Student Opportunity Lab

Last week at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (I can't believe it's already been a week!!), I attended the Student Opportunity Lab session. This session was geared towards undergrad and grad students looking for advice from resumes to career tips. The way it worked was that multiple tables were set up with one or two professionals at each table giving advice on their specific topic. You were given around 15-20 to talk with these mentors before switching to a new table and a new topic. When you walked in, you were given one of these map sheets that outlined what table was where.

I just wished they would have given us this sheet while standing in line for at least 10 minutes before going in.

(this was the line up ^) Instead, as you walked in, you were given the sheet and then you had to figure out the map before finding a table. I had a few tables in mind that I wanted to sit at (having had looked at the list of participants beforehand) but by the time I figured out where they were on the map, those tables were already full. Although I do have to say that that did work out to my advantage in the end because I ended up at some tables that weren't originally on my list but were still very interesting. 

I think the best table I attended was the updating your LinkedIn profile table. I didn't think I would really care about this one, but once all the switching occurred, it was one of the only tables with spots left so I went for it. I ended up learning some valuable lessons about LinkedIn. I never realized how important LinkedIn was for broadcasting your information - people use it more than I thought for hiring! Also, I didn't know selfies were such a big no-no! Luckily, LinkedIn was hosting a photoshoot at the career fair to get your headshot taken (I most definitely took them up on their offer - waiting for my picture to be uploaded!). I also had never heard of getting recommendations from people you worked for before, which is a great feature to have! I haven't had the chance yet, but I'll definitely be updating my profile with Amanda's tips as soon as I get some free time (you can see my profile here: Kristyn's LinkedIn)

I also attended a session about transitioning from school to work, one about cybersecurity as a career field, another about getting started in industry, and also undergraduate research internships. You can see more details about some of these sessions here: GHC Wiki. 

I wish I stayed a bit longer and gone to a few more tables (maybe more of the "Day in the Life of" tables), instead I left after about 2.5 hours since I was getting so sleepy. GHC, why must you be so crazy busy and tiring!! All in all, it was still a great learning experience!

GHC14: The Experience of a First-Timer - Part 3

If you haven't seen it yet, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of my GHC experience!

The Friday of the Grace Hopper Celebration I was up bright and early again for my 7:45am Hopper shift (which was a struggle after dancing the night away the night before). My job was the same as before - tell people where to sit for the keynote speaker. This time, I had this sign here to let people know if seats were still available where I was standing.

This time, I stuck around to hear the keynote: Dr. Arati Prabhakar, director of DARPA. She showed this video of how a quadriplegic lady was able to use her brain to control a robotic arm. I thought that was pretty neat! Technology has such amazing uses.

At the end of the keynote, they played this awesome video for next year's GHC in Houston! Made me super excited for 2015!

After I signed out of Hopper duties, I met back up with the others and we decided to do a last stroll through the career fair - in case we missed any good swag opportunities! Boy, am I glad we did. We were just walking along and I happened to see a camera guy walk by. I looked back and I saw Gillian Jacobs! If anyone doesn't know, she plays Britta from the TV show Community - which I happen to be a huge fan of. And as anyone that knows me can attest to, I'm a major fangirl when it comes to celebrities. So I may have had a mini panic attack when I saw her. Of course, the girls I were with didn't really know who she was so they couldn't appreciate my excitement. But I am super thankful for them (shoutout to Daphne and Lindsay!) because since they weren't fans, they didn't mind just walking up to her and asking for a picture (if it were just me, I would have just stood there starstruck instead of taking action). So thanks girls for this awesome picture! (also photo cred to Tess from ThoughtWorks!)

So that was awesome. Also at the career fair, we saw a few of those Intuit unicorns (they were having a contest where if you see a stuffed unicorn at the conference, snap a pic and tweet them for a chance to win something). We did all this and I got a favourite, so I thought maybe I could win one of the cute little unicorns (I mean look how adorable they are!!)

