Forty-four CCIS women received funding from the college to attend the Women Engineers Code – WECode – conference organized by Harvard University and MIT in February. The three-day conference, held from Feb. 26-28, aims to expand the skills and community of women in technology around the world through a series of workshops, keynote addresses and networking opportunities.

“We were able to get quite a few women to attend We Code for free,” says Shivi Singh (BS, Computer Science/Business ’17), who serves on the e-board of NU Women in Technology (nuWiT). The student group, which draws much of its membership from first year and sophomore women, works to support women in technology, and has also received funding from the college to send students to the much larger Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference.

“I think for both conferences, we should definitely keep sending our women to and trying to get more representation of a diverse set of Northeastern women at these conferences,” Shivi says.

WECode was senior Katie Soldau’s (BS, Computer Science/Interactive Media ‘16) first time attending a conference gearing toward women in technology. She says one of the most memorable parts of the weekend was hearing a keynote address given by Laura Butler, Technical Fellow and Director of Engineering Windows Fundamentals at Microsoft. “I’ve actually never heard anyone who was a woman in a higher position in the tech world speak, so that was really cool,” she says.

Among the workshops Katie attended was one on how to ace technical interviews, run by mobile payment company Square. The workshop emphasized how technical interviews are less about getting the right answer and more about testing problem solving skills, which Katie says took some of the pressure off her apprehensions about doing those interviews.

And after that workshop, she was inspired to start applying for post-graduation positions. One company that caught her eye was Rome2rio, a trip planning service based in Melbourne. During a break at the conference, Katie applied for – and got – a front-end development internship with the company, due to start this summer after she graduates.

“Based off what I’d heard the day before at the conference, I was like, ‘OK, I know what types of things I might be looking for and what they want to hear,’” she says. “I felt more confident in my ability to reach out.”

Shivi says that during her time at CCIS, she’s noticed the number of women grow, and that opportunities like this are important in keeping women excited about and engaged with their field. NuWiT membership and attendance has increased as well, from having fewer than 10 people attending meetings to having gatherings of 30 or more members.

She says increased diversity in CCIS leadership is also an encouraging step. “It’s really good to have more women professors,” she says. “Having more women professors and having two women deans has made a world of a difference. It’s so great to have so much support. ”

By Shandana Mufti