Grace Hopper Conference 2024
Written By: Jazmin Uribe
Who was Grace Hopper? What is the GHC?
Born on December 6, 1906, in New York, Grace Hopper grew up in a house of supportive, educated relatives and a wealth of books that “fueled her insatiable curiosity.” After graduating from Vassar College with a degree in mathematics and physics, and later earning her master’s and Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University, Hopper returned to Vassar as a full-time professor of mathematics and computer programming, teaching there for 10 years before enlisting in the WAVES program. Assigned as one of the first programmers of the Mark series, an early electromechanical computer, she broke from the traditional nursing role for women during wartime. In 1952, she and her team revolutionized software engineering by inventing the first compiler, which translates common human-implemented commands into computer-read binary code. Grace Hopper passed on January 1st, 1992; however, her legacy continues as a foundation for modern computing advancements.
In 1994, computer technologists Anita Borg and Dr. Telle Whitney originally co-founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing to provide women in the field with the opportunity to gather and share their findings in an academically focused conference, naming the convention after Hopper for the sake of celebrating her impact on the field and inspiring other female-identifying young leaders to embody her intellectual drive.
In the historically male-dominated tech industry with an increasingly competitive job market, it is an understatement that finding the proper resources to meet the standards that allow for career success adequately is essential now more than ever. The seeds planted by these remarkable trailblazers of the field have allowed for the celebration’s metamorphosis into something far greater today. This annual gathering has evolved into a networking opportunity for passionate nonbinary and female-identifying individuals involved in a wide range of tech-related fields like data science, artificial intelligence, hardware, virtual reality, software engineering, and many more! Exploring all these diverse subfields, the four-day event consists of a variety of industry expert panels, workshops, braindates, a career fair, a pitch competition, and speaker meet-and-greets. These numerous mini-events culminate together to equip its attendees with the vital resources and insights to thrive in this fast-developing industry.
For a detailed description about events included in the conference, check out the link below!!
2024 Speakers
Award-winning actress, director, and social activist America Ferrera opened the Day 1 plenary session, speaking on her experience playing roles in productions that bring attention to both conscious and unconscious bias embedded within the frameworks of society that inhibits minority groups from fully realizing their potential in the workforce. She touched the hearts of fellow Latinas within the crowd while also connecting these experiences to other gender orientations and cultural backgrounds. Although, perhaps the highlight of her appearance this year was her concluding call to action that stressed the importance of recognizing uniqueness as a catalyst for development within the field of technology science. In addition to America Ferrera, they were lucky enough to also feature New York Times Bestselling author, award-winning actress, producer, and activist Viola Davis as the guest speaker of the Day 4 closing plenary. She administered advice to the audience on how to best overcome obstacles that prevent the forging of diverse communities, which is the key to holistic advancement. The stories lived and regaled by this year’s speakers truly embodied the Grace Hopper mission, advocating for equity for the sake of collective betterment. Their roles as both the ceremony’s opener and closer represent how the enduring resilience and audaciousness of minorities in STEM spans from the days of our early involvement in the field to the present and long after.
Interview with GHC Attendee
While it is easy to claim that this year’s conference left its attendees feeling more prepared for success in their fields, it is even more enlightening to get firsthand accounts of its impact directly from attendees. Megan Tran (they/she), a freshman at UIUC in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, attended this year’s GHC and shared her insights on the event:
Q: What were your initial thoughts going into the four-day event? If these changed throughout, how so?
A: I never knew about the Grace Hopper Celebration until this summer, when I applied and received a scholarship to attend. Learning more about the conference through my scholarship opportunity, I thought the mission was amazing for uplifting minority voices in technology.
Q: Were there any guest or industry-leading speakers that stood out to you most?
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A: I thought that AnitaB.org’s choice to open and end with speakers who were women or nonbinary people in non-tech fields was informative and powerful in its own way. Wrapping up the opening ceremony with an interview with America Ferrera, the actress who played the mother in Barbie, really stood out to me. Her thoughts on women in male-dominated industries were powerful and her message in Barbie tied a lot into that.
Q: Which sessions were you most invested in?
A: On the third day, I attended a panel discussing multigenerational opinions in the workforce. I thought it was interesting how older generations may view Gen Z workers, knowing that there has been a recent stigma that Gen Z workers are lazy and slack off. I also thought it was fascinating how having a diverse set of age ranges can benefit a workplace environment and provide a mentor and mentee relationship from both sides.
Q: What was the most memorable event you attended at the conference?
A: Through my scholarship specifically, I was able to have a meet and greet with Brenda Darden Wilkerson, the CEO of AnitaB.org. Her story of getting into software engineering fascinated me, along with how she started the initiative to provide computer science courses to all Chicago public schools.
Q: Are there any new skills or concepts you learned at GHC that you’re excited to apply to your future endeavors?
A: I was able to learn more about how to build a better resume, which I plan to implement for future job applications. I also was able to learn about Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR), crucial for possible interests in product management.
Q: How would you briefly summarize your first experience at the Grace Hopper Conference?
A: My first experience at the Grace Hopper Conference was overwhelming but in a good way. There was always something going on, and I had to map out my day prior to maximize the amount of events I could attend. I was also able to attend many invite-only company events, which was a great networking opportunity with a bonus of free food.
Q: Do you plan to attend the conference again in the future? Would you recommend registration to others and why?
A: I would attend again, but preferably as a junior. I wasn’t able to utilize the career fair as much since most companies were looking for juniors or seniors in college. I would also recommend students to look into scholarship opportunities for the event since there are many out there and you would probably rather not pay the $1,400 ticket and travel cost out of pocket. I would highly recommend UIUC students to consider attending next year though since it will be in Chicago.
Conclusion
The Grace Hopper Conference is an incredibly bountiful opportunity for underrepresented genders in computer science-related fields to connect with tech leaders in the workforce and peers who relate to their journeys. Marking the event’s 20th occurrence, this year’s conference was proven to be the huge success its founders envisioned it to be back in 1994. The benefits of attending are numerous, so we highly recommend getting excited now for next year’s conference in Chicago and starting to look into payment options!
For more information about the conference in general, check out the GHC website link below!!
