Right now I’m on the plane ride home. Typing out all of the things we’ve done has made me realize what an event this really was. Also, I don’t know if these blog posts really capture the underlying theme and constant feeling of the convention – pure, raw, inspiration. Every single girl there had some awesome project they are working on, or some great accomplishment they have achieved, or some ingenious idea just waiting to be put into action. I feel confident I could have talked to any girl there (which I tried to do often) and had an intelligent, inspirational conversation. Women or not, these people were just incredible and it was wonderful being among them. This is an incredible convention and I fully support it – I’m sure next year will be just as awesome! If you think you might want to go, I would definitely recommend considering it – at the very least you’ll get some pretty cool free t-shirts!
Aleis: Day 3
Today everything was pretty much winding down. The career fair, which had gone on all three days, ended at 2. We happened to still be around, so we ended up getting a lot of free stuff that the companies still had and wanted to give away.
Around lunch time a few of us decided to explore Baltimore a bit. We walked around the harbor, shopped at the mall, and enjoyed a very interesting candy store. Good times!
Absolutely the best thing about Friday was the Rock-it Party. It was crazy. It was held in a science center, so there was stuff to do built into the facility. Also, as soon as we walked in we were greeted by a bunch of free stuff from Google and Microsoft – t-shirts, water bottle, glow sticks, etc. There were also pretty legit desserts, a raffle, and a dance party (which people did actually participate in). Overall a pretty cool night.
Aleis: Day 2
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!)
Aleis: Day 1
It’s hard to believe we fit so much into the first day, especially since our flight was delayed so our really didn’t get to the convention until the afternoon.
When we first got there we all registered. We each got our own name badge and a massive bag of free stuff. I had to hurry off and put up my poster. (You can sign up to presentation a poster in the poster session here [link] – highly recommended!) After that we grabbed some food from the “meal hall” (which really only had one restaurant open, but it had pretty decent options – I split a veggie burger with one of the other girls in our group). After eating we walked around a bit to get a feel for the building (it’s huge!) and then decided to stop by our hotel to drop off some of our stuff and take a quick nap. (We had gotten up at 7 after all.)
We headed back to the convention just in time for the career fair, which was awesome. Microsoft, Google, Intel, IBM, Facebook, Twitter – all of the big companies, along with some pretty cool but lesser known companies, were there, set up, trying to recruit us. Talking to the recruiters was super chill – they didn’t drill us on linked lists or anything. Everyone was just happy to be there and talk to each other about how awesome everything is and all of the opportunities we all have, both in their company and in general. And so much free stuff! And free food! (Good food, too, not just cereal bars or anything.)
Poster presentations were from 7:15 to 10, the same time as the career fair. Luckily my sister and I were able to trade off manning the poster while the other explored the fair and grabbed a box dinner. The poster presentations were also very chill – people just walked around and asked about the poster and our project, and we would tell them about it and answer their questions. Everyone was very supportive and excited about everything.
By the time we got back to our hotel we were exhausted and pretty much passed out as soon as our heads hit our pillows.
Aleis: Preparation
The days preceding Grace Hopper for me were a blur of exams. (I had all three of my midterms Monday and Tuesday and we left Wednesday morning.) I had pretty much no time to spare, so it was super awesome that the Duke staff involved in making Grace Hopper happen were so on top of things. We had a pre-departure meeting where they fed us and filled us in on the plan, and we all received emails requesting information on our preferences for the trip, like which airline we would prefer, but pretty much all arrangements were taken care of for us. (So I guess here is the appropriate place to send a huge thank you to everyone who helped with that – it has been greatly appreciated!)
Packing was easy enough. It’s funny, I brought a number of nicer blouses to wear and seem all impressive, but it was actually my Duke t-shirts that made the recruiters most interested. I also recommend having plenty of space for all of the free stuff you will be bringing back!
