Start your engines! Reflections | Projections spins students around its F1-themed racetrack full of tech-focused workshops, speakers and career-building events from Sept. 16–20. The conference, hosted at the Siebel Center for Computer Science, is open to all students at the University.
Starting in 1995, R|P is an entirely student-run conference geared towards helping students interested in pursuing careers in technology gain knowledge and experience about the modern tech industry.
Registration is free, and the conference’s full schedule is available online and on an app – a new addition to the R|P program built entirely by the student team. The app allows students to see and choose which sessions might interest them and track their progress within the program. Students can then earn prizes for participating in the events.
“Essentially, the two goals of the conference are to reflect and learn about the tech industry and learn new things about where (it’s) headed,” said Cole Jordan, senior in Engineering and R|P co-director. “The project side is applying what you’ve learned to future opportunities.”
Throughout the week, R|P hosted workshops and presentations for students to stop by and learn more about their interest fields. R|P’s biggest event was a career fair on Thursday, where students talked with officials, interns and alumni from some of the largest tech companies in an informal, low-pressure environment.
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“Knowing how stressful the formal, business-professional career fairs are, we were able to create an experience that will hopefully be more appealing and more comfortable for attendees,” Jordan said.
Another major feature of R|P is its sponsors, who host “tech talks” that focus on their company’s operations and functions. These talks serve as a way of introducing students to their desired career field.
“Overall, our students are looking for informal ways to learn things about the tech industry and feel more included in the community itself,” Jordan said.
This year, R|P is sponsored by Caterpillar, John Deere, HRT, Qualcomm and Aechelon Technology.
Shreenija Daggavolu, senior in Engineering and co-director of R|P, emphasized that R|P isn’t just a conference for computer science students. She encourages students from all majors to check out R|P events because there is something for everyone.
“Most of our speaker talks aren’t just (computer science), they’re more about the niche topics surrounding CS in general,” Daggavolu said. “We actually have a speaker coming in who worked at Pixar in the past.”
The keynote speaker for R|P this year was Sue Harnett, CEO of Rewriting the Code, a company focused on connecting women in technology and providing a safe community for them to thrive through their college career and beyond.
Harnett highlighted the significance of exploration during college, encouraging students to embrace new experiences and discoveries that could further shape their personal, academic and professional journeys.
“It’s exploring all of these companies out there and really trying to combine your passion for technology with whatever industry you wanna impact,” Harnett said. “It could be healthcare, education or entertainment.”
On Tuesday, Harnett delivered an encouraging speech aimed at guiding students on their path to achieving a successful career in the tech industry.
“It’s not just about the coding and the AI and the ML and all of the coursework,” Harnett said. “It’s about learning how to be a great teammate, communicate and … getting to meet all of these incredible people around the world.”
Harnett says students often come to her confused because they don’t see the application between what they’re learning in class and what they will do when working at their companies.
Recognizing that the job market can be overwhelming, Harnett encourages students to take their careers one step at a time. She believes that conferences like R|P are a great first step in bringing together the academic and corporate worlds.
“We work with our corporate partners as well as the student population in trying to bridge that gap and get them talking to each other,” Harnett said.
Beyond corporate events, R|P hosts two competitive and interactive games on Friday and Saturday. The first event will be MechMania.
MechMania is a 24-hour hack-a-thon where students team up to build a bot to compete in a secret game, which will be revealed at the end of the event. The winners will receive cash prizes for first, second and third place.
The second event is PuzzleBang, a puzzling sprint hosted and organized by University alumni. Students compete as groups to solve various puzzles online and around campus; the games are communicated through Discord and the event’s website. The event culminates in one final challenging puzzle that determines the overall winner: This year, the puzzle will be an escape room.
