What is the purpose of this post?

  • Document the 2015 IIT GHC scholarship process and results
  • Information for possible future contributors to the scholarship fund

Previous post

Grace Hopper 2015 (pre-conference scholarship notes)

Improvement ideas for next year:

  • Flat & explicit promised reimbursement amount (no receipts required) for at-conference expenses, including travel days
  • At-conference expense reimbursements will be sent out after the end-of-conference summary is submitted (per-student)
  • Recruit and accept more scholarship donors, so that more students can be sponsored.

Rationalia

Why reimburse at-conference expenses?

Students often do not have enough disposable income to be sure of being able to travel from airport to conference, and buy food at the conference, etc. We do not want any students to have to self-select out of this opportunity because of economic hardship. As a student, I was lucky enough to not have to skip or delay meals due to money concerns, but I am very aware that this is not a universal experience.

Why specifically the Grace Hopper conference?

  • Mostly personal sentiment; it had a formative experience on me and my career. Being able to attend with Dr. Hood’s group was one of the more useful and informative individual experiences of my college career.
  • Sponsoring students to a conference is a more useful way of benefiting students than donating to the university directly.

Why not give the money to the university directly?

Because I do not believe that it would significantly benefit any current students.

What were the criteria for students to be accepted?

Numbers summary

A complete spreadsheet of last year’s expenses (anonymized) will be available to alumni interested in helping with conference expenses for future scholarship students.

The total reimbursed cost to all 5 students was $3940.95 (total) which is approximately $788.18 / student. Was it worth it? I think so. I don’t know how to tell

Conference Summaries

Summary Instructions

You might remember that in the first email you got about this, there was “5. After the conference, send me a 500- word writeup of your experiences”

This is really super important for us to be able to sponsor students to go next year.

It is not a strict word limit; feel free to go shorter or longer than 500 words. Please do this as soon as possible- before the end of the week. If it’s a choice between shorter and sooner, or longer and later, choose sooner. If later you remember more things to add, please send a second section later. :)

Please try to cover:

3 or more useful things that you got out of the conference (top 5 would be great)

Some things that you wish that you’d known ahead of time

Overall thoughts about computer science / the tech industry / future trends that you expect to see

Anything else

This will be used to show to potential contributors to the conference fund, and this year’s contributors in order to make them feel like they did something useful. Feel free to also publish your write-up in TechNews or IIT Today or whereever if you want.

Summary 1

When I first found out I won a scholarship to Grace Hopper, I’ll be honest, the first thing I thought was “Sweet! Free trip to Houston!” Travel has the ability to break me out of ruts, so I try to do it regularly, but it’s become a lot harder to do after I quit my job. I knew there would be a lot of companies that could be potential future employers, and I knew there would be some talks and some workshops. I figured there would be crappy, overpriced food, but I didn’t think it would be that overpriced. Luckily at the end of the first day we found the mall a few blocks away - since next year’s conference will be in Houston again, I’d definitely point students there for more food options during the conference. I’d also suggest trying to stay a little closer to the convention center. I think the spots closer to GRBCC were more expensive, so we got one of the more affordable spots within our budget. The Airbnb was a great experience though. The group you selected had diverse backgrounds, strengths, and weaknesses, so we were able to support and encourage each other. We talked about our strategy together, sometimes went to sessions or meals together, and reflected on our progress at the end of each day together. This conference was definitely a bonding experience, and for me, this was the most valuable part. [Name1] and [Name2] both told me they would join a lean-in circle if I start one, so I’m planning on doing that soon.

Since there were 5 of us we had to take uberXL or go in 2 separate trips, which added up. If you’re definitely going to sponsor a group next year, it might be worth reserving an Airbnb for the group ahead of time, or doing the application earlier, even if tickets aren’t on sale yet, to find something more affordable close to the center. I feel like uber took up a larger percentage of our daily stipend than I wanted it to. There was a bus that would have taken us directly to the convention center from where we were staying, but none of us had small bills to pay for it (and they don’t give you change. Being able to walk back and forth easily to take short breaks from the high- energy of the conference would have been preferable, I think.

