Hey!
I'm Joel Nataren
I'm a Software Engineer at Microsoft within IDEAS, one of the largest data platform teams in the world processing petabytes of data. Besides work, I like exploring and keeping up to date with AI and AI technologies, and building and creating things. Welcome to my personal website—here you can learn more about me, my work and experience, and read any blogs or posts I put here.
Besides tech, I love playing musical instruments and serving at church with them, going to the gym and staying active with sports and activities, and trying new food with my girlfriend, family and friends.
Interests
Skills
A snapshot of tools and technologies I use most.
Data & Platforms
C#, .NET, KQL, SQL, Power BI, Azure data tooling, dashboards, monitoring.
Web & AI
TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Angular, Node.js, Python, RAG, LLM‑driven experiences.
Systems & Tools
C++, Git/GitHub, Firebase, Linux/Unix, HTML/CSS/SASS, Visual Studio Code.
Experience
Scroll down to reveal the timeline.
Feb 2025 – Present · Redmond, WA
Software Engineer · Microsoft · IDEAS
Building and improving large-scale data platform tooling that helps leaders at Microsoft understand impact, reliability, and performance across petabytes of data.
May 2024 – Jul 2024 · Redmond, WA
Software Engineer Intern · Microsoft
Developed an AI-powered documentation assistant using RAG to automatically detect compliance issues and reduce manual review time; delivered a functional prototype for internal testing.
May 2023 – Aug 2023 · Redmond, WA
Software Engineer Intern · Microsoft
Built an AI-driven Q&A experience with LLMs, Angular, Node.js, and TypeScript to improve answer relevance for internal users and reduce search time.
May 2022 – Aug 2022 · Redmond, WA
Explore Intern (SWE & PM) · Microsoft
Researched market needs, designed a new feature with Figma, and implemented it with React and TypeScript in a pod of interns, collaborating with PMs and engineers.
2021 – 2024 · East Lansing, MI
CoRe Peer Leader · Michigan State University
Mentored first-year engineering students, organized events with companies and faculty, and led workshops to support student success.