My experience attending Grace Hopper Conference 2022
This year I attended the Grace Hopper Conference. After declining the business program at my university and cementing my computer science studies, I decided that this was worth the investment, and I can confirm the experience was transformative. From the time the plane left the airport, I almost felt transcendence in a way, the symbolic departure and lift off almost representative of the freedom and possibility that I was yearning for.
Im a junior studying Computer Science. I heard about this conference last year, and was interested in attending it this year to broaden my understanding of the areas in tech, while meeting other women technologists as well.
I am a strong advocate for women in tech and am a current volunteer with the Society of women engineers in Toronto, and founder and president of the Women in Computer Science at Western, and Google Developer Student lead at Western University this year.
The goals that I had for this conference were to broaden my understanding of the areas of technology and meet with other women in tech. And I was able to do this through the experiences at the Bank of America excursion where I was able to meet exceptional peers, women in tech students who I now look up to as role models, but also to understand and interact with individuals who are in the tech industry. I learned how to pitch and the importance of doing the work to have something to pitch — takeaways which I hope will make 2023 an even more proactive year.
I also learned to travel and plan for myself. This was my 3rd independant travelling trip by this time, but going into new areas and navigating the city on public transit and moving around was a lot.
I also got to meet one of the Google SPS coordinators at GHC, Jess, who has only been supportive of my endeavors. The SPS program changed my mindset because I was surrounded by inspiring, motivated and driven peers who helped show and support me.
