WICS UCI

For our Women at Microsoft event this past quarter, WICS had the honor of inviting Jane Bove, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft, and Maureen Cotton, co-founder and President of INTEGRATED 8A SOLUTIONS INC, to share their career advice. They led a thoughtful discussion about core values and work styles, guiding WICS members through a self assessment of what they’re naturally skilled at, especially in professional environments. Students shared stories of why they matched into Vision, Action, Empathy, or Analytical groups, as well as which core values resonated with them after a self reflection. Afterwards, Jane and Maureen shared their career journey, highlighting how they experimented with their work until they found a place that supported their goals and values. The presenters concluded the event by emphasizing how important it is that students find a career that aligns with their values, especially as a woman in tech. Thank you to both presenters for coming all the way to Irvine to provide this priceless experience for WICS. Thank you to our external committee members: Karen Huang, Shriya B., and Amratha R. for planning this event! As always, big shout out to our external committee chairs Jaylene Nguyen and Mae King for continuing to connect WICS with amazing companies.

On January 25-26, WICS had the exciting opportunity to host our Web Development Bootcamp in collaboration with ICS OAI and Aspirations in Computing. This two-day event brought together high school students from various school districts to learn web development through lessons on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, and Tailwind CSS. Students from Portola, Troy, Oxford Academy, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Westminster, Valencia, Beckman, and Northwood High Schools participated, most of whom were in 10th-11th grade, with a few 12th graders as well. It was amazing to see students grow their skills through interactive lessons, activities, and a culminating project. A big thank you to all of our volunteers who made this event possible: Day 1 Committee: Cali Kuang, Arianna Gonzalez, Amanda Hausmann, Celine Trieu, Mikayla McGrath, Aasha Sendhil, Sarah Tan (Presenter), Viviana Salazar (Presenter), Erika Young (Presenter) Day 2 Committee: Cali Kuang, Sarah Tan, Sharon Leo, Aasha Sendhil, Sharon Ma, Alisa Lu, Vanessa Li (ICS - Setup), Katlyn Ferrer (ICS - Setup), Lahari Yallapragada (Presenter), Cheryl Chen (Presenter) A special thanks to our incredible Outreach Chairs, Cali Kuang and Sharon Ma, for their leadership in making this event a success. Thank you to ICS OAI for helping us connect with the Aspirations in Computing students and everyone who contributed to this incredible learning experience! #WICS #WebDevelopment #Bootcamp #AspirationsInComputing #React #CSS #TailwindCSS

MOCK TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS SIGN UPS DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 5PM ON 2/11. We have interviewers from Microsoft, Crowdstrike, SAP, ServiceNow, CoStar, Corelogic, General Atomics and more! There are interviews available for Software Engineering, User Interface/User Experience , Product/Program Management, Behavioral Sign up now: https://lnkd.in/gWnXV2Su

MOCK TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS SIGN UPS DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 5PM ON 2/11. We have interviewers from Microsoft, Crowdstrike, SAP, ServiceNow, CoStar, Corelogic, General Atomics and more! There are interviews available for Software Engineering, User Interface/User Experience , Product/Program Management, Behavioral Sign up now: https://lnkd.in/gWnXV2Su

Want to practice for internship/job interviews in tech ??? WICS offers one-on-one sessions with industry experts at our annual Mock Technical Interviews! Prepare for interviews such as Software Engineering, UI/UX, Project Management, and Behavioral. Join us on Wednesday, February 19th, and between 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, we’ll have 45-minute remote interview slots available for RSVPers! Don’t miss the chance to test your skills and gain valuable insights from company representatives. ?? Hurry, secure your spot now before 2/7/2025 ?? Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gWnXV2Su

