After graduating, Glory Kanes landed a role as a software engineer at Microsoft in Seattle. Photo/Glory Kanes.
Glory Kanes, who earned her B.S. in Computer Science and Business Administration, describes herself as a software engineer “whose mission is to help people.” Kanes was first exposed to tech when she attended the Girls Who Code summer program in high school. There, she learned that through coding, she could make an impact in the world.
During her time at USC, Kanes got involved in the entrepreneurship community, serving as the president of LavaLab, the university’s premier, student-run product incubator. She also co-founded Vis Entrepreneurship in 2018, an annual pitch entrepreneurship competition for women. After graduating, she landed a role as a software engineer at Microsoft in Seattle. Now, she shares the skills that helped her to secure a successful tech career on her YouTube channel and website.
We invited her to talk about her YouTube series called “How to Have a Successful Tech Internship.”
Q. Why did you want to create this series?
A. Internships can be overwhelming. Often, you’re in a corporate space working with individuals decades older than you. I’ve participated in many internships and tech programs over the past seven years, and I want to help those younger than me, specifically women and other underrepresented groups, nail their tech internships. I think it’s important to share the knowledge that you have accumulated so that everyone can succeed together— spread the wealth!
Q. What do you hope it will achieve?
A. I hope to provide access to resources and tips about tech internships that would otherwise go unknown. Hopefully, when interns realize they’re not alone in their experiences and there are step-by-step ways you can prepare to be successful in a corporate setting, they can gain confidence in themselves and get that return offer.
Q. If you had to choose one top tip for intern success, what would it be?
A. Create a support team for yourself. I mention this in the first video in the series called “Connections and Communication.” This support team includes making connections with someone close in age that you can rely on and people who are doing work that interests you, who can become mentors. Having a group of people who have your back over the course of the internship at all different levels of expertise can empower you and provide you with advice and help if you need it.
Q. Are you able to share a little bit about the type of work you’re doing at Microsoft?
A. Currently, I’m working on the Spartans team in M365. While I can’t get into the details, I’ve been working on Microsoft Search specifically Graph APIs— pretty backend-heavy stuff.
Q. Now you’re one-year post-graduation, what advice would you give your past self?
A. I was really worried about starting full-time when I graduated! But everything is going to be okay, and there’s no need to worry. Turns out work is less stressful than an engineering degree when there’s no homework involved.
Q. What’s your favorite thing about Seattle so far?
A. I really love nature and the people here. Waking up and seeing mountains over the water and being able to go on gorgeous walks and hikes a short drive away is amazing. Everyone in Seattle has been so kind and non-judgmental. Seattle goes at a bit of a slower pace than LA and NY, which I appreciate.
Q. Can you share one fun fact about yourself?
A. My middle name is Valentine.
Published on July 7th, 2022
Last updated on July 7th, 2022
