Microsoft Ireland Celebrates International Women’s Day with Students

International Women’s Day is on March 8th, but Microsoft Ireland decided to celebrate it a week early by inviting girls from a number of secondary schools to an event focused on career opportunities for women, at their Sandyford headquarters this morning.

TV presenter Collette Fitzpatrick chaired  a panel discussion which included entrepreneurs Katie Cantwell, founder of KC Peaches eatery, and young fashion designer Natalie B Coleman.

The students heard from Cathriona Hallahan, Managing Director of Microsoft Ireland:

“We’re delighted to welcome all of you here today. This event is about showcasing to you what it’s like to work in a company like Microsoft and more generally in the technology sector. As a global technology leader, people often have the view that you need a technology qualification to work with Microsoft. This couldn’t be further from the truth. While we are always looking for developers and engineers we are also looking for creative people for our gaming teams, innovative people for mobile technology, organised people for project management and other smart and talented people for roles in sales, marketing and operations. There are many paths open to you to come and get a cool job that can play a part in helping to change the world.”

Afterwards, Technology.ie spoke to Clare Dillon, Head of the Developer and Platform Group at Microsoft Ireland.  Clare believes that the key to career success is to make career choices based on one’s own interests.  While she acknowledges that technology can be very male dominated, she has not encountered discrimination and she feels that the more women choose technology, the more positive the experience will be for all women.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/h6NNfrBbl1w[/youtube]

This is just one of the videos we recorded at today’s event. Others will be published next week, in the run up to International Women’s Day on Saturday 8 March.

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