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| Scholarship Winners @ Facebook offices before heading to Grace Hopper |
For those of you who don't know, there is a conference that
takes place every year called the "Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in
Computing." It's a little bit of a mouth full, but nonetheless an amazing
opportunity.
I've had the good fortune of winning a scholarship this year
to attend the conference. A resume submission and 2 short essays later, I
received an email from a Facebook recruiter titled "Congratulations!"
The scholarship includes a two days of networking/ mentoring workshops and tech
talks at the Facebook NY office prior to the conference, a food stipend, travel
and lodging accommodations, and of course, registration for the conference.
My time in NYC was amazing. Sunday night a bus picked up all
of the scholarship recipients to go see Mama Mia! on broadway. It was an
awesome night, I have been to the city over a dozen times, but never seen a
broadway show.
Monday: Facebook in
the big apple
We had scheduled events starting at 9am. It wouldn't be a
complete NY experience without Lox & Bagel for breakfast, so that's exactly
what Facebook provided. We ate and chatted, and slowly woke up. The next few
hours were filled with tech talks, mentoring workshops, and interview
workshops. After those were all said and done, we were given boxed lunches and
given a generous 5 hours of free time before attending a mixer at the Facebook office
catered by a Bravo TV chef.
Tuesday: trip to
baltimore
We once again woke up early, this time at 8am (I'm starting
to see a trend) to get on a charter bus to drive to Baltimore for the
conference. I would say 80% of the girls
(and women) passed out on the bus from the early hours, and the packed schedule
the day prior. After we arrived in Baltimore, the rest of the day was free
time.
Wednesday: the start
of the conference
Registration began at 7am, which is the earliest to
date
that we've had to get up. My sister and I decided to sleep in and
register
later to avoid the early-bird lines. This was a mistake, because it
turned out
most people had the exact same idea as us. After we were finally able to
get
our name tags (and giant bag of swag I might add), we started going to
workshops. Workshops such as "Finding your dream job," "Graduate
school survival skills," and "how to influence without authority and
why it is important" led by leading women in the industry, filled the
day. There are several breaks of course, complete with snacks and
coffee.
In addition to the workshops, the conference comes jam
packed with a career fair with more than 40 companies in attendance, mentoring
sessions, special dinners with companies, and interviews onsite with most
companies. I'm sitting on one of the many comfortable couches
scattered
around the convention center, waiting for the next round of workshops to
begin.
As I look around me, I see a lot of girls just like me, with their
laptops
coding or watching videos, and others just chatting-- and it makes me
smile. I can't wait to see what the rest of the conference has to offer.
Regardless of what major you are, I highly recommend that
you attend a relevant conference at some point. It's a great opportunity to
meet people who share your passions, play hooky (I mean take a break) from
school, and have a lot of fun!
Want to know more about Grace Hopper? Contact us at awe@seas.upenn.edu
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