Microsoft's quantum boss explains how she rose through the ranks at Microsoft and how to get a job in the hottest emerging tech field

• Julie Love helps run Microsoft's quantum computing business as its senior director of quantum business development.
• Microsoft is one of many companies trying to build quantum computers capable of processing exponentially more information than traditional computers.
• Quantum computing is in such early stages, much of it is still theoretical. It presents a big opportunity for people from many different disciplines to make a career in the field, which is expected to one day upend industries like finance, medicine, and retail.
• Love told Business Insider how she got to where she is, and what jobs are available in quantum computing.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Julie Love is one of the top names inside Microsoft. And what she works on is so technologically challenging, even Bill Gates has said it's beyond his comprehension.

Love runs Microsoft's emerging quantum computing business as the group's senior director. She was one of just five women physicists graduating in the discipline's class of 50 while pursuing her Ph.D.

Quantum computing is a type of computing that can process exponentially more information than traditional computers. The technology is in such early stages, much of it is still theoretical. However, when it hits the mainstream - likely in a few decades - it's expected to upend fields like finance, medicine, and cryptography, thanks to the sheer computing horsepower that only quantum-based systems can offer.

Love spoke with Business Insider about the opportunity that exists in quantum computing, and how to make a career out of one of the most important emerging industries.

The quantum computing opportunity

To understand the opportunity in quantum computing, it helps to understand a bit about how it works. The core of quantum computing centers around what are called "qubits," or quantum bits - essentially the building blocks of quantum computers.

Bits used by classical computers are binary, either "0" or "1," like a light switch that's either on or off. A qubit has infinite potential values. It's like a beach ball, Love said, with a "0" at one end and a "1" at the other and the surface representing all the values in between. It can exist in multiple states at once.

This theoretically allows quantum computers to process exponentially more information than a classical computer. Practical applications for quantum computing, Love said, could include solving hard problems like optimizing traffic in metropolitan areas and training machine learning models exponentially faster.

Scientists and technologists are still only on the cusp of quantum computing, Love said.

Microsoft is taking a unique approach to the technology. The company is building a topological qubit, which would fragment electrons to store information in multiple places at the same time. If it works, it would be more stable and less prone to collapse - solving a major challenge in the field today. While this technology is less proven than what rivals are building, Microsoft's approach could lead to a bigger payoff, experts say.

It's hard to give a timeline, Love said, of when quantum computing will become more tangible - but there are career opportunities in the space right now.

Building a diverse workforce

Love grew up in Nebraska and went to an all-girls Catholic school. By the time she completed her doctorate, she didn't have a defined career path.

"I left not really knowing what else to do," she said. "There weren't a lot of jobs in quantum computing."

Love first worked out of Yale University as a quantum physicist before landing a job in semiconductor manufacturing at McKinsey, ultimately taking her into the corporate world, then to Adobe and Microsoft. This is her second stint at Microsoft, and she also advises quantum startups.

Now, there are far more pathways to quantum computing jobs.

"The cool thing is it's so interdisciplinary," she said. "If was talking to a college student, I'd say, 'First and foremost, what are you excited to do? How do you want to spend your days? Do you want to be coming up with crazy new math? Do you want to do theoretical physics? Do you want to build stuff? Are you into mechanical engineering?"

In her work, Love said she encounters people across many disciplines, from theoretical physicists, mathematicians. chip designers, quantum chemists and all kinds of engineers from mechanical, electrical, software and cryogenic.

A crucial part of quantum computing, like any technology, will be including diverse backgrounds in its development. Engaging diverse employees is not only more equitable, but it improves the quality of the technology. Some facial recognition software built by mostly white engineers, for example, has failed to recognize black faces.

"We are baking bias into the system by not having women have a seat at the table and not having people of color at the table," Melinda Gates, who is an advocate for getting more women into engineering, has said of emerging technology like AI.

While Love said almost half of the people on Microsoft's quantum systems leadership are women, the company - much like the tech industry in general - still employs comparatively few women and people of color in technical roles.

Love said it's the company's responsibility, and her own personally, to make quantum computing accessible to all.

"We need to create our future workforce, and more than that, if you have something that's very elite and something only existing physicists can use, we're not going to tap into that broader, more diverse population," Love said. "That's a big part of why we're building in this way."

This interview is part of a partnership between Business Insider and Microsoft at the 2020 World Economic Forum. Business Insider editors independently decided on the topics broached and questions asked.