Purple and pink flyers advertising a professional event were seen on MTD station poles, bus ads, and lamp posts in Champaign-Urbana. Reflections | Projections, a student run tech conference held this September 18-22, is the largest in the Midwest. The event had 2500+ attendees, 15+ speakers, and 10+ companies.
A visual for the daily convention schedule displays numerous panels and food opportunities. Photo and caption provided by Makoto Nekomata.
Students and community members had many opportunities to engage throughout the event. Particularly, from tech industry speakers, networking through a casual career fair, and asking questions at company events. As well as participating in a 24-hour Hackathon and working their way through an escape room. Attendees also were provided with free entry, food, and themed Reflections | Projections loot.
To accommodate for students’ busy class schedules, the convention kicked off at between 2:00pm-3:00pm per day. There were 3-6 speakers each day excluding the career fair. The instructional and fast-paced week gathered many accomplished individuals together to create many possibilities for collaboration and innovation.
Q and A with the 2023 R|P Co-Directors
Reflections | Projections explored opportunities for students to network with industry leaders and fellow tech majors. This event also led to a Q and A with the R | P Co- Directors, Atharva and Saloni.
Q: When was the first year Reflections | Projections started, and what was the scale of the event at that time? Was the event always one open to community members?
A: This year marked the 29th edition of Reflections | Projections. The R | P conference originally started in 1995. We are unsure of the scale of the event, but the initial intent was to bring together various collegiate chapters of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) in the Midwest to have a forum on the state of technology. Since then, the conference has grown to attract speakers from all around the world, with over 2500 attendees.
Q: What makes R | P especially memorable to you?
A: It’s something that we’ve worked so hard for and seeing it come to fruition really shows that hard work pays off. Plus, the friendships and memories made while being both on the staff and leading the team is something we will hold forever. We’ve grown a lot through this process and learned a lot. It’s amazing being part of an event that has such a rich history.
Q: What is your educational background? Do you find there are many students and community members interested in the event who aren’t exclusively computer science majors?
A: Atharva is a Senior in Math & CS, and Saloni is a Junior in Computer Science. While this event is primarily talking about technology, this year we aspired to market beyond the computer science majors, because we believe that technology has now transcended major boundaries. In particular, some of the talks we had were also relevant to other majors like economics, business, and various engineering majors.
Q: What would you say is the biggest goal moving forward with Reflections | Projections. Are you looking to expand to other college campuses?
A: Reflections | Projections is a uniquely University of Illinois event, and we currently have no plans of expanding. Starting this year, we included a novel attendee tracking system that gave us insights on our attendance throughout events. We are most excited about expanding on this and turning R|P into a data-driven event so we can attract more speakers, sponsors, and attendees.
Ruchi Asthana- Machine Learning Engineer II Tech Talk
Asthana spoke to a crowd of around 100 attendees on Wednesday, September 20th, 2023.
In her speech entitled “Five Years, One Goal: My Journey to Machine Learning Engineer II at Amazon” she addresses her educational background and the key takeaways from beginning undergraduate school to her current position. At the end of the speech there was time for a question filled Q & A.
Asthana holds a B.S. in Computational Biology from Carnegie Mellon University. She is currently pursuing her master’s in data science from Harvard University’s Extension School.
Asthana has experience working at companies such as InterSystems, IBM, and Amazon. While working on her bachelor’s degree, she participated in a lab as a research assistant.
One of the first key takeaways from her experiences in education is to be open to diverse opportunities. Asthana states that experiencing a wide variety of educational diversity can eliminate what things one is not interested in.
For Asthana, this helped her discover that she was not interested in going into the medical field but was very interested in the tech industry.
She talked about the life-changing decision she had to make as a research assistant. When offered a choice between continuing work in her lab as a research assistant or taking an internship in the industry at InterSystems.
A Reflections | Projections banner hangs in the main hall of the Siebel Center for Computer Science. Photo and caption provided by Makoto Nekomata
She had to compare the options and make the choice that she felt was best for her. The speaker decided that she craved a fast-paced environment where she could be working on multiple projects at the same time, and her current position in the lab did not make this possible.
When she began to apply to jobs after graduating from undergraduate school, Asthana was given a very key piece of advice which she shared with the crowd.
After entering the job market, she found that she was limited by her industry and educational experience in the roles she was looking for. This was very different than the opportunities not limited to those with credentials in her undergraduate experience.
One interviewer suggested that she make a set of important goals: a 1-year goal, 2-year goal, 5-year goal, and 10-year goal.
While she found she may not be able to achieve her dream position immediately, everything she would be working towards would be cumulating to that point.
Asthana reminded the crowd that their careers would last 40+ years, and not to rush things. She detailed that jobs were only part of your overall career. She also touched on the importance of self-advocacy and working to gain the skills and education one needs to succeed even without being asked.
She is now working at Amazon and has gained trust and the ability to work on a wide variety of opportunities.
Discriminatory vs Generative AI- State Farm Tech Talk
Representatives from State Farm spoke to a crowd of around 40 attendees on Thursday September 21st. The speech was opened by an overview with examples between discriminatory and generative AI, transitioning into the risks of generative AI, and finally pointing out common uses in the industry.
The presenter closed out the session by showing a brief real-life example of an intelligent chatbot. There was a period for a Q and A and a few questions were asked.
Getting in Touch with Reflections | Projections
The 2023 Reflections | Projections student run tech conference was an opportunity to collaborate with students, industry professionals, and employers. From the 21 panels to the career fair to the escape room, the educational experience was a bustling atmosphere that is only set to expand.
The entire event except for the U of I escape rooms was open to community members and students from the local community college, Parkland College. With so much to learn from and discover, the website is a great place to capture more information on a particular employer, speaker, or event.
The Reflections and Projections website can be accessed at https://reflectionsprojections.org/. The bottom right corner of the website has links to the R | P socials, and the team’s general contact information. Questions or feedback from the 2023 convention? The team can be contacted at contact@reflectionsprojections.org.
Sources:
https://reflectionsprojections.org/
Personal interview with Co-Directors of R| P – Atharva and Saloni
