I'm a bit behind. What a surprise, I know. Hopefully I will get around to blogging about the fun things I have been up to over the past couple of weeks, but for now, here is an update of the most recent, and one of the most exciting, events.
I took a day off of work and participated in the first ever We Are GWE conference/summit. The event was designed to support, encourage, and empower Google women engineers (GWE), specifically interns. Essentially, it was Google's own mini Grace Hopper Conference. This photo pretty much sums it up! We are engineers and we are strong - WE ARE GWE!! <3
The intern team definitely did a good job making it feel like a conference. I probably only think that because it was a whole day of sessions and networking, and we even got a nice sweater and cute badges with our name, school, and schedule!
First things first, we were split up into teams of 10ish people and went outside to do some ice breakers. We started with the human knot - everybody gathers in a circle, and each person holds hands with two different people, and the goal is to untangle the knot (by twisting, turning, and stepping over/under each other's locked arms). The next activity was called All My Neighbors and was more of a "get to know everyone" ice breaker. One person stands in the middle of the circle and makes a statement that others may relate to (i.e. "all my neighbors who go to school on the west coast"). If the statement applied to anyone in the outer circle, the center person and those people had to run to find a different spot on the circle. The person who was left without a spot had to stay in the center and make the next statement. That might have been confusing. Oh well, I'm too lazy to rewrite it! haha
The first session, and the best of the day, was a Women Techmakers panel discussion. The panelists were top Google executives including a VP or Engineering, VP of Search and Assist, Product Management Director, and a couple of Engineering Directors. Each spoke about their early career experiences, lessons learned, and challenges faced on their way to success.
The second panel, was all about Google engineers who had recently began their Google careers, but had some early successes. It was also really interesting to hear experiences from people who were essentially our "near-peers".
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| Oh yeah! We're rocking our GWE badges. ;) |
It was finally time for a group photo, so all 100+ interns were herded to a shady spot!
The day ended with a party/mixer on the patio on main campus. There were lots of yummy snacks and desserts, a dance floor, and cute decorations. Each little table had a beautiful centerpiece and a card of with a short biography of women in history who have changed the face of technology/computer science. Just check out this little card about Grace Hopper:
"Developed the 1st compiler for a computer programming language, US Navy Rear Admiral, in 1973 became the 1st person from the USA and the 1st woman of any nationality to be made a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society, Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award 1964."
There was also a really fun photobooth that had cute props! Luckily, we were the first ones at the event, so we got first dibs and didn't have to wait in line. We are dorks, but I love these pictures! :)
Sometimes we all get caught up in life's challenges and lose some confidence along the way. This summit was a perfect way to remind myself and other interns that it's okay to be unsure of what we want to do with our lives, and that we should remember that we are fabulous (after all, we've made it this far)! Whether or not I end up working at Google, I know a few things: I am (and always will be) Googley, I have a passion for solving problems like an engineer, and I am a strong individual. I can only hope that one day I will end up right where I want to be.
"A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are made for." - Grace Hopper
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