Unfortunately, we just missed out by a few minutes - they had given them all away already :( We were very disappointed. So we left the career fair and headed for lunch at the food court. Before the sessions were about to begin again, we took pictures (and a selfie) to commemorate our GHC experience!

I then went to the Presentations in Security session. You can see the notes for this sessions here: GHC Wiki. I thought it was pretty fascinating how they were able to find cyber criminals in underground forums by looking at their different writing styles. I've always found computer forensics to be super interesting so to see that their work actually led to finding criminal doppelgängers is awesome!

After a cookie break, I attended my last session at GHC14: a second Presentations in Security that introduced cryptography. I thought this session would give me some insight for my project in my cryptography class that I am currently taking, but it was more of a introduction to the basics of crypto - which was still helpful! It reinforced what I already knew.

Once the last session was over, (sad face :( ) we all met up at the ABI Communities dinner, before heading to the final celebration of Grace Hopper!! I was sad to see it coming to an end. The days just flew right by, before I could catch my breath - and some sleep! While not everything went exactly as I planned, I think it was still an amazing opportunity. Every now and then I would just look around - on the escalator, at the keynotes, in line for lunch - and just try to grasp the fact that every one of these women are just like me. Maybe we all have different backgrounds and maybe we come from different places in the world, but we all have the same struggles - the struggle to fit in, the struggle to be confident, the struggle to have faith in ourselves - and the same goal - to find equality for men and women. While we may all be here for various reasons, we still all have this ultimate goal: to celebrate being women in computing. We can debate all day about what was said and done, what is right or wrong, but at the end of day, the Grace Hopper Celebration is just that - a Celebration. A celebration of where we've been, where we are now, and where we can go next.

And Friday night was just that - a huge celebration! With dancing, glow sticks, good food, raffles, free shirts, and photo-ops - we all came together to celebrate ourselves. It was a fabulous ending to a fantastic event.

Although the Grace Hopper Celebration may be over, the celebration of women in computing never ends - each and every one of us should celebrate ourselves each and every day!



Also, I will be heading to ONCWIC in 2 weeks - our own mini version of GHC in Ontario! If you are from Canada, feel free to check it out!

GHC14: The Experience of a First-Timer - Part 2

If you haven't seen it yet, check out Part 1 of my GHC experience here!

My second day of the Grace Hopper Celebration started off with the keynote speaker (as an audience member this time instead of a Hopper!). The special guest GHC hinted about ended up being Megan Smith! I know this didn't come as a surprise to some people, but I was happy since I had never heard her speak before. (in case any one doesn't know - Megan Smith is the newly appointed Chief Technology Officer of the USA) Such an inspiring woman.

After her short speech, came the much anticipated conversation panel between Satya Nadella and Maria Klawe. While there has been much controversy about this session, I think it was still pretty awesome for a CEO of such a large company to participate in GHC. Yes, he may have said some things that can be taken negatively, but I think he was just misinterpreted. Maybe I'm just gullible and naive, but I do believe he didn't mean some of the things he said. I'm not taking anything personal.

Anyway, moving on. It turns out, the day before I had left my folder of resumes at the bag check so afterwards, I headed there to see if there was anyway it may have still been there. To my dismay, they were thrown in the garbage… I’m ashamed to say I did take the folder out of the garbage can to survey the damage. Unfortunately, coffee had been spilled on the one side of the folder. Thankfully, I managed to recover two resumes from the pile, but all the rest were destroyed. I was pretty upset since I had photocopied many copies and now I couldn’t give them out to all the companies I had wanted to, especially since I didn’t get to many booths the first day because of the crowds. (Note for next year: keep extra copies in different places as not to lose them all) I tried not to dwell on it too much and headed to the biometrics: cool or creepy? session. My main take from that was definitely cool: I like the idea that we can use our bodies - which are unique to ourselves - as security. Instead of having to remember that damn password that has to have a lowercase, uppercase, digit, symbol, punctuation and a math equation, we could use our DNA - which we have with us all the time. Okay, yes, someone can cut your finger off and use your fingerprint. But how likely is that to happen? I like to think not very often.

