In high school, Burner was a National Merit Scholar. She worked multiple jobs, both part-time and full-time, to earn her way through Harvard University, graduating in 1996 with a B.A. in computer science with a special field of economics. Following graduation, she became co-founder, keyboardist and co-songwriter of Ossian's Ride, the world's first (and last) Heavy Celtic Space Punk band. She also briefly attended law school at the University of Washington in 2004. Her jobs included working for Lotus Development, Asymetrix, and, starting in 2000, as a lead product manager for Microsoft .NET.