Hacking is often its own reward. You fixed a problem. You made life easier. You found a way to save time. Or money. Or both. You outsmarted everyone else. You found a solution when no one else could. Good job, you. Pat yourself on the back. But even if it is its own reward, more [...]

Debi Mishra, Engineering Manager & Site Leader – SQL IS Boston What do you like best about working at Microsoft? I’ve worked at Microsoft for 16+ years and have left and returned in between for a start-up that I had founded. Microsoft gives you a really big canvas to get your act onto the world [...]

Innovation was the theme at the Root Cause 2013 Social Innovators Showcase held at the NERD Center last Thursday night, May 9th. Microsoft is a yearlong, in-kind supporter of Root Cause, a local nonprofit passionate about solving social problems through innovation. At this year’s annual showcase, a select group of local organizations shared their forward-thinking [...]

On April 26-28, the NERD Center was home to New England GiveCamp, a weekend non-profit hack-a-thon. With 130 volunteers from across the New England technical community – including 40 who set up tents to camp out all night – the event donated technical and design expertise to 23 charities across New England. The volunteers worked [...]

Congratulations are in order for the Science Club for Girls’ Rocket Team, the Teckorettes, one of three New England teams to qualify for the Team America Rocketry Challenge Grand Finals (TARC) on May 11th in Virginia! The 7-member team includes young women in grades 8 to 12 from four Boston-area towns, five high schools, and [...]

Exciting news from Microsoft New England: two of our colleagues have been recently highlighted as women to watch in Boston’s tech industry! Jennifer Chayes, Distinguished Scientist and Managing Director at Microsoft Research, was nominated by the Ad Club of Boston to its list of “100 Women You Admire.” This list (e-book here), which in the [...]

This past week saw the City of Cambridge, The America21 Project, and Microsoft take action on advancing STEM education in a diverse community.  More than 170 policy makers, business leaders, and non-profit organizations gathered at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School to develop action plans to advance STEM education locally. Cambridge is one of 4 pilot cities participating in [...]

In what has become a historic year for the advancement of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) rights in the U.S., Microsoft has continued its role as a major advocate for equality.   Most recently this support has manifested itself in Microsoft joining 277 other business to fill a friend-of-the court or amicus brief calling for [...]

Looking for an inspiring event? Join Citizen Schools on May 1 to learn from middle school forensic scientists, mobile app developers, robotics engineers, and money managers about their next big ideas and innovations in science, technology, engineering, and math! They’ll teach you what they mastered in their 10-week apprenticeships and you’ll be surprised by what [...]

This year’s PAX East celebration started a bit early at NERD with Mass TLC’s ‘Made in MA’ Party featuring games made in Massachusetts. With over 30 exhibitors showcasing their games and concepts to an audience of 1,500 people, this party showed off the best that Massachusetts’ gaming community has to offer. Gamers, developers, and students [...]