Here are my top 5 useful things:

  • a group of women at IIT to talk to
  • encouragement from Sheryl Sandberg to start a lean-in circle at IIT
  • workshop: how to prepare your first lightning talk
  • data science lightning talks
  • that time Roman asked me to talk to him about my research, since no one has ever asked me to do that before (part of the reason is that it’s a new project, but it was still a cool experience)

Also, some other things that would have been good to know - about the free snacks and coffee between sessions and at the career fair. There were a few times where I ended up buying a crappy meal I didn’t want only to find out I could have gotten a snack if I just waited 15 minutes. Sure, some of it was junk food, but they had some reasonably healthy options, and it would have helped make it easier to stay within the daily budget to know we’d get some free snacks throughout the day.

I did not really intend on talking to companies before I arrived, and I don’t know why. But while I was there, and being around the other girls who were getting interviews and other positive feedback, I decided to use the opportunity to practice talking about myself. I ended up talking to both ThoughtWorks and Braintree, and plan to follow up with them about possible positions after graduation. I will admit that I didn’t thoroughly read through the links you sent until after I got home this weekend, but the ThoughtWorks Junior Developer program is looking more and more appealing to me the more I think about what I want to do after IIT. If you have any suggestions on how to get them to hire me, I’m all ears.

(Other notes about reimbursements:)

Thank you very much for the speedy reimbursement. When I tried getting reimbursed from IIT for [other thing] … it involved filling out a stupid paper form and waiting weeks. Paypal reimbursement within a day or two is way better!

Summary 2

Useful things I got out of the conference:

  • Met and networked with a Microsoft employee outside of the career fair. She offered pointers on my academic journey as a CS major. She is now part of my linked in network.
  • The presentations were compact and dense. It was best to attend as many presentations in the subject matter you were interested in. These tend to be very technical. For example: There was one about the Apple watch & the IOS. Although the presentation was at a high level, enough details were given about IOS implementation that made you think about what future trends lie ahead not just with Apple but with wearables technology in general.
  • The workshops were more “soft” in nature. For example: the empowering machine learning was more about the accolades of the TAMU group and how you can bring that back to your respective organization. It was not a technical in nature. In the future, I will avoid these sorts of workshops.
  • Understanding what the GHC career fair actually is:
    • Place to get swag
    • Place to practice your elevator pitch – even to the same company over multiple days. Since there are so many attendees, the likeliness that they remember you can be minimal. So if the first pitch you deliver isn’t as you’d like, you can try again the next day on someone else at the same booth.
    • Place to practice the impromptu interview
    • By Friday, many of the people working at the booths seemed overwhelmed or tired. It was better to talk to the organizations or companies you were really interested in on Wednesday (the 1st day of the career fair).

Some things I wish I’d known ahead of time:

  • Know what you want to apply for ahead of time. Even if you can’t decide between the UI vs Backend vs more project management. And want to explore everything. Have the strategy in place before GHC.
  • Submit the resume EARLY. This way you can start the conversations with the companies even before GHC career fair.
  • Even though you’ve done your homework on the company, let the person give their spiel. This will give you insight as to whether or not they even interview at the conference. Also lets you know if you’re talking to pure HR or technical person.
  • The bigger they are, the less likely you can get a straight answer. Ex: GE is so big that it is best to research them from a high level. For example, GE Health group was there but had limited spots for internships. Digging around, I found out that GE is making a big acquisition from Halliburton by year’s end, they will be growing their oil and gas holdings. This also means they may be more likely to squeeze another holding/ department. But they will still take your resume anyways.

Thoughts about the future:

  • CS is going to get more complicated. I’m just not sure how.

