Aaron Schnieder

Aaron has always been fascinated by the potential of technology.; both in its capacity to help organizations and provide opportunities for learning. Years ago, Aaron would say client-side JavaScript was his favorite technology to work with. Now, he says it’s an impossible choice; he has worked with so many interesting technologies, he can’t pick just one. Rather, he prefers to use all the technology and language at his disposal to solve challenging problems at a rapid pace. And the COVID-19 pandemic provided Aaron one such challenge – to build a tool enabling millions of people in the U.S. identify whether they exhibit COVID-19 symptoms The idea was to create a service from inception to live production within a matter of days that would help the CDC and medical communities communicate how to identify symptoms so people to would know when to seek help The Healthchecker is an example of what drives Aaron every day ; being a part of a team that quickly moves resources and energy to where it’s needed most.

In CSE, he sees technology being used in everything from making movies, to changing how traditional banking is done, to improving rhino conservation. He is always exploring new technologies and novel problems to help customers. Aaron believes that while you can work on interesting problems or technologies anywhere in the world, working with great people brings joy. Whether it is with his team or with the customers’ developers, every day he is engaging with people with varied experiences and backgrounds – having discussions about how to solve challenges from different perspectives. He still grows in his skills every day and thrives on investing in others in the same way.

Before Aaron joined the CSE at Microsoft, he spent 10 years in Hawaii, balancing life as a Director of Software Engineer and his passion for surfing. Though transitioning to Microsoft would mean that Aaron and his family would miss the sun and the surf in Hawaii, they missed their friends back home in Washington. Aaron still makes plenty of time to visit his favorite beaches and islands and to pass on his love of surfing to his son.