My parents used to tell my twin brother and me that social media was a waste of time. However, they no longer say that because I’ve found that so many professional people (in a variety of industries) are on Twitter, making it a lucrative social media platform.

Here’s how you can optimize and build your social media presence to find jobs, scholarships, conferences, contests, workshops, online classes, and network.

1. Follow people in whatever industry you’re interested in. Sure, I follow celebrities, but as a computer science major, I also follow engineers, developer evangelists (my specific career), founders, venture capitalists, and tech journalists. They occasionally share opportunities like jobs or scholarships, provide advice on their journey and life, and share relevant news and their opinions on said news.
   

   I followed my old manager and mentor Tomomi because she is an accomplished engineer and saw her tweet looking for an intern for her team. I responded, and I’m guessing it didn’t hurt my job-getting chances

2. Keep your bio short and sweet. I include three things I like (with alliteration, to keep it fun), my two most recent or current jobs, my Myers-Briggs personality type (it gives more background information on me), a fun “fangirl” bit to keep it not too professional, and a link to my newsletter to help increase subscribers. I also include my current location and link to my personal website (see #3 for more on that.) 
3. Have a personal website that includes links to each social media platform you’re on. Websites like Weebly or About.me let you get your own site without writing any code. Most platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram also let you link to your own site.
4. Use the same picture and same username for each social media account. This helps people link each account to you, and, like your username, is how people recognize you. Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover explains why he does not change his avatar here. In the left sidebar of his personal website he sums up what he does, links to his different accounts, and shares an opportunity he thinks people who follow him would like.
   

   Ryan Hoover knows how to build a personal brand.

5. What should you share? To build your brand, you should mostly share personal opinions on news and happenings, as well as opportunities your followers would like. For example, I comment on diversity in tech like the recent Google anti-diversity memo and share conferences, scholarships, and interesting tutorials. I also occasionally share what’s happening in my Bryn Mawr courses, events I’m attending, sports commentary, or funny things I hear.
   

   Share a book list, or ask for book recommendations!

   This lets followers feel like they know you on a more personal level, and provides good conversation-starters.

6. Start conversations. Tweet at people or comment on their pictures. I’ve learned more about software, jobs, tutorials, and books to read just by responding to what others post, and have also networked with people by later connecting with them on LinkedIn.
   

   Twitter conversation with a CEO

7. Meet up with people in person. I love taking online relationships offline.
   

   I did an online tech training program and met some in-person a few months later. Of course, we took a picture and shared it.

8. Use hashtags for exposure. People search hashtags of events like sports games or conferences and also trending news.
9. Sell yourself! If you do something cool, share it. I share blog posts I write, like a post on how to build an app to parse basketball statistics from an Excel spreadsheet.

Questions? Comments? You can find me online here. Now go build that personal brand or get that job!

On Friday night, I ventured out to Citizen’s Bank Park to watch the Philadelphia Phillies take on the New York Mets. I hadn’t been to a baseball game since Bryn Mawr Activities took a large group last year, and I remember going when Activities took a large group in my first year. It was fun to reflect on the similarities and differences of each of my Phillies game experiences.

My friend Devica, a former Banter Blogger, is a huge Phillies fan, and I’ve gone with her to a game every year. She’s the one who organized this trip! The rest of our group included my tennis teammate Mariam Haider ’18, and also Zhoe Rub’18. Our seats were located in the second row in the Bleacher section, and we were surrounded by other college students — I’m not used to such good seats!

Though I’d been to Citizen’s Bank Park twice before, I hadn’t explored the stadium that much. A small bucket list goal of mine is to visit each professional baseball stadium in the country and Canada. If you have or had a similar bucket list goal, please post your travel recommendations in the comments below!

The summer before our first year, Devica and I started talking online (Twitter, specifically). In the incoming students Facebook group, we both found that we enjoyed following sports (Devica follows Philly teams, I follow San Francisco teams.) That’s continued over our years here, and still connects us.