Summary 3

Attending the Grace Hopper conference was a new experience for me. I didn’t really know what to expect, the only experience I had being those of IIT’s career fairs, and those tend to be very busy, chaotic and strict (no professional clothing, no admission!). I have to admit that the first day I arrived at the convention center, I was a nervous wreck. Everyone but me seemed to know where they were going. That beginning day, it was also very chaotic. But as the day went on, I attended the panels I wanted to check out and was comforted by the informality and familiarity among all the attendees. Many attendees were even wearing jeans and t-shirts. I used the first day of the Career Fair to familiarize myself with the area. I walked around, talked to a couple booths, but mainly just observed others. The second and third day I had some great conversations with many companies and dropped off most of my resumes. I ended the convention feeling hopeful for the future and inspired to keep improving on my own. It’s important to know that this was not just an opportunity to talk to companies, it was also to expand my professional interests, prospects, and make some new contacts. Many people probably share my problem of building up courage to talk to strangers, even worse, potential employers, for a good 10-15 minutes before they have that 5 or 10 minute conversation. My advice to people like that would be to not take it so seriously, and really just try to smile as much as you can while you talk about your experience and interest. I wish I wasn’t as nervous at the beginning. In the future, hopefully many more girls choose computer science and start as early as they can. I was only exposed to it my senior year of high school, but I instantly knew this was the path for me. Hopefully, next year, more girls are sent to have an even better experience than me!

Summary 4

Going to this year’s GHC was an experience I’ll always remember. I’ve never been in a room with 50 female technologists, let alone 12,000! I spent most of my time at GHC talking to companies about internship opportunities and interviewing. Grace Hopper gave me the opportunity to talk to every company I was interested in at once. I gave out 25 resumes in a day, which means that I had facetime with 25 companies in a few hours. For perspective purposes, waiting in line to talk to Microsoft at IIT’s career fair would take an hour at least. I had five onsite interviews with Square, Microsoft, Facebook, Bloomberg, and Dell. The resume database was awesome — I was contacted by Square and Dell before GHC and began the interview process before the conference even began. I also attended an event at Lucky Strike for Square interview candidates and had a great time. It was awesome to get to know the engineers on a personal level and talk to other girls going through the same interview process. 1 month after GHC, I am proud to say that I am accepting my offer to intern as a software engineer at Bloomberg’s NYC office this summer.

Another great thing about GHC was the ability to reconnect with CS friends from around the country. I was able to see all of my female intern friends from Visa and a few female computer scientists from the Denver area that I met outside of work. My coworker Lauren and I had the same manager this summer and we were able to have coffee and catch up at the Visa booth. I had a great time getting to know our IIT group better as well. We are all in Carol’s Lean In circle, so we’ll be keeping in touch.

It’s really important that we continue sending female CS students to this conference. It’s empowering for us, but it’s also amazing for IIT. It felt great to know that I was representing IIT’s computer science program, interviewing side by side with students from the typical schools that companies recruit from and doing just as well. It was great to be an example to industry that IIT has computer science students who are excited about professional opportunities.

Thank you for this incredible opportunity. This opportunity made a big difference in my life and it only came to be because of you. Thanks for supporting us.

Summary 5

Attending the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing was a wonderful opportunity to meet other women in technology from all over the country. I walked away with professional connections, a few new friends, and a renewed inspiration to make a difference in the STEM fields.

Through its extensive career fair, I made connections at several universities that offer the PhD program I am interested in, talked with a few companies about summer internships, and much to my surprise, found two laboratories performing the research that I am interested in who have the kind of opportunities I am looking for. I certainly wasn’t expecting such diversity in the types of organizations who sent representatives, and was pleasantly surprised to get more out of the career fair than I bargained for.

The majority of the sessions were intriguing, as they focused on current research and technology, and how computing can be involved in so many different facets of society. Of course, some were more interesting than others. A few felt like a company was simply advertising their product, but the ones that focused on showing the audience the process rather than selling them the product really hit home. It highlighted the differences between the organizations, and gave a little insight into what it might be like to work in those kinds of environments.

As we attended this conference in a group, I think the experience was much more enjoyable because of it. We split up each day for the sessions and career fair, but we met up for dinners, and got to know each other over the course of the conference. Even though we all go to the same school, I don’t believe I would have ever crossed paths with most of these incredible women if it weren’t for this conference. Together, we are attempting to create a Lean In circle at IIT, so we can pool resources of as many women in technology on campus as possible.

