My top 10 takeaways from GHC’20
By: Apoorva Manjunath
Tags: Tech Conf, Vghc2020, Ghc, Conference, Lessons Learned

I had heard great things about Grace Hopper Celebration(GHC) and finally got the opportunity to participate in GHC 2020! Sharing experience from attending a conference is like explaining how I feel after doing my first ever Skydive! Only ones who experience it can perfectly relate to it, for which you’ll have to attend next GHC. However, the closest thing to share my experience is by penning down my top takeaways.

Although I missed running around from one conference room to another, networking with people in person, collecting swag, checking out booths and such experiences, I really enjoyed virtual GHC 2020 at the comfort of my home. The speaker lineup including Serena Williams, Megan Rapinoe, Dr Lisa Su and many others was amazing! Here are top 10 lessons to share:

1. There is no one pattern on how to be professional

Beyond the Code with Jen and Aparna, was an interesting conversation between Google leaders Jen Fitzpatrick and Aparna Pappu. In this talk, Aparna mentions about her story where people said to her that she wouldn’t be considered serious at work because she used to laugh/smile a lot. But the truth is there is no one pattern/checklist on what defines being professional. It's different for each person and its often the perspective that matters.

2. BRAVE: a method for Successful Difficult Conversations

Sometimes when I had to face an uncomfortable conversation or argue, I would rationalize away the notion, often resorting to self-criticism and losing confidence. Ms Lewandowski’s session at GHC 2020 gave an actionable method for having such difficult conversations.

Framework for a successful conversation:

B uild your self-awareness

uild your self-awareness R evisit your strategy

evisit your strategy A nticipate scenarios

nticipate scenarios V alue your opposing partner

alue your opposing partner Encourage your conversation

Being able to speak up and articulate one’s opinion is a critical skill and when you see a difficulty with it, I think analysing the strategy is really worth it!

3. Machine Learning is cool!

These days its hard to find a field that’s not impacted and benefited by Machine Learning. The theme continued with the talks at GHC too. Test Recommendation using Machine Learning, a talk by Sadiya Hameed, Software Engineer at Salesforce, discusses about how they built a Test recommendation model using features like historical CI data, code coverage, text similarity using NLP. When you have a huge monolithic codebase and number of tests to run every time you make a commit is enormous, it becomes inefficient to manage with time, resources and productivity. You could try batching the CI run, filtering smoke tests and when this isn’t enough, a test recommendation engine to run only related tests will be smart and efficient for both local testing and CI systems!

4. Machine Learning is hip but doesn’t fit everywhere.

Machine learning is applied to many new products with unprecedented opportunities to improve the lives of people around the world. With this growth and adaptation of new technology comes the responsibility to ensure products are built with all different kinds of users in mind. This clearly indicates that representation matters in the workplace from all groups. Also, everyone in a diverse product team can contribute to building the right products — right.

5. When Moore’s law is dead…

Delivering the Future of High-Performance Computing by Dr Lisa Su

The keynote by AMD CEO Lisa Su Delivering the Future of High-Performance Computing was one of the best talks at this GHC about high-performance computing and she shared some general lessons for everyone. These days with the advancements in Machine Learning/AI and power of data, the demand for computing and graphics is relentless. As Moore’s law slows down, we need to innovate with all other dimensions: silicon, systems and software. These techniques give life to new optimized software that can utilize and benefit this power from high processing, GPUs and accelerators delivering greater performance. Thus making the High performance computing industry pushing the boundaries to meet these demands. Dr Lisa also shared some lessons from her experience, which is definitely insightful.

Inflection points drive change

There is a solution to almost every problem

Always look for the next 5%

6. Contribute to Open Source projects

Open source projects are a great way for developers to showcase their talent and strengthens a profile more than a long resume. This GHC had a special Open Source Day where there were multiple workshops and talks to help people from different levels get started and contribute more on OSD. I had a chance to join for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Linux Kernel Contribution workshop which had a great intro to start the first contribution to the Linux kernel and its components.

If you’re a beginner to Github or Open source, this Git 101 is a great resource.

7. A step in the direction of biological realism — Spiking Neural Networks

The talk, Spiking Neural Networks(SNN) by Catherine Schuman bridges the gap from Neural Networks to Neuroscience with SNNs taking a step in the direction of biological realism. The differences/similarities between Artificial Neural Networks and SNNs as well as details of Neuromorphic Computing were interesting in this.

8. Why diversity matters in Tech?

I myself used to think of better answers to this question a few years ago. I think a diverse group brings greater innovation and makes the products you are building right with representation from each group, especially in the new areas like AI/ML/Crypto. This opinion was shared among many attendees and speakers at GHC in the panel discussions too.

9. Potential of Networking

I cannot stress the importance of Networking enough, as I recently witnessed a few results of it personally. After I spoke to one of the company employees in a discussion room, I sent her a connection request on LinkedIn as we had a lot of common technical interests. I got to know about a hackathon opportunity through this which was interesting to me. Last year, it was a similar way where I got a chance to involve in one of the research projects at my college.

I recommend making LinkedIn connections with people of similar interests and follow, prepare for an elevator pitch, send a personalized note with the invite and keep in touch rather than just asking directly for a favor in the job search.

10. Questions to ask yourself on your job

In the talk by Michelle Zatlyn from Cloudflare, she says to ask yourself this on your new job: How many people will be impacted by what I build and how? which I think is a great question to evaluate when you take up a new job, internship or change role. Also, what we learn out of it and making sure it matches with our goals is really important. It's easy to miss this than what we think of it!

Finally the GHC was a great experience and I am proud that I got chosen to be sponsored by Khoury College of Computer Sciences to be a part of it. Let me know your GHC stories or if you share similar thoughts and liked this post! :)