Employee Spotlight

Anna Braun

What is your history with Volt?

This is my first contract with Volt, and it's been a really great experience so far. Everyone I’ve worked with, from my recruiter to my ER Rep to payroll, has been extremely friendly and helpful.

Which Group are you currently working in and what are you doing?

I work in AppCompat – I’m the dev for the automated library system that testers use to get the apps they need for compatability testing.

What do you like most about your job?

Every single day I get to learn something new! There are so many different parts to the system I work on that there is always something new to discover and things that can be improved. It keeps my work challenging and interesting!

What advice would you give to a new employee starting their first assignment at MS?

Learn how to use the command line! Besides being quick and efficient for many every day computing tasks, you really need to be comfortable with it to use some important internal tools here.

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in breaking into your field?

Know as much as you can about the area of programming you’re interested in, but also learn about the bigger picture and the technologies that area depends on. If you want to be a web developer, be an expert on HTML and ASP.NET and all that good stuff, but also understand the network and server your app runs on.

When you are not at work, what do you spend your time doing?

Photography takes up most of my free time. I mainly take digital photos, but I took a darkroom class recently and loved it so much I’m seriously thinking about setting up my own darkroom at home. I also love love love to travel. My next trip will be to Turkey and Egypt in August and I can’t wait!

Any other fun facts about yourself that you would like to share (example – any hidden talents?)

I’m pretty good at decorating cakes – writing with icing, making flowers etc. My mom took me to some cake decorating classes when I was little. I only do it once or twice a year now for very special occasions, but it always brings back fond memories of childhood.