With swag bags in hand, online guidebooks downloaded to smartphones and innovative startup pitches bouncing off the walls, the best and brightest female college students in computer science and engineering came together Saturday and Sunday for WECode, a two-day conference at Harvard University for women in technical fields.
The conference, which stands for “Women Engineers Code,” was organized by Harvard’s Women in Computer Science club and saw over 500 attendees come together for keynote presentations, workshops and “fireside chats” with successful women in the tech industry.
With more and more students entering college as computer science majors, the demand for conferences such as WECode continues to grow as well. While WECode invited attendees from across the nation, its Cambridge location serves as a testament to the region’s bustling opportunities for future leaders in tech.
“Boston is the second-largest hub of entrepreneurship other than Silicon Valley,” said Tuongvan Le, a coordinator and programming director for WECode. “We have MIT and Harvard down the road, and it’s an amazing place to find people who are very good at having a vision, strong leadership and technical skills.”
WECode was created three years ago to build a community for women who felt underrepresented in technical fields but wanted support in their careers. Le, a junior at Harvard studying statistics and computer science, said she felt empowered when she saw the large number of women who registered for the conference.
“When you’re studying at your college, you might feel lost in this very distorted gender ratio, and that might make you feel intimidated and hesitant,” Le said. “But you see, there are other people who have walked this path before, and you admire them.”
Laura Butler, the director of Engineering Windows Fundamentals at Microsoft, opened WECode as the first keynote speaker. Butler shared her experience as Microsoft’s first female Technical Fellow — a position that, in her words, should be renamed “Technical Goddess.”
Her advice on forging one’s own career path and letting go of insecurities encouraged attendees who feel the marginalization of women in computer science and engineering every day.
“Some of these issues are pushed on the wayside sometimes, and women are definitely a minority in computer science at my school,” said Katie Garrison, a senior studying mechanical engineering at Binghamton University. “It’s important to encourage students who are discouraged, because there’s a support network for them and you can see the possibilities for them.”
Another goal of WECode was to help students become ambassadors at their own colleges for women in computer science and engineering. Alexandra Abrahams, a junior at Harvard studying computer science, initially joined WICS club to find a community of women in her field. Her job as associate director of Collegiate Outreach on the WECode board is to build a campus ambassador program for college women to be “driven and ambitious” leaders in computer science, she said.
“My hope is that post-conference, we can build a network of community around these ambassadors who can bring women in computer science groups into their communities and be a beacon for that kind of diversity in tech,” Abrahams said. “That’s what I care about — building a community for people who don’t currently have one.”
Le said her main goal for WECode was to “meet a diverse range of needs and interests for people who attend this conference,” whether it furthered their interest in a technical career or helped them explore new opportunities that go hand-in-hand with their skills.
“Everyone comes here with a different goal,” Le said. “Some want to gain their first exposure to different opportunities in technical fields. Others want more in-depth discussions with professionals in the industry.”
With the rising popularity of startups and self-initiative, WECode also encouraged its attendees to seek opportunities as their own leaders, allowing them to pitch startups and apps at its “Innovation Challenge Pitches” competition during Sunday’s festivities.
“People who are interested in technical fields and computer science are also interested in pursuing careers in entrepreneurship,” Le said. “We thought it would be a good opportunity for them to pitch ideas and get feedback from others.”
Le said her involvement with WECode allowed her to see how innovation can inspire and encourage women.
“It has a powerful effect on encouraging people to keep doing what they’re doing on campus,” she said. “This conference is a turning point in some people’s lives, and it can be a small step to starting a new journey in your life.”
