Introducing the First-Ever Chapter Director of TechTogether Chicago, Gabriella Miesner
Meet TechTogether Chicago’s first-ever Chapter Director, Gabriella Miesner! Gabriella (She/They) is a rising Sophomore at the University of Missouri majoring in Information Technology. She will be responsible for running TechTogether’s first hackathon for the Chicago community. Interested in joining TechTogether Chicago’s 2021–2022 organizing team? Learn more and apply here.
Hello! Please introduce yourself and your role in TechTogether.
My name is Gabriella and I am the Chapter Director of TechTogether Chicago. I am a rising Sophomore at the University of Missouri, majoring in Information Technology. I am super excited to be working with TechTogether Chicago in its inaugural year!
Why did you join the TechTogether organizing team? How can other students get involved with TechTogether?
I joined TechTogether’s organizing team because I had such a blast at HobbyHacks last summer and truly believe in their mission. Last year, I was a marketing organizer for TechTogether Seattle and brand ambassador for TechTogether as a whole. I had so much fun in both roles, getting to interact with so many different amazing people from across the country (and world) who were all passionate about the same things that I am. I decided to join the Chicago chapter as the Chapter Director because I wanted to continue to work with TechTogether, but in a place that was a little closer to home, so I felt that I was making an impact on my own community.
Other students can get involved with TechTogether as organizers if they live in or around cities where there are TechTogether chapters. I would definitely recommend applying to become an organizer if you are able and interested in it, as I have learned so much through my experience with TechTogether and grown so much as a person. If you don’t live near a TechTogether chapter, I would absolutely recommend attending one of TechTogether’s hackathons or workshops throughout the year. I have had so much fun at TechTogether’s hackathons — both learning new technical skills and competing with other hackers. I also love attending TechTogether workshops because they allow you to learn a new skill — whether that be how to negotiate a salary or Django!
What are you most excited about for TechTogether Chicago?
I am most excited about pulling TechTogether Chicago together and the whole experience of organizing a TechTogether hackathon again. There is something truly special about organizing a hackathon with your friends and seeing it all come together on the weekend of the hackathon. I am super excited to see what we are able to build in this first year of the TechTogether Chicago chapter. Something else I am looking forward to is being able to shape the hackathon in a unique way that speaks to me. I have never held a Director position in a hackathon before and I am really excited to get my hands dirty and create something incredible with the other organizers.
What is your favorite aspect of hackathons?
My favorite aspect of hackathons has to be the creation in a sole weekend. I absolutely love coming together with people you have (usually) just met and creating a project in such a short amount of time. I love the creativity that goes into prototyping an app and working with your team members to create and debug it over the course of the weekend. It is then so incredibly satisfying to see the fruit of your labors at the end of the weekend when creating a demo video and explaining the project to the judges or other hackers.
Can you tell me about your first hackathon experience?
My first hackathon experience was NASA Space Apps 2020. The hackathon was online, as COVID had already hit worldwide at that point, but the fact that the hackathon was online was what allowed me to attend in the first place. I teamed up with some friends I had made on discord from Google’s Computer Science Summer Institute and we built a website that helped people in quarantine cope. We used some tips from astronauts who had lived in isolation before to make our website and learned a lot while creating the website. We didn’t end up winning anything, but we had an absolute blast making a website in a weekend. After that weekend, I had gained a new interest in hackathons and was itching to attend more.
Do you have any advice for someone who’s interested in attending a hackathon but may be intimidated?
My advice would be to absolutely go for it, even if you feel a little nervous or anxious about the situation. Something I would definitely recommend if you are feeling a little hesitant is to get a friend to attend with you. Even if you don’t have any friends who have tech experience, I’d still recommend bringing them along, as a lot of hackathons (especially TechTogether ones) are incredibly welcoming to beginners and have a lot of workshops to help you learn along the way.
I think bringing a friend along is a great idea because you have someone there to help you ease your discomfort and also someone to help start building a team with. If the hackathon you are attending offers beginner workshops, definitely attend those. And finally, don’t be afraid to ask questions or admit you don’t know something — it will help you learn more in the end!
Any secret talents or hobbies?
When I’m not on my computer (which is most of the time), you can find me reading books, listening to podcasts about everything from income inequality to baboons, and occasionally painting (although I would definitely call painting a hobby rather than a talent). :)
What do you wish I had asked and what would be your answer to that question?
How did you get involved with tech?
My story of getting involved in tech is an incredibly long one, but I feel that it shows that your experience with technology doesn’t have to be linear. My first experience creating with tech started in about 6th grade when I created a now quite embarrassing book blog. I wanted to jazz up my website, so I began learning some basic HTML and CSS. While I enjoyed coding then, I didn’t really pursue anything related to tech for another four years, when I was a sophomore in high school. I attended a well-funded private high school, so I thought that I would really enjoy the computer science classes when I took them and that the curriculum would be great. I could not have been more wrong.
When I took visual basic programming my sophomore year of high school, I was incredibly bored and thought that I hated coding. So another year went by where I didn’t think STEM was for me. Then, in my junior year of high school, I applied for Kode with Klossy on a whim and by chance, got accepted. During those two weeks of camp, my entire perspective on tech completely changed. Not only did I learn the basics of iOS app development, but I was also shown that tech can be incredibly interesting and can make a lot of social impact too. After that, I was ready to dive completely into tech but still felt a little behind because I had discovered my interest in STEM so late.
To combat these feelings, I applied for and attended every opportunity that came my way. I shadowed industry professionals, attended coding meetups, went to Kode with Klossy a second time, attended a cool Google program where I made some awesome friends, and also attended a year-long Bootcamp, where I learned JavaScript and Java. Now, I am a rising sophomore majoring in Information Technology and doing what I love every day. What I think is so funny about my imposter syndrome from last year is that it led me to have an incredibly packed resume that makes me the opposite of an imposter.
Any final thoughts?
My closing remarks would be to tell anyone reading this that your journey with tech doesn’t have to be linear or traditional to be a successful one. My journey with tech is incredibly bumpy and isn’t very traditional, but I have still found success in my endeavors.
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