Anyway, I left a bit early (I like to avoid the crowds) and headed to the career fair once again. This time I went by my self (which was kind of a big deal to me - I don't usually do this kind of networking on my own) and gave out the two resumes I had saved.

Surprisingly, I did well on my own, getting quite a bit of swag as well as some great conversations. I was glad that many booths had tablets set up where you could put in your information instead of giving a resume. Obviously a resume gives them a better sense of who you are but at least I had my info out there. I found it to be a struggle though when they would ask me what I'm looking for/interested in. At this point, I don't really have any idea what I want to do, and I'm not hugely interested in one domain. I mean, yes, I'm in the software engineering stream, and I have some experience with mobile and web development and back end stuff. But as a passion? I don't have any clue. I thought maybe looking through the different booths at GHC would give me some inspiration, but I feel even more confused now - there's so many different areas, how am I to choose?

After getting tired of the career fair, I went to have lunch (I packed the second half of the sandwich from the boxed dinner from the night before - I felt so thrifty!) and to relax for a bit. I took this time to FaceTime my parents back home and unwind before the next sessions started up again. At one point I even took a 30 minute nap accidentally!

The next session I attended was Lightning Talks in HCI. I found the lightning talks to be a bit too fast for me - I didn't always completely understand what they were presenting. But there was a neat talk on how dance is affected by technology, and another one about the fandom culture on Tumblr. As a Tumblr user myself, I thought it was pretty cool how they researched Doctor Who, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter fans and their "feels" on Tumblr to predict viewer tendencies. You can see my notes on these presentations as well as the others here: GHC Wiki.

Afterwards, I then met up with the other Carleton girls and walked back to the hotel to freshen up before the evening entertainment. We went back to attend the Girl Rising film festival series. If you haven't checked it out already, do it: girlrising.com. We only got a sneak peek at GHC, but I really want to see the whole film now. Once I get caught in my school work, it's the first thing I'm going to do. Such an incredible story.

Afterwards, we headed to the dance party. Now, don't get me wrong, I hate dancing. I suck at it, and I'm wayyy too awkward for it. And I was not feeling it at all - at the beginning. There were tons of people there and I just didn't want to dance. But then Shake it Off by Taylor Swift came on (which is my JAM) and I couldn't go back. I had to join in. And am I glad I did! It was so much fun! Everyone was laughing away, pulling the craziest and stupidest moves - but no one cared! It was great.

Eventually, I just got too tired and too hot from all the movin’ and shakin’ so we headed back to the hotel for bedtime.

Next up - my final day of GHC! 

GHC14: The Experience of a First-Timer - Part 1

This past week has been an incredible whirlwind of events! With speakers and Hopper duties and networking - there was barely anytime to think! Through the craziness that was Grace Hopper though, I still had an amazing time that I will never forget!

Our journey didn't start on the greatest note - the first flight was delayed for an hour in Ottawa and then an additional 2 hours in Chicago. You could say we weren't too pleased. By the time we arrived in Phoenix, cabbed to the Budge Lodge and then checked in to our room, we had been travelling for over 14 hours! (with the time differences) (Side note: when I say "we" and "our", I'm referring to the other ladies I was travelling with. You can see some of their blogs here: Gail Carmichael, Daphne Ong, Lindsay Bangs, Daniella Niyonkuru)

The next morning we were up early to get registered and to get our swag bag. Then we headed to the Communities meeting (check out the blog here: http://gracehopper.org/ghc-community-blog/), which I had to leave early to get to the Hoppers meeting (as a Hopper, I volunteer at the conference to get my registration fee for free!). My first Hopper duty was to help lead people to their seats during the first big keynote session. Walking into the huge hall with 8000 empty seats, it was jaw-dropping.

