This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing. Grace Hopper is a three day event surrounding women in computing and technical fields. It was an amazing and tiring time. I saw some great talks about current research in computer science and discussions of the morality of virtual reality. I met some remarkable women during this time, and got to have conversations with many different students from a variety of backgrounds.
It was a whirlwind event, and on more than one occasion I had to sit in a corner on my iPad or computer and finish homework or just take a breather. There were a lot of people, in fact around 12,000 of them. I did not go alone, there were other Scripps Students at the event, as well as the cadre of Harvey Mudd students. Granted, keeping track of friends at a conference like this is difficult. Unless you are attending all the same sessions together there is the absolutely likelihood that you will rarely see them, and if you do, it will be only briefly.
What was perhaps the most overwhelming part, besides getting food during lunch time, was the career fair. Represented at the career fair were many of the biggest technology companies, as well as many graduate schools, labs, and other smaller companies. It was so overwhelming that I spent the first ten minutes wandering around with a slightly dazed look, clutching my resumes to my chest.
I eventually found myself in conversation with the representatives of various companies. To be fairly honest, I avoided some of the bigger companies because they were being mobbed by groups of women computer scientists. What I also found was that the people at the booths would often go out of their way to talk to you if they could. If you were lucky it would be people who would give you food, swag, coffee, or even better, an invite to a reception. Conversations with the people at the booths turned into an interrogation about when I was graduating, what I was studying, and what I was doing, want I wanted to do, and all while they were scribbling on the back of the resume that I just provided them. It was like speed dating, but with careers and my future.
It was difficult, not being a straight up computer science major, and not looking for a software engineering job. It involved actually talking and explaining what I want to do with my life, and convincing them that my major was a) important and b) they wanted to hire me for some sort of job somewhere in their company.
How I feel looking at all of the open job positions.
Thursday was the day that a majority of the private receptions were held and of course there were the coveted Apple and Google receptions. They were loud, flashy, and filled with a lot of people. There were smaller receptions with food, drinks, and the actual ability to converse with people from the sponsoring companies. It was like a continuation of speed dating, but slightly longer, and I had the feeling the stakes were a little higher. I made it through them though.
It was probably one of the most overwhelming and fabulous experiences of my life. There were so many wonderful new things I learned, and I got to go to some talks that really showed how various technologies can change the world and help people. I found many many new areas of interest and I met students, professors, and people in the industry who were fascinating to talk to, and who want to help me in the future. But, mostly I was glad that I didn’t have to wear business clothes and heels throughout this entire event.