Peggy (Semmler) Beck grew up in Custer, South Dakota, a small tourist town. The fifth of six children, she worked at odd jobs to save money for college; in addition, good grades and a low family income earned her grants and scholarships. In both high school and college, Peggy was outgoing; she enjoyed sports, drama, Christian fellowship groups, band, and choir. She attended the University of Minnesota, Morris (UMM), a small liberal arts college where she earned degrees in both computer science and mathematics in 1988. According to Peggy, "Working part-time for three years at UMM's Computing Services Center exposed me to many different systems and built my confidence in my abilities."
One of the resumes Peggy sent to potential employers upon graduation produced a job offer from Hewlett-Packard (HP); she packed her bags for California. Peggy interviewed for three different positions within HP's operating systems lab for their test engineer, boot engineer, and release engineer. A test engineer develops and runs tests to find problems in the operating system software. A boot engineer tries to resolve problems discovered during the start-up and running of the system. A release engineer measures the effort and time it takes to release new versions of software and manages and improves the processes used to release the software. "A release engineer was the best fit for me," says Peggy, "because the job involves multi-tasking and people skills. Multi-tasking means doing several things at once."
Peggy has spent seven exciting years in release management with HP. Each year her responsibilities and income have grown. She now manages the releases of the operating system and spends time negotiating with internal partners and upper management for resources and schedule trade-offs. Little of her time is spent programming; however, her technical knowledge has been critical in understanding issues and making decisions. She encourages those interested in computer science to learn about the many types of jobs that use those skills, and to understand that even software developers spend only half their time programming. "My job has allowed me to use my technical knowledge as well as my liberal arts background to full advantage," says Peggy. "I use the problem-solving skills to resolve complex issues surrounding a release; I use my liberal arts background to understand our customers' perspectives and to determine how to meet their needs."
Peggy met her husband, John, at HP in 1991. They recently bought a home in San Jose where they live with their dog, Opal. In their free time, they enjoy hiking, movies, and traveling. Peggy also dabbles in roller-blading and photography.