Anita Tse

Anita was placed in computer science when she declared it as her random third choice in her 2nd year of university. She was completely clueless about what CS entailed and she cried when she found out that she didn't get into her top two choices.

She was afraid for her future because she only knew CS for its stereotype, that it was a difficult field filled with men who have been "hacking" and coding things before university, and starting now meant that she’d be behind everyone else. In a desperate attempt to "catch up," she tried going to as many tech-related events on campus as she could. Her first-year friend took her to her first hackathon, UBC Local Hack Day 2016.

Although she didn't end up building anything (she didn't even know how to code at that point), Anita learned a lot about what the hacker community was like and it was especially comforting to see females like herself leading the event. From this experience, she excitedly applied to her second hackathon (nwHacks) and was blown away by how well organized it was and how 700 students would volunteer their weekend to learn and build things with code for free. These first two hackathons were key turning points that helped Anita realize that CS was nothing to be afraid of. In fact, she joined nwPlus as a way to give back and inspire others who were in the same shoes as her in 2016.

Through her work at nwPlus, Anita has learned a lot about leadership and various skills such as writing, logistics, marketing, and more. She was even able to attend and speak at two Hackcons, MLH’s annual conference for developer community leaders. In her role as a leader, she works to make sure events are as fun as possible. She realizes that spending 24 hours in a room can be quite daunting.

Anita says, “I firmly believe that it was thanks to the hacker community that I went from a small scared girl oblivious to tech to a leader of the biggest tech events on campus reaching over a thousand students each year.”

As a part of the nwHacks team, she is very proud that their team has gone from one competitive hackathon to three annually so they can empower hackers of all skill levels and diverse groups.

Anita’s favorite hackathon project is from nwHacks 2017. Her team built a fun choose-your-own-adventure game for Alexa called “The Golden Quest,” where the player goes on a quest to find the bathroom. Because Alexa was new at the time and MLH had an Amazon Echo in the Hardware Lab, the team wanted to take that opportunity to make an Alexa skill. The idea was simple enough for them to learn how to build Alexa skills. At this event, she helped construct the storyline and beta-tested the project while staying up late to support and feed her team. Although Anita didn’t feel like she contributed much to their project and the project didn’t place, it was still her most memorable project because it was the first one she ever finished at a hackathon. She was proud that she went out of her comfort zone to join a team of people she hadn’t met before, who she is still friends with today. Anita has learned that you really don't need to code to get the full "hacker experience."

Anita is currently in her final year at the University of British Columbia where she is finishing her degree in computer science. She is the co-president of nwPlus and works to lead a team of 40+ members in the planning and execution of three hackathons which bring together 1,200 participants, 100 industry mentors, and 30 sponsors.