Degrees: Bachelor’s degree, OSU in computer science and speech communications, master’s degree, Carnegie Mellon in human/computer interaction.
Proud achievement: "One great thing about software is you can truly come up with the next great thing and have it in people’s hands in a relatively brief period of time. The capacity to quickly invent valuable ideas is incredible. When I started at Microsoft, I worked on Side Show, which is a tool to keep you aware of what’s going on in the world. We sent it out to the Microsoft community to test, and thousands of employees downloaded it, it was really popular. Now, it’s in Windows Vista. This was the first project I did out of school, and now it ships on millions of computers throughout the world. In the course of my work, I’ve filed about 15 patent inventions, and I’ve been granted three in just 8 years. Pretty cool."
Listen to JJ Cadiz on proud achievement
Early interest: "In kindergarten there was a really old computer in the back of the classroom that you could play around on in your free time, and I remember thinking that it was kind of cool. When I got older, I realized you could program it to do whatever you wanted. I was lucky, I never had those big questions of ‘what is my major going to be’, I always knew it would be computer science.”
Pathways: “In high school (Gresham High) I was on the Debate Team. That was the start of my interest in studying how people communicate, which developed into how people communicate with computers. The key to building software that is useful and usable is to deeply understand people.”
Listen to JJ Cadiz on pathways
Current Position: “I’ve been at Microsoft eight years, since I graduated. My focus is on how to make software useful and usable for people. It’s very interdisciplinary, and we leverage multiple people’s talents to combine computer science, psychology and design.”
Biggest challenges as an undergraduate: “The physics and electricity class! It is literally the toughest thing I’ve done to date, in terms of stress and difficulty. I failed the first midterm, but experience had taught me to keep studying hard. It was a big confidence builder, when I figured it out and realized that I could do these very complicated things. If I could get through that, I can get through anything!”
Computer science urban legends: “There’s a myth that computer science is anti-social, but it’s actually the opposite. We engage in social problem solving, which is exactly what it sounds like, a group of people getting together to solve problems. With most of the issues we tackle, it’s understood that no one person can solve the problem. If you could see a day in my life, you’d see that it’s social, it’s ‘let’s get together and figure out how to solve this thing.’ I mean, if you don’t have people skills, you can’t do the job.”
Listen to JJ Cadiz on CS urban legends
To the high school students out there: “Take all the computer programming, math and science classes you can. Add in some public speaking, psychology, other courses like that. Any group projects, or extracurricular activities that involve teamwork, like sports, are helpful too. There’s such a need for computer scientists! We want people who are willing to work hard and learn. And the financial upsides are pretty good too. I’ve had to worry about a lot of things in my life, but money isn’t one of them anymore.”
When you have free time: “My wife and I bowl in a league, and I really like digital photography. I also do a lot of volunteer work. I used to coach a debate team and now I’m on the board of the Seattle Debate Foundation, which works to bring debate teams to inner city schools.”
Favorite online game: “Halo 3, although less for the gaming than as a way to stay in touch with people. I play with high school and college friends who now live throughout the US, whom I wouldn’t normally get to talk to on a regular basis.”
Someone you’d like to meet: “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I went to his national historic site, and not only did he have a vision to change the world, but he figured out a way to get that vision implemented in a way that society was able to take. Other leaders haven’t always figured that step out. He was able to lead people to follow those principles, even in the face of huge opposition, because he understood and valued people. That is what solves problems, and that’s the type of leadership and creativity we need more of.”