Grace hopper 2022 conference8/3/2023 What would you tell someone attending for the first time?ĭo your research beforehand. I had a realization, while I was at Grace Hopper, that I needed to get more exposure and see what other women in STEM are doing. There are so many applications of everything that we learn at MIT, and so many different directions that you can take the same knowledge and apply it in different ways. It was such a cross-disciplinary topic, and the woman presenting was the project lead for it. I went to a talk about the software engineering required for the low-latency trading systems at Goldman Sachs, which blew my mind. However, I still loved tech and loved everything I had learned through my engineering degrees, so I went to the conference with an extremely open mindset about how I could still incorporate a passion for tech into a career that is not strictly engineering. All my internships had been in EE and I was actively doing research for my EE MEng degree and thesis, but I started to realize that EE as a career path might not be best suited for me. I’d just gone through a type of mental breakdown where I was like, I don’t think I want to do engineering, but I don’t want to leave tech, so it was a really good time to do some job searching and find out what else is out there. I went to Grace Hopper with the motivation of exploring those opportunities and finding new things. Did any of the talks or panels you viewed, or people you met, spark curiosity about a new possible direction for you?ġ00 percent. Photo courtesy Jeanne Harabedian.Īs an early-career participant, the Grace Hopper is at least as much about exploring possibilities and networking as about presenting work. Jeanne Harabedian MEng ’22 says that “the Grace Hopper Celebration is one of the best places you could go and learn” about the possibilities of a tech career. The combination of students, early career professionals, and highly experienced professionals who all come to Grace Hopper create an extremely unique and effective space for learning about career development. She came to Grace Hopper to continue learning from others but to also be a sounding board and give advice to young / new professionals, like me. One person in particular that I talked to was really late in her career, who’d been doing project management for most of her life. People of all ages were asking questions, getting and giving advice, having really natural discussions. However, there were people with a lot of professional experience totally immersed in the learning sessions and talks-not just giving the presentations. I expected that the real “adults” there would be the ones running the conference, not mixed into the audience. The thing that surprised me in the group learning and talking sessions was the really wide range of ages and experiences. Since it was virtual, I didn’t know what to expect in terms of structure, but from a content perspective I knew there would be a career fair, talks from women in STEM, group sessions and presentations. ![]() What surprised you or contradicted your expectations about the Grace Hopper Conference? Jeanne Harabedian MEng ‘22 attended the Grace Hopper Conference virtually, but found the experience expanded her view of the possible outcomes her degree could give her. Now in its 28 th year, the annual Grace Hopper Celebration has a mission to support women at all levels of their STEM careers, whether they are just beginning to explore the possibilities that lie beyond graduation thinking about making a mid-career change or hoping to pass on valuable experiences and insights gleaned from a full career. But there’s one conference where the attendees have even more in common than the latest smartwatches. Photo credit: The Climate Reality Project on UnsplashĮvery year, tech and computer gatherings occur across the world, bringing thousands of name-tag-wearing coders and engineers to places like Silicon Valley and Las Vegas, where brightly lit convention centers boast the latest and greatest in groundbreaking technology.
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