Abby Audet looks right at home writing code for Silicon Labs, but she’s not an employee. She’s a high school sophomore who writes code well beyond her years.
Jason Savage was the first at Silicon Labs to see the code. He told RCR Wireless News, “I showed it to some of the more programming-centric co-workers and they were kind of impressed, or really impressed, and I wouldn’t tell them we were looking at a young woman who just finished ninth grade.”
Savage, a senior manager for product test engineering at Silicon Labs, discovered Audet last year as part of the company’s program to encourage young coders.
The program is designed for eighth-grade students, but Savage made an exception for Audet, who was in the ninth grade, based on a trusted recommendation.
He said: “Abby had already finished the eighth grade when I started the program in 2014 and the GT, gifted/talented, teacher I work with for this program, she told me, ‘You have to meet Abby.’ ”
Audet says it all came as a surprise.
“They actually didn’t really tell me what was going on while it was going on, so I came to meet and have lunch with Jason and we were just talking,” she said. “At that time it was going to be a just kind of come visit for a day thing and then he asked for a sample of my code, so I sent it to him.”
The code started circulating and the coders at Silicon Labs were impressed, even before they knew who had written it. “They loved it,” Savage said, “and when I would drop the bomb on them and say she’s 15 years old, they would say what can we do to get her in here to get some more experience?”
It turned into a groundbreaking opportunity for Audet. She became the first-ever paid high school intern at Silicon Labs where she wrote demos for one of the MCUs and met with the marketing team.
“Across the board, everyone that met Abby, [noticed] the way she carried herself professionally,” Savage said. “Most people didn’t know she was a ninth grader.”
He hopes that Audet’s story will be the first of many because there is a great need of up-and-coming coders.
“Silicon Labs really needs a lot more programming students for the products we’re generating these years,” he said, believing the program could solve that problem.
“When you have success across the board, it sort of opens the doors to do it this summer and many summers from now,” Savage explained, “and hopefully grow the program where we may have several high school students working here writing code for Silicon Labs. That would be my ultimate goal.”
If those students are anything like Audet, the future looks bright.
The whole experience, she said “Was like wow. It kind of keeps you motivated, like if I study hard enough and I keep with this then this is where I could end up.”
The program started in spring 2014 with 100 students. It is expected to grow to 300 students this year.
