Adobe’s Post

🌍 Discover the World of Hackathons with The Black Codes 🌍 🤔 What is a Hackathon? Ever heard of a hackathon and wondered what it's all about? At The Black Codes, we're excited to demystify this innovative event for our community! 👩🏿💻 A hackathon is a gathering where tech enthusiasts, developers, designers, and innovators come together to bring ideas to the web. It's like a marathon for tech minds, where collaboration, creativity, and coding converge. 🧬 Key Elements of a Hackathon: Teamwork & Innovation: Participants form teams to brainstorm and build new software projects. Think of it as a creative playground for techies where new apps, websites, or software solutions are born. Learning & Growth: It's a fantastic opportunity to learn new skills or develop your existing skills. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned pro, there's always something new to discover. Community & Networking: Connect with peers, mentors, and industry leaders. A hackathon is a melting pot of talents and ideas, ideal for expanding your professional network. Making an Impact: Many hackathons focus on solving real-world problems, aligning perfectly with our mission to empower engineers to become community leaders in the tech industry. 😯 Why Join a Hackathon? 🛠️ Develop Your Skills: Tackle real-world challenges and improve your coding abilities. 🌟 Showcase Your Talent: Bring your unique perspective and ideas to the table. 🫱🏾🫲🏿 Meet Like-Minded Individuals: Collaborate with others who share your passion for tech. 🔍 Explore Tech Careers: Gain insights into the tech industry and potential career paths. Ready to dive into the exciting world of hackathons? Whether it's your first time or you're an experienced hacker, our upcoming event is the perfect place to start. Let’s innovate, learn, and grow together! 📆 Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more details on our upcoming hackathon! #TheBlackCodes #StickToTheCode #CultureCommunityCode #Hackathon #Innovation #TechCommunity #EmpowermentThroughTech #BlackTechLeaders

Part 2 of my reflections from this past week at work, which has been physically exhausting but has given me much needed clarity and closures - We had a booth put up at a tech fair organized at Microsoft. The goal of this booth was to showcase the amazing work people have been doing and learn along. Our tiny user research team had a booth (our presence) at this tech fair - and I don't know about others but I think it is these small things that will make user research reach more people. Thanks to our leaders who got us the opportunity. While I was showcasing the incredible work of our team, I realized how much I underplay my own work. We literally created a custom evaluation framework for copilot, which can be used by anyone that wants to build this new tech better. I didn't think it was anything extraordinary until so many people at the tech fair asked about it. They were curious to use this framework themselves. Now, of course we leveraged some work that was already done by the Responsible AI teams at Microsoft. But we also added new value on top of it - which was specifically helping the users of our copilot. How many people get to do something like this?! And all this while I kept never mentioning it anywhere. On a casual Tuesday, I learnt from my PM friend how he productized the research recommendations identified using this framework we created. Whatta week of realizing my own impact on our products! I can finally just shut down the other Apurva in my brain who is constantly doubting me. Couldn't have put up a great show at the tech fair without the incredible support of Prachi Sakhardande Abhay Sen Angelene Jessy Devarpan Mukherjee Prashik Lanjewar Manish Kori - thank you so much for all that you did! #copilotevaluation #evaluativeresearch #userresearch

If you have just started your journey into tech - or are considering it - this is an amazing resource to get insight to the field and how to determine the direction you should take.

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It's not every day you get to meet the one and only Guy Kawasaki to hear him speak AND have him jump into Mixed Reality to experience the remarkable advances we're making for Frontline workers using D365 Field Service and D365 Guides. #guykawasaki, #mixedreality, #MSDyn, #fieldservice, #guides

Here's a quick video overview of a feature I built while interning with Rithm School.

🚀Still in my weekend groove... I also spent my weekend attending the virtual graduation of Cohort 7 Techtrailers of HerTechTrail Have you started something but didn't complete it? I am on this table. You don't need to get mad at yourself. Certain circumstances beyond our control can make that happen. I signed up for video editing. I completed all lectures but couldn't get through with my capstone project. For me, it was dealing with a lot at that time. Certain eventualities made that happen. The knowledge imbibed by my coach Faith Etuk will surely be utilised. Like my coach will always say practicalise what you are taught. A lot of tips and advice were shared at the graduation ceremony. If you are a cohort 7 Tech trailer and didn't get to attend the graduation. Then believe me when I say you missed out. Is it the fun game that lite up the atmosphere? It was a remarkable time out. Trust me! It was. A whopping 3 hours well spent. Congrats to all the best-graduating students and trust HerTechTrail, they know how to reward hard work and excellence. Did you miss out on the incoming cohort 8 application? If you got in congratulations 🎉. If you missed it, all I can say is watch out for the cohort 9 waitlist. In other news, Techherfest is fast approaching. Have you forgotten? Oh No!😳😲 Here is me reminding you. Have you gotten your tickets? Check the link in the comment section on how you can get your tickets. It promises to be an eventful event... History will be made. 🔥 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒐. 𝑮𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆!

