Several of us got up early and headed over to the Yahoo breakfast. They had some of their employees talk about their projects they are currently working on to give us an idea of what we could do if we worked with them. Immediately after that was the keynote speaker, which was quite inspirational and received rave reviews. (Definitely go to the keynote speakers!)
The best session of the day (in my opinion) was the “Letter to Myself,” which consisted of representatives from some major companies telling us about their mistakes along the way and what they wish they had known when they were still in our position. The speakers were really down to earth and fun to listen to. A lot of it was the same thing we’re told all the time, like networking and negotiating our salary, but there was a surprising number of useful tips I hadn’t really thought about before, like making sure people know the cool/impressive things you’re working on, even if it’s just in a quick email. It’s the only way people will find out.
My sister and I are NCWIT (National Center for Women in Technology) award winners, so we met up with them for a dinner/party they hosted. At some point I got interviewed by Microsoft for a documentary they were producing. It was fun, they just asked about what it’s like being a woman in technology and what I liked about these types of conventions. Also the mayor dropped by to welcome us to Baltimore, you know, no big deal.
In the evening there were once again excellent refreshments, which we took in to the award ceremony. All of the award winners had a little blurb read about them and each gave a short speech. Every person’s story was amazing and inspirational – it was hard to believe one person could have such an impact! (And that’s the way I felt about every award winner!)
