Final Thoughts - Blog Posts

Grace Hopper Wrap Up: More Than Tech Swag

Hypocritically I have been posting pictures of all the neat swag collected at Grace Hopper Computing Conference (GHC) with just as much gusto as posting all that I have learned at the conference. GHC is so much more than swag - a unique conglomeration of ideas, tech unicorns and what is considered a rare commodity in industry, women. Here I share the coolest thing I learned about, how to make work welcoming to everyone, and final thoughts on GHC.

Robot Human Collaboration

Autonomous paints a picture of a robot working on its own driving, building products or even fetching coffee. Why should a robot be expected to complete a task on its own when we ask others for help all the time? With similar thinking Carnegie Mellon University has developed collaborative robots called CoBot complete tasks be asking humans and other robots for assistance. CoBot rolls around the halls of the computer science department, with the offices layout memorized. COBOT can escort a human to a professor's office pressing buttons on the elevator and letting COBOT know when its on the correct floor. A CoBot that is instructed to go to a professors' office upstairs can be alerted by another CoBot that the professor is currently out of office. Watch the CoBot's artificial intelligence work in action.

Make Work Welcoming

You may expect the nailing of 95 thesis by women of the tech industry explaining how work can be welcoming. Honestly making the work environment welcoming to everyone is pretty simple. There are probably more but here are the top three most focused on.  

1) Celebrate Results And Not Hours - America is prideful of long hours and drinking lots of Starbucks. However, long hours doesn't necessarily efficient. Reward your employees and team mates for successes. be mindful that their hours fluctuate dues to personal matters and simply having a life outside of work.

2) Paid Parent Leave - Who doesn't want to spend time with their kid? This improvement is a no-brainer.

3) Mentorship - Talent can be retained in a company by providing mentorship all throughout your career. People oriented and extroverted individuals may seek mentors naturally as well as seek to mentor others. As team and project leaders encourage those who may not

Final Thoughts on Grace Hopper Conference

Visually I could not imagine the support and number of women in technology at this conference. There were 12,000 women including a collection of engineers, software designers, project managers, CEOs, CTOs, start up leaders, programmers, and much more. GHC's majority is easily the minority and industry so solutions to solve this disparity were found. One solution discussed at GHC that show immediate impact includes showing others how fun technology can be through mentorship, hosting coding camps, visiting past schools to talk to current students, and holding maker challenges. Physically sitting down with someone and spending time to share a piece of the world of technology with them means so much more than any tweet, post and plea of advocacy. GET ACTIVE!

Well that solves the pipeline problem but retaining those interested in tech in tech roles can be achieved by making the work environments welcoming as shown above. When receiving my swag bag day one at GHC I pulled out a smart phone accessory with the Go Daddy logo on it thinking, "What on Earth is that company doing in my Grace Hopper bag?". A question backed by series of not so appealing ads. This question answered after Go Daddy CEO apologized for the companies actions and showed data on how they are improving company culture, Maybe this demonstration was a little clunky but still an attempt to right wrong, expose companies short comings, and move forward. Having conversations, coming up with solutions and following through is what it is all about.

Conference content wise I personally wish I attended more technical related talks as opposed to soft skill and leadership related talks. I found myself getting my tech fix by visiting the career fair booths with coding challenges. Yes, I am an Amazon Code ninja who now understands the magic of a static variable, inheritance rules and function following. Also fellow coders and I solved Best Buy's parsing challenge as well as finding all of the wrong answers. I consider attending GHC again in the future and bringing some more Minnesotans along with me.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

Host an hour of code party

Join a FIRST Robotics Team

Host a made with code party

Attend Square coding camp

Build Rube Goldberg machines

Join NCWIT (National Center for Women in Information Technology) Aspirations in Computing Community