Highlights of My Experience at the Women Who Code Manila Tech Summit 2018
When I started working in the tech industry, I was bursting with excitement. I know and I believe that I’m on the right track. However, as time goes by, I feel intimidated and insecure because we, as women in the tech industry, have a very low percentage in terms of number. This is why I told myself, “I need to do something about it.”
That’s when I joined Women Who Code Manila. I registered on Meetup (An online site to meet and make connections with a group of people who have a shared purpose or interest), but it took I think almost one year before I got past my shyness to get involved in their events. Also, I didn't know what to expect. However, after the very first event that I attended, I felt really fulfilled. I was motivated and inspired by a lot of women excelling in the tech industry. That’s why I continue to attend their events.
This year, Women Who Code Manila brought to us one of their biggest events, the “Women Who Code Manila Tech Summit 2018 – Innovate, Level Up, and Grow”
I was like, Wow!! Overwhelming. Imagine, 32 amazing women gathered in one big room.
The event consisted of Keynotes, Breakout Sessions, Lunch Talks, and Panel Talks. Breakout sessions were divided into 3 rooms, each with different topics such as Innovate, Level Up, and Grow.
In general, each session talked about best practices, new technologies, leadership, and soft skills that can help us grow in our career.
Here are the talks I attended:
Finding your voice
Ms. Chell Gray, Director of Growth, Thinking Machines
Why Why ReactJS?
Kate Banez, Front-End Engineer
Exploring the New Realities: Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
Patricia Cabacang, Application Development Team Lead
Basic Natural Language Processing(NLP) Pipeline in Python
Image by: WWCode Manila
Jolly Ann Bilad, Junior Data Scientist
Innovation’s Infinite Realities and Us (Lunch Talk)
Image by: WWCode Manila
Pauline Baterna, VP for externals, Developers’ Society Philippines
Adopting the Right Attitude Towards UX Design
Image by: WWCode Manila
Joanna Mae Javier, User Experience Designer
Breaking the Silence, Making the Pitch and Hitting the Podium
Image by: WWCode Manila
Dr. Jen Elmaco, Country Representative
The Art of Asking
Image by: WWCode Manila
Renee Santos, Associate Director
Overcoming the Nice Girl Syndrome
Image by: WWCode Manila
Koree Monteloyola, Founder, Full Stack Developer
Panel Talks
Women Tech Leaders shared their experiences before they become where they are right now. They also shared their tips to become successful in the tech industry.
Check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/
To make the conference more fun and exciting, they prepared side activities in order for us to maximize the summit. Here is the list of their side activities:
Complete your summit Bucket list and get your limited-edition Women Who Code Manila 2019 Planner.
This was one of my favorite activities because in order for you to complete the checklist at the back of your customized ID, you had to be active and friendly throughout the event.
Grow your network. This is where you connect, make friends and mingle with other amazing women in the event and get to know them and their purpose for joining the tech summit.
Social Media Quest. They prepared social media contest that consists of some simple or trivia questions announced by the host throughout the event on Twitter or Facebook.
Don’t forget to post with the hashtags: #WWCodeManilaTechSummit2018#
Pick a prize or Guess the Number challenge + Raffle. Here, they had a fishbowl wherein you had to pick one piece of paper. If you were lucky enough, you won prizes based on what’s written on the paper. But if it happened that the paper you got has the words “Try Again”, there was still another chance but this time, you had to guess how many Ping-Pong balls there were in a cylindrical container. Those who guessed closest to the right answer got a prize.
After Party. They prepared Board Games, Console Games, Mobile Games, Card Games, and More + Light Dinner and Drink. While enjoying, you could mingle and meet new friends.
Overall, it was a great experience. I got teary-eyed in every talk I had listened to. I told myself, this is what I needed the most, to be inspired and motivated, to continue excelling and growing as a person. Their success stories and passion and love for their field made me want to also be the best in my field.
At the end of the day, everyone deserves the opportunity to pursue a career in technology, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, disability, or military service.