Happy New Year, SCN! You're Inspirational!

[former_member182313]

Women In Technology(WIT)

A few years ago, I came to know from my daughter that technology is not a 'girl' thing. Even though she is doing very well in Math and Science, she was not proud of that. She didn't want to be identified as Math geek. I was a bit surprised. My wife was not alarmed however. My wife thought our daughter's feelings were not "out of ordinary".

In 2011, I attended InnoJam in Palo Alto, CA and then TechEd '11, Las Vegas. Between May 11 and Oct 11, I learned a quiet lot about Women In Technology(WIT) from marilyn.pratt, anne.hardy, heike.vangeel, and gigi.read. I also happened to read blogs and interview of Anne Hardy. I forwarded everything I learned on WIT to my daughter. Slowly I observed a difference in her attitude towards Math and Technology. My daughter is now really proud about being good in Math and Science. No longer she feels that Engineering is a 'boy' thing. Not only she's proud but had decided to pursue Engineering for her undergraduate studies. She would most likely spend next 4 years in Philadelphia. Here is 'the' documentary evidence*:

Hurrah, hurrah Pennsylvania!

This spirited refrain captures the excitement we feel in welcoming you to the University of Pennsylvania and the School of Engineering and Applied Science Class of 2017. Congratulations! You’re now part of a remarkable community, distinguished by a proud lineage of innovative thought and purposeful action that began when Benjamin Franklin founded the University in 1740.

                                                         *A part of my daughter's Early Decision acceptance notification from Penn

I'm sure the people I mentioned above played a significant role in influencing my daughter's thinking towards Technology. In October 2012, she had a long weekend, the same weekend when InnoJam, Las Vegas, NV was held. I floated the idea to her about attending InnoJam. To my surprise, she agreed; not only she agreed but she wanted to bring her friends as well(She knew about InnoJam based on her brother's participation the year before in Palo Alto, CA.) Due to her age, however, she could not attend.

Empathy in Design Thinking

Several years ago, I learned listening is not the same as hearing. Recently in Las Vegas, NV, I attended a workshop on Empathy in Design Thinking. I believe Seung Chen did a fabulous job of explaining the difference between listening and hearing. Watch this video to understand what listening means: Timeline 22m for 2 minutes.

As an independent consultant, it is difficult to take time to research and sign up for classes such as this one. Not only it would probably be expensive but time consuming. TechEds are becoming more and more useful and beneficial to the development of one's technical and non-technical soft skills.

InnoJam

I've attended several InnoJams since SAP started offering it 2-3 years ago. I learned something new in every InnoJam. One of the best I attended was "Mobility Innojam" at Palo Alto, CA in June 2011. I attended that InnoJam with my son. Not only he learned a lot technically but he fell in love with Silicon Valley; as a result, he decided to pursue Computer Science instead of Bio-Medical Engineering. He's extremely happy with his choice. I believe Mobility InnoJam and WIT workshop that I attended in Teched '11 played a huge role in influencing my kids' decision on their career choice.

I would like to give huge shout out to dedicated people such as juergen.schmerder, vitaliy.rudnytskiy, gigi.read, anne.hardy

, marilyn.pratt, thomas.jung , chip.rodgers and so many others who work hard and tirelessly to organize the events such as InnoJam,TechEd, non-technical workshops in TechEd etc.

SCN

I started blogging in SCN 3+ years ago. It has been a great learning experience. I know SCN is not the only platform to experience the taste of blogging. However unlike other platforms, SCN truly encourages diverse thoughts and remind everyone this world is a bit larger than our own. I quickly learned - without traveling - the cultural differences between the different parts of this small world. Needless to say, I - like others - benefit a lot from the knowledge shared by others. Just recently a week ago, I performed portal upgrade based on this & this. Both wolf.hengevoss & ping.tong played a significant role in helping me understand SAP's upgrade philosophy. And of course this blog by nicholas.chang. In addition, through SCN, I came to know great people such as jon.reed, vijay.vijayasankar, gregory.misiorek, jarret.pazahanick, thorstenster, david.hull3, john.appleby3, mark.finnern, dahowlett,

tammy.powlas3,  bhanu.gupta3 ,philippe.rosset, idit.herzog and so many others. I know them not because we agreed on every topic but because what I learned from them virtually.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank mark.yolton for working hard to provide this beautiful platform.

SCN, I wish you Happy and Prosperous New Year! I'll do whatever I can to enhance your beauty!