Grace Hopper Celebration 2022

Grace Hopper Celebration this year was even better than I had imagined it would be. Having only experienced this event one time virtually prior to this trip, I was blown away by the in-person experience.
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This event provided a unique opportunity to network with industry professionals and student peers in the tech community from across the country. There was a large expo room where hundreds of companies had booths with eager employees to talk with about their company. It was intimidating at first, as this room was filled with thousands of people with varying levels of experience and knowledge. Luckily, I had a supportive group of peers on the trip with me who helped me get out of my comfort zone and feel confident networking. I talked to companies from all kinds of industries learning about different roles I could play in my career and even landed an internship for Summer 2023.
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This event also provided exceptional break-out sessions and presentations that will have a lasting impact on me throughout my time as a student and professional. One such session called “Neuro for Speed: Autonomous Racing with Brain-Inspired Hardware” particularly inspired me. The speaker detailed her research in creating an autonomous vehicle powered with technology designed to work like the neural networks in a brain. I have often felt discouraged that my background in biomedical engineering limits my knowledge and ability to innovate in the technology space as I have less specialization and depth in niche computing topics. The idea that the human body can provide insight into more efficient ways of producing technology-driven products blew my mind.
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Overall, feeling the presence and support of such a large community of women in technology made GHC so impactful.