My Experience with GHCI
GraceHopper celebration is one of the biggest celebrations of women in technology. It is conducted by AnitaB.org and ACM. Every year the conference will be held in Bangalore in the month of November.
I have attended GHCI career fare in the year 2017, and it has been a great experience overall.
I have attended GHCI in the year 2017, and it has been a great experience overall. I have tried to describe every session I attend in short (in the interest of saving time for readers).
Never the less if you still want to get best out of this blog, directly jump to “Extra perks” section
Day 1:
KeyNote speech:
by Pankajam Sridevi, Managing Director, ANZ Bengaluru
She was an amazing lady, and that I could tell by listening to her life story. Listening to her I have realized that her generation has put so much effort into making life easier for us. There were no events like GHCI/ WIT etc back then and discrimination was at its peak. Hence we should use these opportunities wisely.
Conversational Intelligence session:
which was about hardwired ability in all humans to connect, engage and navigate with others. Speed Mentoring Session: We were divided into groups on 5 and each group had a women mentor to whom we could any question we have in mind. One of the ladies I met there is still in connection with me and continues to be my mentor.
Microsoft Networking Session:
which I attended during my lunch and was pretty boring as they were just promoting Microsoft and why you should join it.
Poster Presentation:
This is the best place to be if you want to know what people are up to, and how far they can think of. Some of the projects described there were really amazing.
Career Fair:
Almost every big company you could imagine of is present there, and I think it will take complete one day If you want to visit every stall.
Day 2:
Keynote Speech:
by Dr. Rebecca Parsons, Chief Technology Officer, ThoughtWorks. She described what all languages she has learned and some motivational quotes.
Find Your Inner Tech Talk Topic in 60 Minutes TRACK: CAREER MASTERY:
This was a really nice session because in 60 min, through some activities they help me find what could be my Tech Talk Topic. (Enough of career mastery sessions)
Track: big data, IoT, and the cloud:
I did a mistake while choosing this session as it was of intermediate level, so many things were difficult to understand, but still, I managed.
Track: artificial intelligence, data mining & machine learning:
This was a really nice session with practical/ hands on. I made lots of contacts here, by talking with people from different companies working in ML and AI (after the session).
Here you can look out for various opportunities where you can showcase your talent.
Poster session
Tech Expo (new)
Student scholarship
Paper Submission
Extra perks:
1. You get to meet lots of women excelling in their career. And hence you can grow your network. Some companies have their own networking lunch where you can talk to anyone in the company and ask about absolutely anything you want.
2. You get in touch with the latest technology and people working on them. Some ladies from different companies like IBM research labs, Microsoft, etc come and give a talk on trending topics like Machine Learning, AI etc. They also present the problem statement which they are currently solving or have solved so you also get to know what fields a company is currently focusing on.
3. One of the best things which I have attended was career mentoring session. There you can meet all types of people discussing all kinds of problems. You can ask them any questions like ‘what career path to choose’ or ‘how to handle Studies and sports’ or any other doubt you have in your mind. Ladies mentoring there are the best in their field. And you are guaranteed to get the best answer.
4. Hands-on sessions are really nice for beginners level.
Some tips/advice:
(PS. Please read all the points carefully, especially the last one)
1. About session, you choose to attend, choose them wisely, look for the level — (beginner/ Intermediate/advanced). They will keep overlapping sessions, so you cannot attend everything definitely. Besides, you will be willing to attend Career Fair too. So choose sessions of your choice from the agenda before going to GHCI itself.
2. And try to sit in the front when you attend any session.
3. Know about the speakers before attending the session itself, connect with them on LinkedIn if your career interest matches the work they are doing.
4. At networking events or receptions ensure you connect with as many people as you can. Know that it’s ok to say thank you and move to the next person! The idea is to “network”. You can always follow up with specific folks afterwards. If possible keep a track of all the people you have met and what you have discussed with them, it will help you follow up later on.
5. Carry a water bottle with you, there is no specific dress code for the conference, wear a decent and comfortable dress. (you will have to walk a lot so foot-wears should be comfortable as well).
You get to attend the career fair. Every big company you can think of is there. I would suggest few things specifically about career fair.
1. Keep your resume up to date and 10–15 hard copies of it in hand.
2. Keep your LinkedIn updated and connect to HRs if possible, then and there only.
3. Be presentable and ready for any kind of questions or on the spot interviews too.
4. Before going to the conference itself they open up a ‘resume database’. So apply your resume there. And respond to the company’s emails.
5. Do not take it lightly. They do recruit people. In my contact list itself, 5–6 out of 25–30 people who attended it got placed in good companies.
PS. Very very important: Don’t just run after goodies. It’s very disheartening to see ladies willing to attend this conference just for goodies. This conference is not about how many goodies you could catch hold of, for yourself and your male friends. It’s about connecting with people and grabbing the opportunity. Everyone notices everyone there. Don’t go there and demine your fame. And don’t speak ill of anyone there.