Pre-GHC Prep

Most of my stay was in a shared room with Emily, Felicia, and Isabelle. We made sure to stay at hotels within walking distance of the conference center to avoid the hassle of Ubering or taking shuttles, and this was clutch. It also helped bring the price down. We also booked a hotel that had a tie-up with GHC, so we got a deal there.

Make sure to have different versions of your resume for different roles. I only had one since I was interested in software developer roles, but make sure to get it reviewed. We had an unofficial pre-GHC resume review session with Noble, where Felicia very kindly got my resume reviewed since I couldn’t make it—thanks, Felicia. I printed 50 copies, which was excessive since nobody was really accepting resumes.

Make sure to upload your resume on the AnitaB.org portal and apply for jobs from there. I was a bit late in doing so, so I might’ve been at a slight disadvantage.

Also, get an eSIM from apps like Klook. One-week plans are not that expensive and can be reimbursed.

I landed in Chicago around 4 PM and Ubered to our first hotel (if you are in a group taking the subway would be faster and cheaper). That night, I was sharing a room with Felicia, Aniyah, and Isabelle. We ended up grabbing some famous (maybe overhyped) deep-dish pizza and bonded over bruschetta.

Day 1

The opening ceremony was later in the afternoon, so we went around 11 AM to grab our badges. We were expecting huge lines, but we were in and out in 20 minutes max.

We then grabbed some coffee and headed to a pre-GHC mixer that we had gotten invites to. Here, we met fellow attendees and shared interests and plans for GHC. We also made an Instagram group chat where people sent links to Google Forms and shared information about unofficial events they were invited to.

Later, we attended the opening ceremony, where we heard from yourrichbff, Adam Cheyer (siri co-founder) and I was inspired by one of the speakers, who talked about how she had been through countless hardships but always persevered. That message really stayed with me.

At the end, there was a jumbotron, so all of us danced in front of it to get on the big TV.

We ended the day by getting some delicious pasta.

Day 2

This was the first day of the expo, and most of the time was spent standing in lines to meet people. I went to Prudential, where they took my resume (but nothing ever happened), and then to AWS, Amazon, etc. I realized I wasn’t able to have good conversations because I was so focused on pitching myself that I wasn’t asking interesting questions or being genuinely interested in the person I was talking to.

We had delicious Mexican food at Casa Tulum with Aniyah and Felicia.

I ended the day with a Brain Date about FinTech, where I learned how to ask deeper questions and make more meaningful connections. This Brain Date really energized and uplifted me for the next day.

On this day, we found out about a Workday meetup but weren’t invited. We went to the location anyway, and they signed us in on the spot. I had a lot of interesting conversations there as well.

Day 3

On this day, we went exactly at expo opening time to avoid the lines, and I had some really good conversations with people from Airbnb (this wasn’t a booth—someone on LinkedIn had posted about an unofficial meetup), Bloomberg, Uber, and LinkedIn. After each conversation, I made sure to note down their name and a key point from our conversation so I could message them later with that detail to jog their memory.

I skipped lunch to attend a session about thinking originally, and then went to an AWS workshop with other WiCS members, which was super fun—even though I was very late. I also attended a Brain Date about efficiency at data centers (I thought this would be about how data is arranged to save space or memory, but it was about actual physical data center efficiency and maintenance lol). I still learned a lot from people in the industry.

There was also a Google meetup this day that we didn’t have an invite to, but coincidentally it was on our hotel’s rooftop. After being denied entry, I waited outside with some other GHC attendees to see if we could talk to people who were leaving the session. We ended up talking to two people from Microsoft, who said the session wasn’t helpful (yay!) and gave us insight into how referrals work at Microsoft—they only really help if the recruiter and the referrer have a connection. I also made some friends while waiting outside.

Day 4

This was the last day of GHC and was only a half day. We again arrived right at opening time to get through the lines faster. On this day, I talked to someone at Cloudflare and sympathized with how tiring GHC can be for them. They took my resume and put me into their hiring pipeline (I made sure to follow up at the end of the day). Later, I got an interview, which I thought went well, but I didn’t get good news or any feedback.

Since this was the last day and I had talked to everyone I wanted to, I went on a swag-collection spree.

After the expo, the WiCS girlies went on a boat cruise, which was so needed after such a tiring week. We learned a lot about the history of the Windy City’s architecture, and it was so much fun.

Reflection

Things I could have done better: I could’ve tried to have better conversations on the first day by being more myself and listening better. I also didn’t go to many sessions because I wanted to hit all the booths, which meant I missed out on some really good ones. I should’ve been more strategic about attending sessions that might not have been directly useful to me but could’ve been useful for meeting recruiters and making connections.

On the first day, I went in with the unrealistic goal of landing a job 😭, which was… unrealistic.

GHC didn’t land me a job, but I made connections, learned how to talk to people, visited a new gorgeous city that I am now manifesting myself moving to, and had boatloads of fun with the WiCS girls. All in all, a BIG win.

Thank you to SFU CS and WiCS for this beautiful opportunity!

Tips

• Put your resume on Anita.B early and apply for jobs there.
• Be strategic about your session/expo time.
• Set your linkedin QR code as your wallpaper.
• Talk to people in lines! You never know who you might meet!
• Pack efficiently - take some layers!