GET Exploration Day: Building Pathways into Chicago Tech

For those not wholly familiar with the world of tech, gaining access to the industry can be daunting. There are plenty of myths out there about the level of education needed to obtain a tech role. And if you’re part of a marginalized community — particularly women, transgender, non-binary, and/or BIPOC — you may face the added worry of wondering whether there is really a place for you an industry that is overwhelmingly occupied by white, cisgender men.

Here at GET Cities Chicago, one of our goals is to create a community where early-career and aspiring technologists can have their most pressing questions about the tech industry addressed, find others on a similar journey, and truly see themselves — in all their intersectional, joyful glory — reflected in the tech world. And I’m thrilled to say that after our inaugural GET Exploration Day, that community just grew so much bigger.

About GET Exploration Day

When designing GET Exploration Day, one of the questions at the forefront of our minds was, “how do you build a community of early career technologists in a global pandemic?”

Our solution was a gamified virtual event space, designed to expose Chicago-based students and early-career tech professionals to the different pathways through tech, increase their industry knowledge, and provide them with tangible next steps on their tech journey. Over 50 participants from historically marginalized genders and races joined us for this event, co-sponsored by Verizon, and hosted in conjunction with Think Chicago Homecoming and Crux Collective. Together, we enjoyed a full four hours of learning, skill-building, community, laughing and having fun.

Upon entering the virtual space, attendees were met with a grand entrance hall that detailed GET Cities’ overarching mission and provided the day’s full agenda. After a brief welcome from our GET Cities Chicago Director Elle Ramel, Exploration Day participants were allowed to fully explore all that the virtual space had to offer.

The only “structured” parts of the day were two workshops, which served as opportunities for essential skill-building for the new and aspiring technologists. We know that, too often, traditionally underestimated folks are barred from professional development opportunities and spaces where they can refine their skills, ask questions, and bounce ideas off experienced professionals. We wanted to specifically design spaces and host these opportunities in a way that centers women, transgender, nonbinary, and BIPOC folks’ journeys.

The two workshops were facilitated by long-time GET supporters and tech wizards, Katie Edmonds, Marina Malaguti and Chelsea Troy. Workshop participants were able to learn specific techniques to develop their technological skill sets and were given valuable advice on how to ask the right questions and develop routines designed to push yourself to keep learning and growing in a chosen field.

Beyond the workshops, attendees could move freely between seven different rooms:

• The cinema room allowed users to watch two of our videos that detailed the experiences within the GET Chicago Fellowship program. You can view both of those videos here and here.
• The games room encouraged collaboration and out-of-the-box thinking by making the participants work together to solve a variety of puzzles.

• The karaoke room allowed attendees to show off their singing abilities, providing a selection of the most popular karaoke hits.
• The debate room allowed everyone to voice their opinions on different tech-related issues of today, including questions such as “Does technology bring us closer together?” and “Will the use of cryptocurrency become more widespread in the future?”

• The speed match-making helped Exploration Day attendees forge new connections by giving them the opportunity to speak one-on-one with a GET Cities staff member or volunteer for a casual chat about any topic of their choice.
• The hang-out room served as a lounge area where anyone could join at any time and chat with whomever else entered the room.
• The meditation room provided calming, ambient music and a peaceful visual landscape to allow attendees to take a break from the business of the day and enjoy a moment to themselves.

Everyone came together over lunch (courtesy of an UberEats voucher on GET Cities) for the day’s keynote speaker Brenna Berman, CEO and Executive Director of City Tech. Brenna gave an impactful talk about her tech journey and the role that Chicago’s tech ecosystem played in her career, both personally and professionally. She shared a number of resources that were useful to her along the way, along with insights on how new and/or young technologists could make the right connections and gain access to the city’s larger tech community. Something she described as one of her favorite things about the Chicago tech community is that just about everyone, if asked, would be willing to meet you for a coffee. Brenna has often used this as a way to build her own network, and emphasized that she tries to be very generous with her time when someone asks her. If you’d like to watch Brenna’s full keynote, you can do so here.

Polls taken throughout the day showed that most participants left the day with a greater sense of connection and community, increased knowledge of where to go for help with professional development, and the ability to see themselves as part of Chicago’s tech ecosystem. Elle closed us out by re-sharing resources and assuring attendees that this event did not have to be their last interaction with GET Cities. In fact, one attendee, Cynthia DeLira, recently joined GET Cities as an intern after learning about the job opening during Exploration Day.

There are a hundred things I loved about our inaugural GET Exploration Day. Chief among them was the magic I witnessed in the informal games, karaoke, and debate rooms, where students and early-career folks were mixed in with prominent members of the Chicago tech ecosystem. It was in these spaces that we really saw our community flourish and open itself to new members, ideas, and conversations.

The burning question after events such as these is always “what comes next?” We’re in the process of creating online channels/groups where all the participants can reconnect with the people they met at Exploration Day, collaborate with their peers, learn about job openings and skill-building opportunities, and stay in touch with our GET Cities team. If you’re someone who wasn’t able to join Exploration Day this time around, don’t feel too let down; we’re planning a plethora of future events to continue introducing new Chicago-based technologists to our quickly growing community. To stay updated on these opportunities, visit our website, join our mailing list and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Last but certainly not least, I have to give a special thank you to all the outside collaborators that helped make this event such a success. We could not have pulled Exploration Day together so perfectly without their help.

Event Partners: Verizon, Crux Collective

Workshop Facilitators: Chelsea Troy, Marina Malaguti, Katie Edmonds

Keynote Speaker: Brenna Berman

Participating Organizations: Chi Hack Night, Latinas in Tech, BWISE

Volunteers: Cristal Casellas, Lynette Colombo, Gabby Williams, Shannon Stuttles