Today’s WeeklyLT is a bday edition & features 3 interconnected topics. 1. Looking back, my long-term mindset was initially through observation, gut & PURE LUCK. Examples: a.) Picking my BComm specialization at UBC in '96. So many were choosing Accounting & Finance. I knew I didn’t want to follow the crowd. Too much competition, especially given how surprised I was to be @ UBC-BComm in the first place. HARD WORK DOES PAY OFF eventually! There was only one BComm specialization at the time that had a Co-Op program. Knowing nothing about it, I chose Management Information Systems (MIS) for only this reason. I had no idea we were in the early innings of the Digital Revolution & that there would be a subsequent explosion in demand for students with technology & business knowledge. b.) On graduation, I landed a job at Accenture. Everyone started with 2 weeks of training at their central campus in St. Charles, IL. Prior cohorts all had to learn programming – something I despised & somehow avoided during my MIS degree. A few weeks before departing, they revamped the curriculum & removed the programming component. Accenture recognized programming would be moved offshore in the years ahead (ie, India). They instead wanted consultants who were strong at requirements gathering, functional skills & problem-solving. c.) Other: I also happened to be a part of the 1st major outsourcing deal involving BC Hydro & Accenture in 2002/2003. Likewise, I happened to gain SAP & Project Management experience in their respective early innings. To summarize, BEING EARLY & POSITIONING AHEAD OF THE CROWD CAN ALLOW YOU TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OPPORTUNITIES. Going forward, I can rely less on luck & more on 23+ yrs of past experiences coupled with a passion for deep-dive research of macroeconomic, technology trends & healthspan. 2. Long-term positioning is critical but more important is current-state gratitude & “living in the present” a.) I’m grateful for all the amazing friends & family I’ve met throughout my journey so far. b.) “Living in the present” & accepting all the good & bad that life’s journey entails via mental framing of my thoughts (ie, making lemons into lemonade in the face of past adversity). Just constantly appreciating, especially NATURE, PEACE & OPPORTUNITIES. 3. Looking ahead. I would love to celebrate in person with friends-family located all across the world but know it’s not realistic & you just don’t feel connected using today’s virtual meeting tools. However, in a few year’s time, I envision hosting a bday celebration in the METAVERSE WHERE IT DOES FEEL LIKE ALL THE GUESTS ARE IN THE SAME ROOM. Headsets will eventually be replaced with glasses. METAVERSE: an emerging 3-D enabled digital space that uses virtual reality, augmented reality & other advanced internet features to allow people to have life-like personal-business experiences online. DON’T BELIEVE ME? CHECK OUT THIS INCREDIBLE INTERVIEW BETWEEN MARK ZUCKERBERG & LEX FRIDMAN:

Hey all, 🙌 A huge thank you for the warm welcome to Pristine Agency and for each one of your comments, likes, and messages! 📣 Starting tomorrow, every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30 AM - CET we're bringing you some insights, perspectives, and initiatives about hackathons and more. Most of them are listicles with a reading time of between 2 and 3 minutes. 🫂 The first article comes out today though, and it’s about welcoming all of you to the hackathons world, providing an answer to these questions: ✦What hackathons are? ✦Why do the best companies in the world run hackathons? ✦What company problems do they solve? Here’s the link to our website blog post: https://lnkd.in/dSFCkEHi And here’s the link to a funnier version we made for Reddit 😊: https://lnkd.in/dQHiqbTs Have a good read!

Exciting news to share! I am thrilled to announce that I secured the 3rd rank in the 'CODINGO' event! 💻 This achievement marks an invigorating start to my engineering journey, filled with new experiences and learning opportunities. One highlight was collaborating with seniors during the final stage, gaining insights into their skills and expertise. I am looking forward to continued growth and success ahead! #CodingCompetition #EngineeringJourney #LearningAndGrowth