4 Unforgettable experience at GHC17 as a first timer
GHC18 Scholarship application has officially opened! As a scholar from Cambodia to attend GHC17 last year, I want to share my personal experiences and what I love the most about the conference.
First, let me explain briefly about GHC. GHC stands for Grace Hopper Celebration of women in computing which is the largest conference that gathers women around the world who are interested in or currently pursuing career or education in the field of computer science and engineering regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or color. It consists of numerous sessions, networking events, and many more. Now let me share about my top 4 favorite things about GHC17, it will be in no particular order.
1. The Keynotes
The keynote was the first thing in the morning, and it’s happening everyday featuring inspiring speakers like Debbie Sterling - Founder and CEO of Goldieblox, Mary Spio - Founder and CEO of CEEK VR, Diane Greene- Founder and CEO of VMware, etc. The first day, I thought that it’s definitely not a problem for me to wake up early and get a good seat because of the different timezone. After having some breakfast, I was more than half an hour early and excitedly approaching the keynote hall. Much to my surprise, once I reached there, there were already long rows of about thousands of people waiting in front of me. It was — way beyond overwhelming, especially when the people in front of me are all women of different nations, and I saw on their t-shirts or badges that they are from IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, Amazon, Facebook, and many other giant tech companies. It was just like a dream to me.
While waiting for the gate to open, everyone started conversing and sharing their stories with one another. I, on the other hand, just stood there, awkward as I’m from a culture which is more reserved. I did somehow manage to talk to a few people along the way.
Though the wait was long, what to come was absolutely worth it. The speeches were very interesting that I was engulfed into it from the beginning until the end. The speakers shared inspiring stories about how they have overcome their hardship and become who they are today. I still have some favorite quotes from my favorite speakers such as:
“There’s nothing wrong with being a princess, we just think girls can build their own castles too.” — Debbie Sterling
“Don’t clip your wings to fit into someone else’s mold of you.” — Mary Spio
2. Networking Meals
Well, I wrote meals instead of events because I was actually there for the meals, yes, the free meals, and also out of curiosity how it would be like to dine with people from famous tech companies. However, when I was there, it was so much more than that.
My most favorite event would be the Facebook Pub Quiz Night. It was a whole lot of fun after a long day of continuously moving from one session to another. I thought that the quiz would be very much technically related, but it is not. Some questions are even about movies, just something general, only a few are technical-related. Thus, it was very chilling and fun. We enjoyed the food, had fun with the quiz and just talked.
In other networking events as well, everyone would share their experiences like how they got their job, what they like about their company, the technology there, what challenges they face being one of the few girls working or pursuing degree in tech, and recruiters would share what they look for in a candidate, so on and so forth. I have learnt a lot from different people with different perspectives about how I should prepare for my next step in life and also about how far ahead of the technology over there is. It was so much more than I had expected. Plus, the food was really great. My favorite one was from the iOS Dinner.
P.S: I’ve got access to the information about these events through slack group. Someone compiled this list and shared it there. Therefore, be sure to join slack group, whatsApp group, etc so that you won’t miss out on any important information. Most of these events are RSVP-ed, so if you want to join the ones organized by the top tech companies, make sure to RSVP as soon as possible.
3. Career Fair
The career fair floor plan was sent out in advance, so I have already planned where I should go first. Once I reached there though, my plan was ruined. Firstly, I got lost. It was huge, and there were so many companies that I ended up just wandering around. It was hard to find the booth that I had target nor the exit.
The original purpose of career fair is to find out more about career opportunities and apply for them. I was actually not confident, so I have only prepared several resumes and didn’t even manage to submit all of them. I regretted that. The technical interview is scary, and I wasn’t well-prepared, that’s why. However, I’ve heard that even if you didn’t do well in the interview, the interviewer would give you feedback and suggestions on how to improve yourself in the future, and I missed that chance. Therefore, now that there are still plenty of times left, I suggest to start preparing early. Be well-prepared for the interview, prepare your resume, and improve your technical skills. You can improve your algorithm and data structure skills by solving problems on HackerRank, LeetCode, Codefights, etc. Practice, practice, and practice. You can also practice coding on paper or on the board with your friends and give each other feedback as this will happen in the interview as well. As for the resume, you might ask others from groups like Ladies Storm Hackathons, WOMEN in STEM, or any other seniors to help review your resume and keep on polishing it. In addition, you may start doing a project now if you haven’t done any or participate in hackathons (There is currently a hackathon organized by AnitaB.org which the deadline is on March 1st, you may want to check it out.) as it will help in making your resume attractive. Recruiters will more likely to invite you to the interview if they see you passionately talking about the project you’ve done. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask questions. It shows how enthusiastic you are, and at the same time, you can learn more about the company. I was shy at first and didn’t talk much, but since I was already there, I thought that I should make the most out of the conference so I have tried to talk more and ask more questions over time.
P.S: If you’re a student, you may want to take a look at the agenda of Student Opportunity Lab — which has been renamed to Mentoring Circles this year. It is a round table talk where you can move from one table to another to discuss about your favorite topics related to landing a job, continue your education, etc. Recruiters will share interview tips and some useful resources there.
4. Swags
I definitely love the swags. Swag is a term I’ve just learnt from GHC that refers to the giveaways from the companies. It is not often you can receive giveaways from top tech companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and so on, so make sure to grab everything and keep them as souvenirs. Swags are available like almost everywhere at GHC, in the career fair, in sessions, and in the networking events. They’ve got a lot of cool stuffs like the fancy Google LED glasses and pins, the cute Mickey Mouse LED headband from Disney (It is my most favorite swag right now, I even wore it to Disney ❤), lots of power banks (When you grab power banks, make sure you can carry them all with you since it is not allowed in the check-luggage), lip balms, cool sunglasses, ghost plush from Snapchat, and many more. Be sure to prepare a huge luggage for all those swags. They will be something you can look back to and smile with the memory of that moment.
These are just my own personal preferences and experiences from my first GHC in 2017. I definitely want to join again, but I’m no longer eligible to apply. Thus, if you’re an undergraduate student, a graduate student or a faculty member, grab this chance and apply for the GHC18 scholarship! I wish you success, and if you have any concerns, don’t be afraid to approach me or any other former GHC-ers or just directly approach the GHC committees. We are all willing to help.
