We went on our first field trip during week two. We attended a popular conference that’s held annually called Developer Week. It was held in Oakland, and lasted for a week. The conference consisted of speakers and tech companies from all over. They all had booths that provided more information about their companies and the services they provided. And the best part? They all had FREE swag! At the entrance, we were all given a ‘swag bag’ to fill with all the different things we collected from each booth, it was so fun!
[Heading out to our very first field trip, we were excited--can you tell?! Photo credit: Karla Sandoval]
Out of all the different topics covered, I was able to attend about four of the talks presented. The first one was OPEN TALK: Making applications smarter by using TomTom Maps APIs.
[Gregory De Jans, Developer Week 2018]
Speaker Gregory De Jans covered TomTom Maps APIs and shared with us a range of companies that use this software within their own products and services. Apps like ‘Google Maps’, ‘Lyft’, and ‘Uber’ use TomTom APIs. What’s funny, I had no idea I had been exposed to so many products that use this!
The second talk I was able to attend was OPEN TALK: Eliminating User Registration Fraud with AI
[Stacy Stubblefield--Telesign, Developer Week 2018]
The speaker for this topic’s name was Stacy Stubblefield. She spoke about the software her company made in order to ensure that user fraud was brought to a minimum, using various high level tactics to filter through any potential scammers or hacker techniques at any given time.
The name of the company she co-founded was Telesign and the methods she shared that her company used were pretty impressive. She actually shared with us a website that scammers and hackers use to generate fake identities with personalized information. I had no idea these even existed! This topic definitely made me aware of how little I knew when it came to cyber-security and just how vulnerable we all were to having our information exposed by not taking the necessary precautions to safe-guard ourselves.
My favorite talk I was able to attend was OPEN TALK: How to Overcome Obstacles and Take Control of Your Career in Tech
[Doug Gray--Indeed, Developer Week 2018]
The speaker who covered this topic, his name was Doug Gray and he did an excellent job of sharing insight as to how to constantly be improving and expounding on your skills by using job/career sites to see in real time just what different companies may be looking for. Using this method will allow for proper preparation for any position you may be interested in, and serves as a way to ensure you’re skills are not becoming stagnant and irrelevant. I found this to be very helpful.
Doug worked for a company called Indeed and this platform is aimed at connecting companies with the talented and skilled workers they’re looking for at any given moment. I’d never heard of this company until hearing this talk. It definitely gave me some perspective on what I need to do in order to ready myself and a way to gauge if the things I’m learning are what I need in order to obtain the type of work I may be looking for.
At this point, I’m unsure as to what direction I will go based on the things I’m learning, but with time and study and being exposed to the different "roles in tech," I’m sure what I’m meant to do will make itself more apparent. At this point, learning how to learn and improve and build my foundational skills is the most important thing I feel I can do for myself. I am excited to see where this journey will continue to take me...stay tuned!
