Heidi Williams: "History Repeating"
This Week's Guest: Heidi Williams
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
As someone who entered the world of Silicon Valley in the mid-1990s, Heidi Williams has witnessed constant changes within the tech industry—like having her company’s widely-used flagship product rendered obsolete practically overnight and dealing with an acquisition by a competitor.
So what did Heidi do? She rolled with the punches and her adaptability enabled her to stay with the same company for nearly 16 years—a rarity in today’s tech landscape.
In our fifth episode of season four, we discuss what led Heidi to choose coding as her career path and what it was like working at an upstart software company like Macromedia—before and after it was acquired by Adobe. You’ll also listen to Heidi talk about the complexities of transitioning from a smaller company to a much larger one practically overnight. Oh, and you’ll also hear her revisit her experience navigating the fallout from Apple single-handedly ending the internet’s widespread use of Flash with almost no real warning (remember that?), and how it ultimately led to a burgeoning interest in the business and marketing aspects of tech.
LINKS AND ARTICLES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Energy Project—A personal energy management class Heidi took during her time at Box that she highly recommends.
Sun SPARCstations—The old computer workstations Heidi (and plenty of others) used during the early 90s in computer science courses.
WEST Diversity & Inclusion—Founded by Heidi, WEST is a dynamic learning community for women in technology that aims to help them enter & flourish in technical roles.
USA Today Crossword—One of Heidi’s favorite daily crossword puzzle sources.
More About Our Guest
Head of B2B & Platform Engineering at Grammarly, Founder of WEST Diversity and Inclusion, LLC
Heidi is currently Head of Engineering for B2B & Platform at Grammarly. Prior to her role there, she served as VP of Platform Engineering at Box, which was preceded by her time at Macromedia and Adobe, where she spent over a decade in positions ranging from Senior Engineering Manager to Group Manager. During all of this, Heidi also found time in the midst of her work to earn three U.S. patents.
She is a founding member of Dreamers & Doers, a highly-curated, female-focused, collaboration and co-mentorship community, consisting of an ever-growing network of entrepreneurs, investors, and advisors. She also serves as an advisor at CaregivingHQ and Raise for Good.
Heidi is also the founder at WEST Diversity & Inclusion, a dynamic learning community designed by and for women in technology, whose mission is to help more women enter & flourish in technical roles through one-on-one mentorships and community development.