It’s interesting how baseball, and sports in general, has the power to connect us. Baseball is a sport that has connected me and my parents, me and my brother, me and family members, and me and other Mawrters. For example, my dad coached my softball teams; I played baseball with my brother for a few years; I used to watch Giants games with my grandfather; and in October of my first year of college, Baseball helped me acclimate to Bryn Mawr. I wanted to watch the playoffs and World Series (the Giants were good that year!), and planned on watching them alone. However, I remember walking into the Pembroke East TV room and finding my Peer Mentor and her friend from my hall on the second floor there setting up a playoff game on the TV. They were both from the Bay Area too, and were also wearing their Giants gear. Then, we watched each following game together, with others joining as well. It was a surprise to see so many Giants and baseball fans, and it reminded me of home; it was welcoming.

Yes, the Phillies won on Friday (beating the Mets 7-4!), but this game was more for the soul. It was fun to explore the stadium with friends, see other college students from the area, and reflect on the role of baseball in my life and college years.

As busy students, we need to optimize our time. One way to learn on-the-go when you want is through podcasts.

For International Podcast Day, let’s go over some of my favorite podcasts.

STEM

1. Rocket with Microsoft PM and former Mashable Senior Tech Correspondent Christina Warren, game developer Brianna Wu, and diversity writer Simone de Rochefort goes over tech, games, movies, books, comics, tech conferences, smart phones, iOS development, and more.
2. Startup School Radio has two key founders or investors give practical advice for starting, funding, and scaling companies. They also go over their mistakes, regrets, their paths and lessons, and more.
3. She Did it Her Way with Amanda Boleyn features interviews with women entrepreneurs who “did it their way.”
4. 99% Invisible delves into details that people don’t normally think about, like architecture, design, cities, technology, history, sounds, objects, and more.

Race, Culture, Gender, and More

1. Mashup Americans with Korean-American Amy Choi and Salvadoran-Jewish-American Rebecca Lehrer go over life in multi-cultural America, covering everything from food to names to crazy family members at holidays.
2. Another Round with Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton goes over race, gender, and pop culture. They’ve interviewed folks like Margaret Cho, Roxane Gay, and David Simon. One popular segment includes “Drunken Debates.”
3. Slate‘s DoubleX GabFest goes over feminism, pop culture, and current events. Hosts June Thomas, Hannah Rosin and Noreen Malone have recently discussed sexism in tech and rape in the military, and sometimes have guests like journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates.
4. 2 Dope Queens with hosts Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams (from”The Daily Show”) covers stand-up and storytelling regarding sex, race, and life from two top NYC comediennes.
5. Sincerely, X from TED talks anonymously goes over intense, sensitive, painful, or damaging stories of victims, perpetrators, investigators, activists, and more.

History, News, and More

1. Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell (author of the Tipping Point and Outliers) revisits an old topic, idea, event, or person that may have been overlooked. This is really fun and enlightening.
2. This American Life is difficult to sum up because each episode features a few stories related to a different theme each week, but this podcast is diverse, enlightening and educational.
3. Up First from NPR is a great time-saving conversation-starter that sums up the daily news in ten minutes.

What should you consider when interviewing with companies? How do you prepare for tech interviews? What can you do over the summer with a computer science major? How can you prepare for a tech internship?

These are some of the questions that were addressed at the Bi-Co Tech Intern Panel which I was on. From left to right, it featured Katherine Lee (JP Morgan Chase Tech Analyst), myself (Twilio developer evangelist intern), Kevin Liao (Facebook intern), Rachel Xu (Groupon intern), Ann Tran (PricewaterhouseCoopers consultant intern), Sam Partee (Cray Supercomputers intern), and Kellie Dinh (Bentley Systems Product Design intern.)

One takeaway I (and attendees had, I gather) is that a computer science degree can lead you down many different paths. Some of us on the panel wrote code everyday, some worked in industries other than technology, some used skills they picked up in classes, some traveled for work every few days or weeks, some were located all over the country, and more.

Listening to the other panelists reinforced my belief that there is no better place than Bryn Mawr to study computer science, or any STEM field. Panelists talked about problems they encountered and solved in the interview process and at their internships, and about the stereotypical awkward engineer. Surrounded by these strong women and men, I realized that our Bi-Co classes (computer science and other ones) teach you how to consider edge cases, how to break down problems, and how to view things logically and critically.

The liberal arts curriculum differs from typical engineering ones in that we learn how to write and communicate. Though engineers don’t do these often, both are important skills that help differentiate us from other engineers.

