What you missed out on. #GHC15

As you may know, I went to Grace Hopper Conference again this year. As usual I will you feel you in on what happened. Briefly Grace Hopper Conference is a celebration of Women technologists, attendants include mostly women and some men from all corners of the world. I’m not saying this literally, its not uncommon to find yourself in a group represented by all seven continents. #GHCMagic.

A bit of Houston

A bit of Houston

This year the conference took place in Houston, Texas was composed of top notch keynote and plenary speakers I have been yearning to hear from. You must recognize at least 2. These include Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, Megan Smith the CTO of America, Isis Anchalee the inventor of #ILookLikeAnEngineer, Hadi Partovi , the founder of code.org, Blake Irving the CEO of Godaddy.com, Susan Wocjicki the CEO of Youtube, Miral Kotb the CEO of ILuminate, Dr.Manuela M. Veloso of robotics.Each of them delivered great content, intellectually stimulating and engaging. After reading the book LeanIn I was impressed to hear Sheryl Sandberg, I was impressed by the fact that she knows her numbers and all her conclusions are data-driven. Miral Kotb wowed the crowd with her dance group – iLuminate – and the fact that the lighting effect as well as precise timing was made with code. Dr. Veloso left everyone imagining the world where robots will be as normal as laptop computers today. Blake Irving elaborated how much tech companies including his are changing to accommodate more women. We don’t exactly associate government with innovation but Megan Smith managed to convince us of how the IT sector in the US government is evolving. Check out all the keynote speeches here.

Sheryl Sandberg

Isis Anchalee

Grace Hopper has the perk of meeting you wouldn’t normally see. I call one of them the “3D Effect”. Its like seeing the 3D version of people you see online. I got to see Nat, one of the founder of Nat and Lo youtube channel, its really cool you should check it out.  I also got to speak to Maria Celeste Medina , the winner of the ABI (Anita Borg Institute) Change Agent Award for Impact in Developing Countries. Closer to home I got to see Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholars Alumni who are spreading their wings including Clara Sigh who was a keynote speaker, Dr. Marily Nika who was a session speaker and many more. Being a Google scholar myself I have big shoes to fill.

With Nat from Nat and Lo

With ABI award winner

In addition to the intellectually stimulating sessions at GHC I attended the sessions on building communities of Women in Technology. There has been a blast of Women in Tech societies such as Women Who Code , Girls who code, Womeng, including college societies. #WomenInTech is very trendy these days. Its important to understand why these communities are important. Sheryl Sandberg pointed out that peer mentoring is very crucial to increasing the number of women in technical and executive positions since it holds one accountable to one’s goals. I got to experience it first hand in the LeanIn session where we – total strangers - got to bond over a couple of activities.  Being the Vice Chairperson of the Women in Computer Science Society at the University of CapeTown, I got lots of ideas and contacts to enrich our society.

UCT was well represented at #GHC15

Grace Hopper is very exciting, every person you meet is open to connecting and has an interesting story. Networking happens everywhere,  in sessions, in the queue, the elevator, the restroom (yap) among others.  I have to admit that I felt the Impostor Syndrome hearing these women’s accomplishments. That’s not a bad thing since it’s enough motivation to follow their footsteps.

In all of the three days, the most recurring theme was that diversity is important. Being a minority in tech, it’s easy to feel lost and impostor syndrome. It is therefore very important to embrace diversity, as Isis Anchalee pointed out “We should have the ability to feel comfortable without hurting anybody, after all we all eat, sleep, love Beyonce and feel emotions” . Sheryl Sandberg pointed out that diverse organizations produce significantly more profits.I recommend Grace Hopper to all women in technical fields, come see kick-ass women excelling not only in their fields but also on the dance floor (see pictures below). If that’s not motivating enough, perhaps unlimited supply of swag will . ;)

Swagg!

#facesintech

PS: The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship EMEA is now open. I urge all girl college students t apply, no matter how unattainable it may seem. You got nothing to lose.