. Her advice: 'First, don't stress. Second, solve the problem. Be confident.'"
Thayer passed the test. She went from being a teacher to working at Microsoft in just under a year, and she attributes much of her success to Kal Academy.

The academy's students include mothers struggling to support their families, administrative assistants who dream of becoming engineers, and women who find themselves in jobs where they can't advance.
Viswanathan has story after story of graduates who were empowered to succeed by her training. One of her favorites is about a woman who wanted to take classes but couldn't afford the expense, so the academy granted her a scholarship. This woman went on to study data science and land a data analyst role at a major retailer. Now, she also tutors other data science students.
In this way, Viswanathan's students are learning that the outcome of education isn't just knowledge but an awareness of how an education gives a unique opportunity to directly help others advance in life. Viswanathan learned this foundational lesson from her parents early on.
Filling in the gaps
Growing up in India, Viswanathan dreamed of becoming a doctor. But she knew that neither she nor her parents, two middle-income teachers, would be able to afford medical school.
"My parents bred teaching into my DNA, along with the lesson that I needed to give back to my community," said Viswanathan.
She eventually turned her aspirations toward computers and decided she would find a way to educate herself. So the resourceful Viswanathan brokered a trade: she found students around her who needed tutoring in subjects that she was good at and, in return, asked them to help fill in her computer skills gaps.
"I taught math and science to kids in my neighborhood and asked them to teach me computer science," Viswanathan recalled.
It worked. Her early penchant for sharing knowledge continued through college and in her work at Microsoft.
Over the course of her time teaching and working in computer science, Viswanathan noticed that something was off: the field of computer science suffered from a glaring lack of women and minorities. The few women she came across working in her field seemed to stay quiet, speaking up only when working in small groups of mostly women. Viswanathan refused to accept this as just the way it is.
While working at Microsoft, Viswanathan was also teaching at University of Washington. A few students approached her, asking her to teach them privately. She started mentoring and tutoring women in small groups on nights and weekends in her garage.
Viswanathan had a hunch that women just needed a good, efficient education, a place where it felt safe to speak up and build their confidence, and someone to show them the way. She was right; emerging evidence supports the theory that women mentors could make all the difference in other women staying in STEM studies and fields despite the "implicit tendency to see engineering as a male discipline."
"[Women mentors] act as a 'social vaccine' that protects female students against negative stereotypes and gives them a sense of belonging," according to an Atlantic article.As Viswanathan's mentees were getting good jobs at good technology companies, Viswanathan saw the chance to help even more women. Word got out, and more people began to gravitate toward her warm and welcoming teaching style. In 2014, while working at Microsoft, Viswanathan started her own nonprofit organization, officially launching Kal Academy.
"Microsoft encourages me to do these things, to make a difference in the world," she said.
Viswanathan moved Kal Academy out of her cramped garage and into a small facility in Redmond, Washington, where she continues to teach not only the nuts and bolts of coding, but also—and perhaps most importantly—how to get a job in tech. This includes how to be confident in interviews and strategies for acing that dreaded whiteboarding session Thayer was worried about.
"Women get to know how to face work every day, and they get to know how to learn new things if they're just thrown at them, because ambiguity is one thing that we all have to get used to," Viswanathan said in a recent podcast about women in business and technology.
"It's not magic," Thayer said, referring to coding. "You study it. It's completely achievable. Kal empowers students to believe in themselves."
Since the academy's inception, 200 of its students have landed roles at Microsoft, Amazon, T-Mobile, LinkedIn, and other companies.
They include Walaa Ibrahim, who was studying computer science at the local community college when she heard about Kal Academy. "I told myself, let's give it a shot. And only three months later, I got my internship at Microsoft," said Ibrahim. "Then, four months later, I got my first full-time job in the United States."

"I was so excited, screaming. I called Kal and told her; she was so happy for me," she said. "I never imagined I would get a job at Microsoft."
Viswanathan said that the energy she needs to keep up with the rigors of working full time during the day, solo teaching from 8 AM to 8 PM on weekends, and running a nonprofit is sustained by women such as Thayer and Ibrahim.
Because she is a woman and a person of color, Viswanathan feels uniquely suited to motivate other women like her.
"I tell them, 'I've been in the place you've been, and this is what it took to get out of it and find success,'" she said. "And that's exactly what I am going to teach you here."