I couldn't believe all these seats were going to be filled!! I didn't realize until that moment how much GHC had expanded. Although this was my first year, it's still incredible to know that attendance had doubled! After waiting around and making some new friends (shoutout to @claire_janelle!), attendees started filtering in. Soon enough, the room was almost all filled!

Once everyone was settled, our shift was over so we headed back to sign out and return these lovely red Hopper vests!

We just relaxed for awhile, checking out our swag bag and program guide (see my later post for all the free stuff I snagged!) until it was lunch time. GHC had this neat food court setup where you could get all different types of food - I went with tacos (it had the shortest line and I was hungry!). After lunch, I headed to the Student Opportunity Lab (Edit: see this post for details!). I left a little early so I could check in my bag before the Career Fair Launch (for only $2 it was worth it to not have to lug around my laptop!). I met back up with some of the girls I came with and waited in line to get into the Career Fair. Once the doors opened, it was like a store opening on Black Friday - a mob of people running to booths they're looking for. I knew it was going to be madness, but I was not prepared for the real thing. There were so many people in there, I was kind of feeling claustrophobic! We tried our best to get through the crowd and talk to as many people at as many booths as we could. My one regret was not having a plan going in. We just walked around haphazardly, missing many booths. That being said, I still gave out quite a few resumes and managed to get enough stuff for the first day it was opened. Eventually, we took a break and had a boxed dinner that GHC provided for us.

At 8pm, I had a paired interview planned with ThoughtWorks (they had contacted me beforehand). For my first interview ever, I think it went okay! (crossing my fingers I hear back!) By the time that was over, it was getting late and we all headed back to the hotel to recharge for the next day.

I'll share my second day at GHC in my next post!

The Journey Begins

After countless hours planning and organizing, Grace Hopper is finally here! I am currently waiting at the Ottawa airport for our flight to Phoenix. Unfortunately we have a layover in Chicago, so we'll only be arriving later in the evening. I'll most likely be heading straight to bed for an early morning tomorrow. Tomorrow!! I can't believe I'm actually saying that. I can't wait to meet some amazing women and hopefully get some insight for my future career. GHC here we come!! 

The GHC Excitement Sets In

The closer it gets to GHC, the more and more people I'm telling about it. "Hey I just met you but guess where I'll be in 10 days!!" Okay, maybe not quite like that but everyone that I do talk to know where I'll be from October 7-12. I'm just so excited! Not only is it a mini-vacation from school-life, it's such an amazing opportunity. Networking, hearing inspirational speakers, making new friends - and who could forget the swag bag and dance party! - it's a chance to discover, innovate, and celebrate. I can't wait to learn about the careers of other women in the tech field and how they've built their success. In particular, I'm looking forward to the Student Opportunity Lab where I can hopefully gain new insights as a student entering the work force, or potentially graduate studies. (Grad school isn't on the top of my list, but maybe I'll learn more that would change my mind!) I'm looking forward to going in with an open mind and see how the three days unfold! Although I'm usually a master-planner, I think I need to keep it simple and go with the flow, as not to be disappointed if things don't go exactly as I imagined. There's so much to see and do, I don't think you can go wrong whatever your experience is! The number one goal is to enjoy myself and make the most of each day! 

Countdown to GHC is on!

There's exactly 2 weeks until I will be in Phoenix, Arizona attending the Grace Hopper Conference! I can't believe how fast times flies! There's so much to do before then - assignments, tests, packing, planning - but it's going to be here in no time! Having already submitted my resume on the GHC resume database, I've already been contacted to meet up with different companies and organizations during the conference (I actually just got another email while writing this post!!). It's making me so excited for what's in store! At the same time, I'm also a bit nervous - there is going to be SO many people there, I hope it's not too overwhelming! And I also don't want to forgot anything essential at home (Phoenix to Ottawa is a bit of hike!). My plan is to get my school work done asap then start making lists for before and during the conference! Making lists tends to be always be my plan (I love lists.). I just have to remember to relax and enjoy myself - if I miss seeing something or someone, there's always next year! :)