All in all, I got a lot out of this experience, and I wouldn’t have had the chance to go if it weren’t for the funding we received. This is a fantastic program, and I would highly recommend it to any of my female classmates in computer science.

Winning applications

Out of 17 total applications, here are snippets from the 5 winning applications.

I’m currently finishing up my 2nd undergraduate year as a Computer Science student at IIT. Though the semester has officially ended, I’m still taking classes through my study abroad semester in Korea. Currently there, I am taking C Programming as well as Computer Graphics. It would be a great opportunity for me to attend the 2015 Grace Hopper conference, seeing as it has everything to do with my major. I’ve talked to a couple students who have attended it before and they strongly recommended that I try to attend as well. Not only would it improve me as a computer scientist through the workshops that I probably can’t take advantage of anywhere else, but it would also strengthen me as a networker and a potential employee. I don’t have a lot of work experience in my field and I’m hoping to leave with a few emails to contact. Being one of the few girls in my classes makes me want to prove myself not only to my my classmates, professors, but also to my parents who constantly pressure (or encourage!) me to do better.

I am a non-traditional transfer student and completed my first semester at IIT this spring. Having said that, I am undeterred in my chosen major: Computer Science. Recently, I met a CS student who attended the event last year. She could barely contain her excitement when she told me about the Grace Hopper Celebration. It was both contagious and inspiring. Witnessing her excitement and commitment to the discipline is a testament to the goals of GHC. I wish to attend the celebration because I believe that engagement and retention go hand in hand. The abundance of workshops and career fairs offered at the event are both prime opportunities for me to not only participate but become more engaged in technology. Attending the conference will provide me with an opportunity to learn more about the latest trends and developments in industry, government and academia. I believe the exposure to potential careers after graduation is just as important as understanding theoretical constructs presented in the classroom. Since industry leaders, both domestic and international, will be in attendance at this conference, I would have direct access to make connections and network with people I would not have on campus. Thank you for this opportunity. I hope to hear from you soon.

I’m a 3rd year computer science major at IIT. I wasn’t always a computer science major — I started as a mechanical engineer and decided to change my major after enjoying my required CS course. Becoming a CS major is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m really enjoying my classes— this past semester I took the second Intro to Java course, Data Structures, and Assembly programming. Next semester, I’ll be doing research and I’ll also be on the executive board of ACM, our CS professional organization. I’ll be taking Databases, Algorithms, and Systems Programming.

Last year, I missed the deadline for attending Grace Hopper, but I attended the Society of Women Engineers conference in LA. It was one of the best weekends of my life— I couldn’t believe how many opportunities there are for computer scientists. Soon after, I accepted my first summer internship at Visa’s Denver office. At Visa, I’m developing a WPF (C#/XAML) application that interfaces with web services to make generating test cards easier for developers.

All big conferences have amazing career opportunities, but I feel that Grace Hopper’s career fair has the most to offer. I’d hope to line up a few interviews during my time there. One of the things I’m most excited for is the opportunity to connect with other women in CS. I’ll also be able to reconnect with others that I’ve met through events in Chicago and at Visa. I’ve been thinking about starting an ACMW chapter at IIT and Grace Hopper would give me ideas, connections, and the motivation to make it happen.

My experience as a woman studying Computer Science at IIT has felt isolating at times, so I think this opportunity will be an amazing experience for whoever you select. That said, I hope it’s me!

I am mostly interested in attending this conference to meet other women in the field. I’m feeling torn at the moment, wondering if I really belong here. It’s becoming clear to me that what they say about women in tech is true, but do I want to do anything to change it? I’m not trying to be an activist but I find it so frustrating to work on group projects with men that neither communicate nor cooperate with me. It’s hard not to think that some of these men do not respect me, simply because I am a woman. I don’t think silence is productive, but also don’t want to be “that girl” or attract unwanted attention.