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8 (Virtual) Diversity Conferences to Attend in 2021
Diversity Reboot 2021: The One Hundred Day Kickoff
<p><strong>When</strong>: February 1-5, 2021</p><p><strong>Where</strong>: Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Free!</p><p><strong>Where to register: </strong><a href="https://summit.powertofly.com/" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>We had to include our own Diversity Reboot on our list of the best diversity and inclusion events to attend in 2021 because we know firsthand how the quality of 100+ expert speakers, the enthusiasm of 10,000 participants, and the cutting-edge tech that enables meaningful virtual networking and job fairs combine to create a truly epic five-day experience. This year, the theme 100 Day Kickoff harnesses the energy of the new government's first 100 days in office to help jump-start personal and professional plans to build more diverse and inclusive workplaces. </p><p>Following the February summit, we'll have a monthly series of smaller virtual summits on topics spanning everything from returnships to LGBTQ+ advocacy, so be sure to stay tuned for updates!<br></p>The Future of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 2021
<p><strong>When</strong>: February 3-4, 2021</p><p><strong>Where</strong>: Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Free</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://www.hr.com/en/webcasts_events/virtual_events/upcoming_virtual_events/the-future-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-2021_kcxf8glq.html#detail" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>This virtual conference put on by HR.com focuses on how social movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter have pushed DEI at work beyond legal compliance and into a major factor of any company or brand's culture, employee engagement, and performance. Topics include how to uncover and resolve pay gaps across your team and hire top-level diverse talent.</p>Workplace Revolution: From Talk to Collective Action
<p><strong>When</strong>: March 8-12, 2021</p><p><strong>Where</strong>: Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register: </strong>$820</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://cvent.me/ZQ4BbE" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>The Forum on Workplace Inclusion's 33rd annual conference includes 12 session tracks, from DEI Strategy to Social Responsibility, along with 59 workshops and daily networking sessions. This year's theme focuses on one question: "What will it take to start a workplace revolution that moves us from talk to action?"</p>Diversity: How Employers Can Match Words With Deeds
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<p><strong>When:</strong> August 18, 2021</p><p><strong>Where: </strong>Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register: </strong>$195</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://www.hci.org/conferences/2021-virtual-conference-hire-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-august-18-2021" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>This conference put on by the Human Capital Institute is one of 12 virtual conferences that HCI has planned for 2021. This one focuses on fair and inclusive talent acquisition, including how to attract diverse talent, implement inclusive hiring practices, and addressing bias in employee selection. Other conferences will focus on optimizing talent strategy, engaging employees, and developing your workforce.</p>Virtual Grace Hopper Celebration 2021
<p><strong>When:</strong> September 26-29, 2021</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Virtual, broadcast from Chicago, Illinois</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Was $799 for regular access to the virtual conference in 2020; 2021 pricing hasn't yet been announced</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://ghc.anitab.org/attend/registration/" target="_blank">Here</a>, though 2021 registration wasn't live at the time of writing</p><p>Grace Hopper might be the best-known conference for women in tech. Through keynote presentations, networking sessions, job fairs, and community-building activities, vGHC reached over 30,000 women for their 2020 conference and are expecting even more in 2021! While not a conference focused exclusively on diversity and inclusion, many speakers plan to focus their talks on creating environments for women to thrive in the male-dominated tech field.</p>Inclusion 2021
<p><strong>When:</strong> October 25-27, 2021</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Virtual and in person in Austin, Texas as of now</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Hasn't yet been announced</p><p><strong>Where to register: </strong><a href="https://conferences.shrm.org/inclusion" target="_blank">Here</a>, though 2021 registration wasn't live at the time of writing</p><p>The Society for Human Resource Management's biggest conference of the year saw 1,200 DEI leaders participate last year; SHRM hopes to see even more come to learn, be inspired, and to walk away with a playbook of implementable strategies to create truly inclusive workplace cultures.</p>AfroTech 2021
<p><strong></strong><strong>When:</strong> November 8-13, 2021</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Virtual</p><p><strong>Price to register:</strong> Early bird pricing is $149 for individuals and $249 for corporate attendees; regular pricing hasn't yet been announced</p><p><strong>Where to register:</strong> <a href="https://experience.afrotech.com/" target="_blank">Here</a></p><p>AfroTech is a conference hosted by Blavity, a tech media platform for Black millennials. It focuses on emerging tech trends, connecting Black talent with top tech recruiters, and providing networking and educational opportunities, with an overall goal of building a strong Black tech community. Over 10,000 people participated in 2020. While the conference isn't focused specifically on DEI, its main audience of Black tech talent is an important one to understand and to engage at work and beyond, and several speakers plan to focus on issues of race and inclusion at work. </p>Finding Her Sport: Being Part of the Team in a Startup Environment
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