How I prepped for a Virtual Conference at Midnight, Applying for Research Lab & other Cool Resources
This newsletter has:
Pros & Cons of Attending a Virtual Conference
My RTC Career Summit Experience: How I prepped and what did I do
Applying for Research Lab & Fighting the Feeling of Inadequacy
Get your Personal Website in 5 Minutes
A list of Hackathons from Major League Hacking
MY PROGRESS THIS WEEK
In the past week, I dedicated 7 HOURS to coding, while spending 10 HOURS on conference prep, resource gathering, and reading advice, etc. Another 5+ HOURS were invested in the conference itself, allowing me to pause and reflect on my path.
REFLECTION ON THE RTC VIRTUAL CAREER SUMMIT
🌟 Pros & Cons
On the plus side, the virtual format allowed for connecting with numerous individuals in a short span and offered great flexibility regarding timing.
On the flip side, it’s challenging to have a closer conversation with recruiters and peers. (In RTC Career Summit, each table consists of 10 to over 20 people, it’s hard to have a 1-on-1 conversation). Plus, the energy levels could sometimes dwindle for both attendees and recruiters.
With that said, I found that preparing for a virtual conference required less effort than an in-person event.
🚀 My RTC Career Summit Experience
Before the conference kicked off, I took a refreshing 5-hour nap (by taking the sleeping gums) to stay sharp during the late-night event (11 pm to 5 am in my time zone). I also bought 2 cans of Red Bull just in case:)
I opened the conference page with multiple spreadsheets open before me:
One sheet cataloged the companies I want to engage with, filtering out those not aligned with my interests or don’t sponsor visa for international students.
One sheet contained my prepared questions for panelists and recruiters, ensuring I was ready to contribute meaningfully.
The final sheet served as a log, documenting my conversations with various company representatives.
Post-conference, I promptly extended LinkedIn connection requests to those I interacted with, still waiting for their responses.
If you need resources to prep for a conference in more details, you can read my last newsletter here.
APPLYING FOR RESEARCH LAB & FIGHTING THE FEELING OF INADEQUACY
I recently reached out to two professors in the hopes of joining their research labs. While one response has materialized, I find myself grappling with feelings of inadequacy. After a detailed conversation with the professor about their lab's work, it’s clear that many concepts were way beyond my current grasp.
🌱 I said to the professor: “All the projects sound very interesting and meaningful. However, I am not sure that I can contribute something big to the project. However, I can guarantee that I’d be very quick to learn. And I’m happy to assist in any small simple task in any way I can.”
So the professor sent me some resources to read to learn about the lab’s work, and I’m gonna study it and reach out to him again. But girls, it is difficult!
But you know what. I’m still gonna trying to get into the lab even though I don’t know much. I just decided that I’m not gonna say No to myself before anyone does. 😴
I also said to the professor: “You can get me in the lab and do small tasks first this semester. Then when I learn more, I can have more meaningful contributions in the following years.”
👀 If you are hesitant, this is your sign to go apply to a research lab in your school now!
🌟 OTHER RESOURCES
Get your personal website in 5 MINUTES
If you're looking to create your personal website in a flash, check out this simple guide to deploy one using Django on Heroku: Link.
Please note, while functional, it might not be the epitome of elegance just yet. I've set up mine today and I'm actively tinkering to add more customization and showcase my projects from GitHub. Feel free to have a peek: My Website.
Are you a fan of Hackathons? Here's a list of events from Major League Hacking for the 2024 season, including virtual hackathons to accommodate various preferences: Hackathon List. 🎮
📰 WHAT DID YOU MISS IN THE LAST NEWSLETTER
Should you take the course How to Code: Simple Data
Resources for a Successful Career Conference (both Virtual and In-Person)
Resources for Effective Networking & My Own Metrics of Effective Networking
🔗 OTHER BLOGS FROM ME YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED
WHAT’S NEXT?
That's it for this edition of the coding newsletter! I'd love to hear from you. What topics excite you the most? Do you have any recommended resources or papers for my learning journey? Share your thoughts, experiences, and questions on anything I’ve discussed. Let's keep the conversation going and connect with each other.
Happy coding!
From Bytes of Growth 🌱
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