Stemettes partnered with Deutsche Bank to enable five UK students to attend the largest gathering of #womeninTech in the world for the fourth year running!
The Grace Hopper Celebration of 2019 did not disappoint.
Hadiyah, a first-year student of Mathematics at the University of Bath, is one of our STEMazing winners from our mentorship programme, Student to Stemette. Her aims for attending were the following:
- Gather more knowledge on careers in Computing
- Attend a variety of sessions so she can be guided into which modules to select in her 2nd year of Uni
- Hear from other women first-hand about their journey into the Tech space
- Hope for the feeling of empowerment to be around like-minded people
Follow Hadiyah’s journey below.
Since my first Stemettes event, the panel at NTT in October 2017, I have been inspired to bring awareness of these women to other girls and show them that, yes, that could be one of us! I have been running my own Stemillions club with 11-13-year-old girls since November 2017 and the Student to Stemette program has helped me focus on more personal (professional) problems – like choosing a university, dealing with imposter syndrome and dealing with rejection. Knowing that there are other women, who have tread on the path before you, or are currently doing so, is so helpful for me to motivate myself to keep going.
Being a member of the #STSFabeFive of 2019 has made me able to talk to loads of people I didn’t know, which helped me grow my confidence! I believe in myself a lot more now because of the honesty of the speakers and the attendees, they were so relatable.
I want everyone to know it’s okay to experience rejection, and it can work out for the best! A lot of the people I had spoken to had their applications rejected from countless jobs before finding their current situation. They used the rejection to motivate themselves by not taking it personally and knowing that it was not a reflection of their value or worth.
My tech knowledge increased, and so did my passion for learning. I met many software engineers and data analysts, both of which are jobs I’ve been considering, and I heard from people working in cyber security which are pretty new jobs. I want to learn more about cybersecurity both on a personal scale and a national scale. I kept hearing all about it, I met someone at a GHC booth in the Career Fair and they said in the age of the internet people are saying that privacy is dead, but it’s not.
This trip motivated me to continue going and trust the process. I’m going in the right direction, and all of the amazing speakers started precisely where I am right now. I’m more motivated for university and excited for my lectures. Seeing how all of these amazing women got terrific jobs with their coding knowledge, inspired me to learn to code! I’m happier and more confident in myself.
One of my favourite sessions was ‘Friend, not Foe’ I struggle a lot with imposter syndrome, and it’s difficult for me to see my accomplishments as accomplishments. It’s also difficult for me to know that it was me who achieved all of those fantastic things. The talk gave me a better understanding of myself, and if Michelle Obama gets imposter syndrome, then it’s okay that I do too. The discussion also focused on making your imposter syndrome, your friend, rather than eradicating it like a disease. I liked that.
Another fave session of mine was ‘How the Inner Imposter Gives Me Confidence and How to Intern: Six Golden Nuggets to a More Rewarding Internship Experience’ I enjoyed the Six Golden Nuggets because I’m looking for a summer internship and the speaker gave excellent advice. It is okay to feel nervous and anxious, but we must act despite that fear and not let discomfort stop us. Become comfortable with asking questions and ask for constant feedback. It’s given me a great baseline to start my internships.
To celebrate #AdaLovelaceDay19 meet first year Maths undergraduate Hadiyah studying at the University of Bath @UniOfBath
? Ask Hadiyah anything about studying Maths at university or attending the Grace Hopper Celebration in Orlando.#WomenInSTEM#STSFabFive#GHC19#ALD19 pic.twitter.com/fVgyR7XcPk
— Stemettes ® ?★ # + (@Stemettes) October 8, 2019
Thanks to Deutsche Bank for making this once-in-a-lifetime experience possible. To keep up-to-date on our upcoming events, head to Eventbrite.