On January 25-26, WICS had the exciting opportunity to host our Web Development Bootcamp in collaboration with ICS OAI and Aspirations in Computing. This two-day event brought together high school students from various school districts to learn web development through lessons on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, and Tailwind CSS. Students from Portola, Troy, Oxford Academy, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Westminster, Valencia, Beckman, and Northwood High Schools participated, most of whom were in 10th-11th grade, with a few 12th graders as well. It was amazing to see students grow their skills through interactive lessons, activities, and a culminating project. A big thank you to all of our volunteers who made this event possible: Day 1 Committee: Cali Kuang, Arianna Gonzalez, Amanda Hausmann, Celine Trieu, Mikayla McGrath, Aasha Sendhil, Sarah Tan (Presenter), Viviana Salazar (Presenter), Erika Young (Presenter) Day 2 Committee: Cali Kuang, Sarah Tan, Sharon Leo, Aasha Sendhil, Sharon Ma, Alisa Lu, Vanessa Li (ICS - Setup), Katlyn Ferrer (ICS - Setup), Lahari Yallapragada (Presenter), Cheryl Chen (Presenter) A special thanks to our incredible Outreach Chairs, Cali Kuang and Sharon Ma, for their leadership in making this event a success. Thank you to ICS OAI for helping us connect with the Aspirations in Computing students and everyone who contributed to this incredible learning experience! #WICS #WebDevelopment #Bootcamp #AspirationsInComputing #React #CSS #TailwindCSS

On January 13th, WICS had the pleasure of collaborating with Northrop Grumman to host a panel introducing and discussing the impact of imposter syndrome. Emily King, Talent Acquisition Business Partner at NG, presented about imposter syndrome and introduced the panelists, leading discussions among WICS members. Our students had the opportunity to ask the panelists questions about how it is to work as a woman in tech, how to identify and overcome imposter syndrome, and about the panelists’ personal experiences. Thank you so much to the panelists, Jena Erin Bada, Janet T., Jennifer H., and Vimala Sekar, for providing valuable insight to our WICS members. After hearing from the panelists, WICS members discussed their thoughts and experiences about imposter syndrome in break-out groups, responding to prompts from NG. They then shared their responses to the rest of the room. This event was successful thanks to our external committee members who organized this event, Sonia Kaczer and Kara Statham. We would also like to thank our external chairs, Mae King and Jaylene Nguyen for working on events like this with amazing companies.

Just before the holiday break, student friends Leyna, Rianna, Michelle and Emily from UC Irvine joined me and captains Kim and Paige on the SAP duffy boat for pizza and a cruise around Lido Island. We toured the Newport Beach Office, met with a product manager to hear about his day to day life, and discussed how to answer the inevitable interview question, “So…tell me about yourself…” These are impressive young women with bright futures. I can’t wait to see what they achieve! #lifeatsap #SAP #UCI #womenintech WICS UCI Paige Perusset Kim Haller Leyna Nguyen Michelle Makhija

?Full Circle at ZotHacks 2024 ? At the start of November, I helped organize ZotHacks 2024 with my club, Hack at UCI. Which to me feels like such an amazing milestone since ZotHack 2023 was my very first hackathon as well as my introduction to Hack at UCI. From hacker to organizer, I was able to contribute to the organization that welcomed me into the ICS community. ??Hard at Work! - I was gladly one of the first people our hackers were greeted by during check-in and later served them bành mí sandwiches as lunch time, a Hack signature meal. These interactions with the hackers help bring a fun and special touch to their hackathon experience. ??Workshops! - I was so eager to support my VenusHacks co-president, Heather Nguyen Phuoc, and attend her workshop hosted on behalf of WICS UCI. Watching her give our beginner hackers tips and tricks for pitching their projects was exciting! ?? Making Connections! - I had amazing opportunity to work with Brittany Eckl from UBIX.AI as one of ZotHacks 2024 sponsors. We thanked our mentors with UBIX AI frisbees, which were later put to good use during a hacking break! ?? New Hackers! - ?While ZotHacks is a first for many students at UCI, I was thrilled to hear that a couple of my closest friends, Eleni Arapostathis and Shea Thomopoulos, were participating this year. They finished off the weekend with such a fun site and I am so proud of the work they put into it. I am so glad I can continue to have these experiences with Hack, and grateful to everyone who got together to put on such an incredible event. I had so much fun and look forward to putting on more of these hackathons together!