Women Who Build — Malinda Scott

An interview with Malinda Scott of our Denver Build Center

This is the fourth in our series about Women Who Build (WW_B) — an internal Slalom Build community focused on recruiting and retaining the best technical talent and dispensing with the idea that tech is non-inclusive. With a mission “to engage, inspire, and encourage every Slalom woman to achieve her full and unique potential”, WW_B is supporting female technologists across the organization, and throughout their careers. Check out more of our WW_B profiles here.

Meet Malinda Scott, a Practice Area Lead in our Denver Build Center.

Where did your career start?

In 2000 in hard drive firmware testing tools.

What drew you to the tech industry?

Money and stability, initially. I was a dancer prior, and my brother was in tech. Guess who was making more money… I had an “anything you can do I can do better” moment and went back to school for a CS degree. That’s where I rediscovered my love for making tech work for people.

What was a high-impact event in your career that’s shaped who you are today?

There have been many but making the switch into tech was transformative. I followed the pattern of loving computers in elementary school and completely rejecting them in middle school (this is typical of girls in western culture over the last several decades). Rediscovering my love for technology reminded me that I am both things — a dancer and a nerd.

What brings you joy in your work?

Seeing other people succeed and grow, figuring out difficult problems, and being a support to my clients, leadership, and reports.

What brought you to Slalom?

The idea of building a team of smart professionals from the ground up to do fun and innovative work. The people seemed pretty awesome, too.

What’s the vibe of your market?

I would describe Denver as “Casual but Focused.” We are kind to one another and there isn’t a strong sense of rank, but when the work needs to be done, we all work together and play our part.

If you were Queen for a day — what are the top 5 things you’d do with that power?

1. Take care of basic needs for ALL people (universal health care, universal parental and sick leave, livable minimum wage)

2. Sleep ’til noon

3. Dance ’til dawn

4. Knight all the dogs

5. Prosper

Malinda is one of many inspiring women that Slalom Build is proud to have as part of the team. We’ll be bringing more stories from these exceptional individuals as we continue in our series of Women Who Build.