After four years at the University of Washington, I am finally done. I just ended my senior year at the University of Washington, where I studied at the Information School (iSchool). I majored in Informatics with the focus of Human Computer Interaction. What is informatics you ask? Informatics is a program that focuses on creating technology that keeps the user in mind. I’ve learned that in order to create beautiful technology, we need to take under consideration on what the information structure would be like and how users would naturally interact with it. During the first two years of my college career, I tried many introductory classes for science-based majors. However, none of the majors I’ve experienced fit me well. When I had the opportunity to take my first Informatics class, Systems Analysis, I immediately fell in love with the major. Not only did it help me find my passion for Product Management, the people in the major were also brilliant and friendly.

When I got into my major, I didn’t automatically think, “Oh, I should become an officer for an organization.” Becoming an officer for Women in Informatics (Winfo), wasn’t intentional, but rather an opportunity for me to get out of my comfort zone. As I was growing up, I was not the most confident person. I had not gained confidence in myself until I got into my major. For my year, we only have about a 30% female ratio in Informatics. When I spoke with prospective women that were interested in the major, I noticed that they share a similar trait-a lack of confidence.

Women in Informatics is an undergraduate organization that supports and provides resources for women interested in the tech industry. The goal for 2014 – 2015 year was to host events that would help our members gain confidence and leadership, and to outreach to both new members and well-known tech companies.

As an organization of five officers, we have some amazing women. Michelle Le, VP, is an amazing woman who keeps things together with her ideas to ensure that the workplace remains diverse. Vivian Teng, Director of Finance, knows how to keep track and ensure that we keep within our budget. Jenny Chen, Director of Public Relations, has a talent to create beautiful event posters and design creative graphics. And Louisa Fan, Director of Outreach, has experience with hosting events that she’s had plethora of event ideas that are beneficial to our members.

Through this amazing group of officers, we’ve hosted events from hackathons to career development workshops. Compared to last year, this year’s hackathon had five times more participants than last year! With our workshops, we’ve brought in amazing speakers from LinkedIn, If I can, She can and more, to come enlighten our members on how to be a true leader and why gender diversity is important.

Winfo and WTIA

Sometime in Winter quarter 2014, I met Julie Pham, VP of Community Engagement and Marketing at WTIA through Edward Jiang from Student RND. Part of WTIA’s work is to help promote and support community organizations that increase tech talent in Washington. Since Winfo helps develop women leaders in tech early in their career, it made sense for us to become a WTIA community partner. As a community partner, we got to attend WTIA events and share Winfo’s story with WTIA members. WTIA also helped connect us with companies and tech leaders like Microsoft and Moz.

WTIA has opened many doors for our student organization to grow within UW and get noticed by Seattle tech companies. We’ve had the opportunity to attend a few WTIA events to network with WTIA members and learn more about the innovative technology through the talks and speaker panels. Through our amazing partnership, the officers and I learned valuable lessons on leadership, public speaking and professionalism when networking. The skills that the graduating officers gained have prepared us for our futures outside of the University of Washington and into the real world.

Beta Testing Events

As a project manager, I think in terms of “beta testing” and that applies to how we approached our Winfo programs too. We decided to introduce company tours for Winfo. Our goal for the company tours was to show our members different work environments and give people an opportunity network with the employees. Thanks to WTIA, we had the opportunity to set up a tour at Moz AND to meet up with the CEO, Sarah Bird! Our attendees loved Ms. Sarah Bird’s story on how she became CEO of Moz and the leadership and desire to be part of something amazing.

Recently in May, we hosted a Microsoft Speed Networking & Mentoring Night with the help of WTIA. In this event, we had two rounds of mentoring with 13 amazing Microsoft employees. Each of the mentors had their own unique experience and tips to pass onto the Informatics prospective students, grad students and more. It was great sight to see the positive influence that these Microsoft women made on our members. After the event, the Winfo attendees were more confident and motivated in preparing for a future in the tech industry.

Now that I’ve just graduated, I’m about to start working at AT&T as a project manager. Since AT&T is already a WTIA member, it will be easy for me to continue to attend WTIA events. I can’t wait to see what these next few years have in stored for me.