I've debated about writing this blog for a while, but what it comes down to is how passionate I am about this...

• What are we doing to change the world?
• What are we doing to build inclusivity?
• What are we doing to show our future generations what they're capable of?

Simply put, this is one of the things that I'm doing to answer these three questions (whilst partnering with some amazing ladies), and I want to share that journey.

 

Microsoft is great. One of the reasons why it's so great is our emphasis on philanthropy and nonprofits. We're greatly encouraged to volunteer, to give of our time and resources.

 

This led me to help champion Microsoft Small Basic (again, relying on the help of some amazing people). We banded together and led many hackathons. It led me to co-writing a Small Basic Book, to continue teaching kids to code. I even got to help teach this material in workshops (for elementary to high school) and at Bellevue College.

 

It also led us to partnering with IGNITE Worldwide, to teach girls how to code. (Microsoft was partnering with them since 2012, but our particular hackathon/v-team picked it up in February 2017.) Since then, we've grown to teach students in elementary school, middle school, and high school. We also expanded to teach students in field trips (at Microsoft), mobile workshops (at schools), and virtual workshops (online). It's a systematic approach, by going through the schools (targeting underprivileged areas and audiences), where we leave no girls behind. (Versus a solicitation-based approach, where you find random students who are willing, or their parents are, to get the student signed up for a workshop. It's important to use both approaches.) And finally, we grew more over COVID and quarantine to offer more than just coding to students... we now offer Cybersecurity, UX Design, Data Analytics, Technical Program Management, and How to Get a Job in Technology... all good topics to help students learn and potentially enter the technology industries.

 

Along the way, I've met some wonderful people (as you can imagine, many of them are women). Two of those wonderful women are Sailaja Malladi and Jessica Pearson. Sailaja had an idea to teach her profession (of mechanical engineering) to kids. And then I had the privilege of observing Jessica's talents in action, as we planned IGNITE events for girls. She was illustrating some fantastic women super heroes and it simply made sense to ask her to illustrate for our book. I really hope people enjoy her vibrant and fun colors and style in her illustrations. Like Sailaja, who is a leader in mechanical engineering and hardware, Jessica is a hero herself, a former software engineer and current technical program manager, who can also draw. It's always a pleasure to see someone pursue all the disciplines of software development, and to see her become a bit of a technology polymath.

 

And so, we got to work. The end result is a beautiful book that drives you forward with a simple and heartwarming story from Sailaja. Along the journey, you learn the basics of Mechanical Engineering, and you learn how to apply it to simple projects in life.

 

You also see how the characters handle core business principles, like working with others and collaborating together. I've been on some job interviews, where I suddenly realized that the interviewers weren't trying to find out if I was aggressive or a hard worker. They weren't trying to find out if I was the most skilled person at the job (although most interviews make this the priority). Sometimes, they were simply trying to find out how well I work with others. And in a lot of cases, that's a secret of success in the business world. And that's something this book really drives at... how to work through your emotions and collaborate with others.

 

Finally, we looked at diversity. At the core, this is about how women can do what they set their minds to, including being empowered into a field like Mechanical Engineering. You'll find that who you are (including race) should not hinder you or get in the way of your achievements. (Hopefully we make that message clear in our society, like it is in this book. And hopefully, people find allies to encourage and empower them in the process, like you'll find in this book, in a direct and simplified way.)

 

Regarding the language, we decided to simplify the language and focus on a few challenging words that broaden the student's understanding of the fields of mechanical engineering and technology in general. We also received help from language professionals to get the words right.

 

If I was to say one weakness of this book, I think it's the length. This book certainly has a lot of words, for a children's book (I've gotten this feedback as well). There are many children's books with a lot more words than this one, so it's not a unique problem to this book. And, truthfully, that was by design. It makes it a bit more of a challenge for a parent to find the time to read through more words to a child, or for a child to spend the time reading more words. However, because of that, we cover a lot of territory in explaining the language and skills of mechanical engineering, showing how to work through collaboration issues, and driving the story forward. 

 

I believe the simple but pure story provides a strong hook to move you through all the ground we cover in a simple 24-page children's book. 

 

She is M.E.: Meg the Mechanical Engineer

 

Available on Amazon.

 

by Sailaja Malladi (Author), Ed Price  (Author),and Jessica Pearson (Illustrator)

 

Synopsis: She is ME. A young girl named Meg learns that she too can be a mechanical engineer (ME) as she works through a project with her best friends. This story follows Meg, her best friend Ellie, and her adopted brother Ken on their new home planet of STEAMland. STEAMland is a scientific utopia planet where people from all over the galaxy come to live and learn disciplines in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. Meg and her friends get a valuable lesson about teamwork and collaboration while learning the basics of mechanical engineering as they create paper airplanes for a school project. In this inspiring story we learn that something as complicated sounding as mechanical engineering is not only fun, but it’s also something that kids of all ages, genders, and abilities can do!

 

About the Authors:

 

Sailaja Malladi has been a Mechanical Engineer (ME) for over a decade! She earned her MBA from Gies College of Business (University of Illinois), and she graduated with an MS in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University and a BE in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University.
 
Ed Price has worked at Microsoft for over 17 years, in various roles, including as an Engineering PM and a Technical Writer. He is currently a Publisher, where he helps lead Microsoft's efforts to publish reference architectures on the Azure Architecture Center, as well as online articles on Azure Cloud Adoption Framework and Azure Well-Architected Framework. He helped start and run a program (which is where Ed, Sailaja, and Jessica met) that teaches over 1K underprivileged girls how to code, every year (and they are also taught additional technology-based skillsets). Ed has an Associates in Art and Animation, a BS in Business Management, and an MBA in Technology Management. He has taught 30+ computer science and art classes at Bellevue College. Ed has helped publish 22 books, and he co-authored 7 books, including "Learn to Program with Small Basic" from No Starch Press (ages 10-14). See Ed's full bibliography and his author page on Amazon.com.
 
Jessica Pearson is an Engineering Program Manager at Microsoft and was a Software Development Engineer before that. Previously, she worked as an Engineer at Tableau for several years. In addition to a BS in Computer Science Engineering, she has an MBA in Business Analytics, with a 3.96 GPA! As our illustrator, Jessica brings her love of engineering and her passion for art to this book.

 

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