Intel Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner #42

 I was one of the lucky lottery winners that got to attend the Intel-sponsored Girl Geek dinner at the Intel Museum in Santa Clara. It's an amazing place, and if you can't visit in person, there are on-line exhibits for you to enjoy.

Intel is a Valley legend and the entire history of the company (and tech!) is encapsulated in the museum exhibits. 

No tech museum would be complete without a specimen of the first, the original IBM PC! Age disclosure: my first work PC was the version with a hard disk drive - things had moved along a bit by the time I graduated.

 There was an extended demo center with AIO/Gaming, Perceptual Computing, Cloud Video Encoding, Intel- powered phones/tablets, and  Ultrabooks. Organizers from GAINS (Girls Achieving in Non-Traditional Subjects - a Santa Clara School District program to support girls in pursuing tech careers) were there with a very informative display.  It was all interspersed with buffet and treat tables.

Intel's event catering was amazing - above, a candy station spelling out the company name in lucite candy containers.

Cake Pops in Intel Blue continued the company theme.

The panel topic was  “Pushing Boundaries in Technology” in our local communities and around the world. The speakers were all amazing senior women from several different areas of the company: Research Labs, Channel Marketing; Quality Assurance; Human Resources and Manufacturing. Message of the day: push through your fear and take risks. Women's careers are like a jungle gym, not a ladder (ref. Sheryl Sandberg).

Of course, there was the requisite goody bag, which I'm going to use as a makeup bag!

If you live in the Bay Area and work in Tech, I really encourage you to attend these dinners - this is a great opportunity to network and meet other women in Tech - in fact, I made a new friend that night - she works for a start-up in Palo Alto.

Jamilla

Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner #41 - Sponsored by Linkedin

On May 30, I was lucky enough to (literally!) win a lottery to attend the Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner sponsored by Linkedin. Girl Geek Dinners are hosted by Silicon Valley's hottest companies, who

"buy dinner and drinks for girl geeks, and give away a piece of co-branded schwag (to extend the lifetime of the event). Invite female speakers in areas of their expertise, from well-known names to the up-and-coming. Encourage networking amongst the girl geeks and recruiting by the sponsoring company. Everyone wins."

Linkedin's offices in Mountain View are the usual very nice facilities, with lots of free food and drinks. For the event, though, they had dinner and refreshments catered in. The fruit trays were pretty spectacular (and tasty).

 Of course, you get to meet lots of Girl Geeks, who are all very talented, driven and interesting people.

 We got a goody bag with lots of Linkedin stickers....

 The food was all Asian-themed, and quite good - as you can see above. Vegetarian and Non-Veg options were on offer, and there was plenty of food.

 After eating, drinking, and socializing, it was time to hear the speaker panel. From left to right:

Manager, Technical Brand, Culture, and Innovation Programs at LinkedIn; Senior Data Scientist at LinkedIn, Team Lead for Mobile data analytics; Principal Software Engineer; Senior Web Developer Lead and a VC who used to work for Linkedin and Google, and now makes her own Venture Cap deals.

The take-away here is that these women really do not have work-life balance, and all have worked some horrendous hours. If you want to make it in the Valley, hard work and long hours are part of the deal.

 After the panel discussion, it was time for dessert!

 Linkedin scored again in the dessert department.

 All drinks are free for Linkedin employees - check out the Peet's coffee station!

 Linkedin employees also get free Froyo - your choice of two different flavors!

My makeup that evening was a combination of Tom Ford and NARS: Tom Ford Traceless Foundation 03 Fawn; NARS Delphes Eye Shadow Trio; NARS Puerto Vallarta Multiple and Laguna Bronzer. My lipgloss had vanished after the meal ;-)

If you are in Tech and live in the Bay Area, you must attend a Girl Geek Dinner!

Cheers,

Jamilla