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| W is for Weekend Women's Workshop! |
| Sunday, April 27, 2014 |
When I signed up for this, I was sorta gung ho about it. I loved the course I took in Stanford last Fall. And I wanted to take more. But since I didnt have any help at home it seemed cruel to take off one day of the week leaving DH to manage BSK alone. More importantly I dont want the same doled out on me :--P. So I decided to look for weekend workshops, finish it off in one go. So I picked this interested course tailored towards women.
Friday evening I so wanted my weekend. Didnt feel like going to the class the next day. Caught up on sleep, because it has been ages since I sat through something for a whole day without erm dozing off to sleep. That is how I missed writing a post ;--)
But come Saturday, entering Stanford I felt the same renewed energy I feel when visiting universities. The young energy, the studious atmosphere, the buildings like school of education and school of history really motivates me. Learning is such a humbling exercise. I believe one can never be done with learning. And I believe in formal learning. And I like it too. May be because I was good with it once upon a time? May be because I am competitive?
There were women of all ages, from right out of school to 50+. All wanting to be influential in their roles. Course curriculum apart, I learnt a few key things about myself.
My perception of myself is very uglier than what others perceive me as.
I always feel like I dont belong, I cannot associate and I am different. Not sure if it is because of my indian background, or skin color, or what.
I also feel women around me think less of me. And how wrong I was!
At the end of the class we had an exercise to talk for a minute about ourselves. And others had to provide feedback.
Some of the feedback really caught me offguard. I came off as sweet and charming. Really in that 1 min that I spoke did it come out? I was going for powerful. Can someone be sweet, charming and powerful at the same time? I can safely say I am very good at speaking in front of people. Again. No stage fear, perfect eye contact, tone modulation, pauses, presence, I am proud of it.
We learnt about power poses, that help you pull yourself together and give you the energy to handle a tough situation. I am glad I am in a role where all this can be applied. Had I been in Engineering all this would not matter at all. More people interaction implies requiring mastering these soft skills.
Contrary to what I thought, engineering is very well respected. I dont have a high regard for it only because the quality of engineer is really diluted by every single person from India getting into engineering. Not sure if I am coming across right. The ones who passionately pursue engineering really make it big, without doing it just because your parents wanted you to do it, or it brings in more money.
What I really liked about this group of women was there were very few engineers, and there were women from a variety of backgrounds, finance, operations, strategy etc, from tech firms like google, nvidia, testla!. and also from academia, stanford offices, department of education! It was amazing to see the variety and hear their experiences. One thing I noticed was all women has similar challenges, and had similar inhibitions.
Overall, even though at the end of it all I want to have my weekend back it was an amazing experience well worth the trouble.
Stanford campus is always beautiful to visit.
What did DH and BSK do? Saturday they went to a birthday party, helped out the hosts, played extralong time at the jumpy house. Sunday they went to the zoo and had a gala time.
Going to a university always wants me to go back to study something. Not to make more money but to genuinely learn. MBA craze has gone away. Now I am interested in Law School!! But dont want to put the money down the drain, will it be really worth it? More importantly will I have time to do it? It will be a great combination. Engineering with Law and Marketing :--P I just feel that there is so much to learn and know and try out, life is too short to have one career and one area of specialization.
Adios!!
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posted by SK @ 10:01 PM  |
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| 2 Comments: |
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Hey! I have been following your posts on and off , since you touch various topics of interest :)
I am curious to know about the nature of your job. I rejoined in IT after a 5 year break of rearing kids and still exploring the course of my path. If you do not mind sharing, please do :) Else, perfectly fine...
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Hi Deepa
Sure :--)
I am in technical marketing in a semiconductor company. This is sorta IT too. not sure if you are in software services..
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Hey! I have been following your posts on and off , since you touch various topics of interest :)
I am curious to know about the nature of your job. I rejoined in IT after a 5 year break of rearing kids and still exploring the course of my path. If you do not mind sharing, please do :) Else, perfectly fine...