During a recent visit to Spelman College, Davis pointed out that the IT industry is one that has not been hit by the economic downturn. “If you think about it, by year 2013, there will be a million more jobs [and] 13,000 more companies that will be associated with IT. Technology circles everything. Less than 20 years ago, there was no Internet, information superhighway and Wikipedia.”
Davis, who was a radio, television and production major, remembers an IBM recruiter visiting her college campus and being presented with the opportunity to earn either an entry-level salary of $28,000 annually working in IT or following her dream of being a weather girl, earning $12,000. She chose the former and, now, enjoys a fruitful career working in IT for 27 years now, to be exact.
“IBM came to campus and administered a logic test, and I scored relatively well. There are all kinds of ways that people can engage in technology. I sold hardware at IBM, sold software at LOTUS, have worked for a regional Bell company selling services and have led an offshore India-based consulting company while in Chicago,” she shares. “One of the things that I love about working at Microsoft is that I never get bored. I have this wonderful opportunity to do a whole host of things.”
This December, Davis will celebrate her 13th anniversary working with the technology giant. She reveals what persuaded her to want to join the company that she had previously viewed as a rival.
“I was pleasantly surprised to hear on the radio about the Gates Foundation’s commitment to childhood polio and putting billions of dollars into the AIDS vaccine. I had never worked for a company where their responsibility to the greater community was as big as what they did for a living. I decided, at that moment, that I truly wanted to work for a company that could impact the world. It wasn’t about me selling widgets, [but] it was about the philanthropy. The fact is we have some of the most incredible programs [available to us] as females. We have to think about where we are in our lives and, if the organization that you are working for is not providing what you need for where you are in life, I encourage [you] to think about what you need to reset and sustain yourself.”
Davis also put in quite a few shameless plugs for Microsoft, who, on May 27, 2011, will open its ninth store. “We are opening a Microsoft store at Lenox Mall [in Atlanta]. It’s the first store in the South as well as the East Coast. I encourage you to visit that store, where there will be 50-60 associates who will have the ability to help you to understand technology.”
A bold move to open a store where their rival, Apple, already has an 8,100-square-foot store and where the Sony Style boutique also calls home. “A lot of people tie us to Apple. I don’t know if folks are familiar, but the hottest gaming console in the marketplace is Xbox. A lot of folks forget about our Samsung devices that are less expensive and have more battery life than the Macbook Air,” Davis informs. –yvette caslin