As a women’s college, Bryn Mawr also teaches us to aim high, contribute to discussions, and to be outside of our comfort zones. Looking around, the interns on the panel certainly had more confidence than other tech interns I’ve met from other colleges, and could hold their own in a room full of men. That is in part to Bryn Mawr’s atmosphere.

As a developer evangelist intern, I had to write blog posts about apps I coded and also gave talks at conferences and meetups like the one below.

The Computer Science departments at both Bryn Mawr and Haverford have grown over my years here, and more and more companies are recruiting here. Facebook and Google now come every year to talk about job opportunities and provide interview preparation. Something I’m excited for is AppliedCS @ Bryn Mawr, a weeklong Google developed and led program on-campus over winter break where participants will develop several apps with Android AppEngine.

I’m excited to see what’s next for these Bi-Co tech interns as well as the tech community on-campus.

A hackathon is a 12-48 hour event where people come together to solve a problem, often through computer programming. “Hacking” in this case means playing around with new technologies and languages and building something, often with a group.

I attended PennApps, which is Penn’s hackathon, last weekend. This time, I did not go to submit a hackathon for the competition. I went to soak up the innovative and creative atmosphere, and it did not disappoint.

I enjoyed seeing projects, also known as hacks, which included both software to hardware, like Amazon Echos, Arduinos, Raspberry Pi’s, and more.

Some cool hacks made that weekend included a lamp that changes color based on the conversation, a walking-at-night-safety app, a burrito-making machine, a YouTube karaoke Chrome extension, and more.

I also caught up with friends I met at other tech events, went through some online tutorials, and participated in the fun side-events PennApps hosted, like a ping pong tournament, a 5K run, ice skating, and more.

Why should you attend a hackathon?

1. You will learn. There are plenty of workshops, mentors, teachers, and people to help you learn something new. They’re beginner-friendly, don’t worry!
2. You will meet amazing people. I still keep in touch with people I met at hackathons from my first year! There’s something uniting and inspiring about giving up your weekend to build something and learn new things, and that brings people together.
3. You will network. Hacks I made at hackathons have helped me get interviews, and they’ve helped boost my resume. I’m confident I would not have gotten, or done as well, at my last two internships had it not been for things I learned and built at hackathons.
4. You will leave hungry for more. I’ve failed at these events (hey, coding for 12 hours straight, sometimes with a new language, is rough!) I’ve learned persistence, resilience, patience, empathy, and ultimately, how to stick with something. Seeing what others build is motivating. I remember high schoolers building medical apps to help fight cancer, and being in awe at them. Gosh darn it, those hackers inspire me to learn more after the hackathon is done!

Some college traditions are like wine: they get better with age.

I’ve loved most Bryn Mawr traditions since my first year, but Parade Night was not one of them. Yes, I stayed until the end of the night my first year, and I teared up as I walked through the line of Mawrters as they held their lanterns and sang. I did feel welcomed home that night, but that feeling was not enough to keep me and some classmates coming back the next year. Our sophomore year, we skipped Parade Night to attend PennApps, Penn’s biannual college hackathon (48-hour computer programming competition.) Others had similar sentiments this year: two sophomore tennis teammates forewent attending Parade Night to attend a concert in Philly.

This year, as the first years ran down past the Great Hall and the Senior Steps for Parade Night, I began to reflect.

Maybe it was because we seniors were getting sentimental. Maybe it was the great weather (a light breeze, not too warm and not too cold.) Whatever it was, the atmosphere surrounding the Senior Steps on which I finally sat this year was difficult to describe. I felt connected to classmates I’d barely talked to before, or who I’d only seen in passing. I felt supported, empowered, and ready to tackle senior year. I smiled as I looked out at the other classes sitting to the left, right, and in front of the senior class, and sought out familiar faces.

In the past, I’ve sung quietly to myself during Step Sing. Yet this Parade Night, my classmates and I sang loudly and clearly to our hearts’ content. I noted that the other classes were more hesitant, and I reflected on that change. The Class of 2018 has been through a lot together, and our four years of shared experiences have brought us closer. Feeling truly at home after a summer of being away from campus, I felt like I could better welcome home the underclass students.

My only hope now is that I can continue to make Bryn Mawr home for others as others did so for me. All the traditions help a lot with that, and I’m glad I realized that as I start my fourth and final year.