• Susie Armstrongさん
• クアルコムジャパン株式会社
  Senior Vice President, Engineering, Qualcomm Incorporated

My name is Susie Armstrong, SVP of Engineering at Qualcomm. My technical background is Ethernet, and implementing TCP/IP protocol stacks.
In 1994 I joined Qualcomm, where I lead the first packet data over CDMA – in 1997 we demonstrated Internet web surfing at 14.4 kpbs, and the Japan operators were some of the first to launch packet data! Later I led the SW group, and then Customer Engineering, commercializing our products into customer phones. Recently I moved to our Government Affairs group working on initiatives from security to STEM.

As a kid, I liked math and science, and wanted be a veterinarian. But I realized there was too much suffering, and I loved my first programming class. My parents were supportive of any field I chose, as long as I studied hard, it was professional, and I could make a living doing it.

I like to create (I sew, do letterpress, and glass beads), and engineering is another way of creating. You can hold up a mobile phone and tell your friends – my code is in this! Moving into management and working with our customers was also satisfying – technology is not useful unless you can commercialize it, and I worked with many wonderful people from many cultures.

I believe the most important things for a STEM career are:
- A good STEM educational background, and be open to changing, as you learn the possibilities.
- Learn to work with people - there are few careers where you work alone
- Realize that STEM is creative, and helps move the world forward!