What went down at Women TechMakers Cebu 2019
Written by: Jessa Marie Pedrola and WTM Cebu
Women Techmakers events are designed to promote an environment of inclusivity for women in technology, as well as celebrate women leading the industry. We want to advance, grow, and celebrate women developers, designers, and technology entrepreneurs.
In commemoration of the International Women’s Month, the 6th Women TechMakers Cebu event was held last March 9, 2019. The event’s purpose is to promote women empowerment in the world of technology, the half day event was jam packed with a series of talks and sessions from 13 speakers in the field of STEM: Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics.
REGISTRATION
The free event was jam-packed by different students and professionals in the field of Technology. The number of participants reached 200 including the walk-ins, speakers, and volunteers.
PARTNERS
The event wouldn’t be made possible without the support from Google and our amazing partners.
Co-Presenter
Venue Partner
Eco-Bag Sponsor
Special Sponsors
PROGRAM AND SPEAKERS
The whole day event was full of interesting topics from our speakers who told us their inspirational stories on how they became a woman in tech. They even sighted their experiences, challenges and trials encountered and how they overcame their obstacles as they continued to excel in the world of technology.
The line-up of speakers was focused in getting women from different fields in technology. We have Women in Technology: Gwen Yason; Women in Development: Ren Campanilla; Women in Product Management: Alvie Balquin; Women in Software Quality: Eve Rose Dalisay Khu; Women in Start-ups: Timmy De Jesus; Women in Community: Frances Marie Teves; Women in Design: Demi Bernice Eslit; and Women in Development: Mary Grace Arrabis Tayo. There was also a panel discussion where our speakers were joined by some empowered women in Technology: Lorna Bondoc, Gracia Tabar Quidet, and Franchette Camoro.
The first speaker of the event was Ms. Gwen Yason, the managing director of Accenture Advanced Technology Centers in the Philippines (ATCP), holding several key roles. As ATCP Cebu lead, she drives the location’s growth, operational efficiency and innovation agenda.
With 20 years of experience in the IT industry, she expertly helps clients articulate their needs and create achievable objectives to transform their businesses. Gwen is passionate about supporting and cultivating women leaders in Accenture. She is the ATCP sponsor for Inclusion & Diversity championing equal opportunities and support for women, PWD and LGBT employees.
Our next speaker, Ms. Ren Campanilla is a is a software engineer from Inspire Team who is an aspiring IoT tinkerer. She has been an enthusiast and a member of the Internet of Things Cebu since 2016. She believes that there’s something new to learn everyday as technology evolves exponentially.
She talked about the Internet of Things and even showed the participants her cool IOT project that takes a photo when motion is detected and then tweets the photo to her Twitter account.
Our next speaker has a combined experience of 17 years of actual software development equipped with skills in Project Management and Software Process Improvement. Ms. Alvie Balquin discussed about an agile method called Scrum.
Eve Rose Dalisay Khu is currently the Lead Test Automation Engineer, working in Analytics Fire for almost 2 years. She’s been automating test for more or less 7 years.
Timmy de Jesus runs the operations of a startup in the HR space called Payruler. She is passionate about entrepreneurship, tech, and generally making things better.
Our last speaker in the morning was Frances Marie Teves, a Software Engineer at Kyocera Document Solutions Development Philippines Inc. Her work mainly focuses on Embedded Firmware Web Development for multifunctional printers for multiple projects. Aside from her work in technical field, she is also a Community Builder and a Freelance Tech Host. She loves to help create an avenue for developers to discover and learn more about technology. She also does freelance hosting to various events, more focused in tech-related activities.
Before lunch break, a group photo was taken.
In the afternoon, the talk continued with an Introduction to Cloud Study Jams. After the talk, the participants were given the chance to either join the Cloud Study Jams or continue listening to the remaining speakers.
For the Cloud Study Jams, it was facilitated by Franchette Camoro, Sean Urgel, and Shad Roi Dela Cruz.
Franchette Camoro is A Full Stack Developer at Symph. She loves all things web and develops mainly using Google Cloud Platform, Python and React. She believes Filipino Developers have a lot of talent and just needs some opportunities to grow.
Sean Urgel Sean is passionate about making thoughts a reality by creating meaningful products. He puts into action his principles of commitment, consistent hard work, willingness to change and adapt in product development by being a self-taught full-stack developer specializing in React development [at Symph]. He actively shares to the community his learnings and perspective in https://medium.com/@seantheurgel
Shad Roi Dela Cruz is a Special Operations Manager at Symph and the Director of Operations of YYY Jobs. He is capable of running a team of diverse individuals, communicating effectively with clients, and demonstrating a great ability in planning and project plan execution by using different approaches.
For the remaining talks, Ms. Demi Bernice Eslit, a branding strategist and artist helping businesses here and abroad to recuperate & strengthen brands talked about Graphic and User Interface/User Experience.
She was followed by Ms. Mary Grace Arrabis Tayo, a Software Engineer with 9 years of experience on Coldfusion, Java and PHP programming. She’s one of the top-rated freelance developers on Upwork and a mother of one.
After the speaker talks, our sponsors were given the chance to also talk in front and advertise their selves.
PANEL DISCUSSION
After the sponsor talks, a panel discussion was conducted with the different speakers and two other empowered women.
Lorna Bondoc, works with companies in the Philippines and abroad. Lorna studied Industrial Engineering and Marketing, writes about digital marketing, technology, outsourcing, start-ups and Star Trek (yes it counts!); When not working in front of the computer, Lorna paints and bakes; Lorna loves reading, jazz, nature, and long road trips.
The other empowered women who is joining the panel discussion is Gracia Tabar Quidet. She started volunteering to Google Business Group — Cebu when she was a student and at the same time intern at Symph. That same voluntary work gave her an opportunity to be the co-lead of Womenwill Cebu advocating for creating economic opportunities for women. Grace was the Lead Organizer for the first ever Startup Weekend Cebu Women Edition and went to Bali Indonesia with the champions to compete all over Asia Pacific Startup Weekend Women.
They talked, gave their insights, and opinions about various topics that concerns women in technology.
AWARDING AND RAFFLE
Early birds and social media winners were given a limited-edition Women Techmakers mugs.
A raffle was also conducted where lucky WTM Cebu 2019 participants had a chance to win various prizes from our generous sponsors. These prizes include: a free pass to a Dragonpay event, VR Boxes, Chromecasts, and a Google Home Mini from Accenture.
CLOSING
The Women Techmakers Cebu lead, Franchette Camoro, delivered the closing for WomenTechMakers Cebu 2019. She thanked everyone who made this event possible. WTM is one of the numerous events that GDG Cebu has in store for the community this 2019.
FINAL WORDS
We are so happy that we are able to conduct WTM and have a successful event. May we continue to become role models and inspirations in our journey in the world of tech. Hopefully, we will be able to continue growing and strengthening this community of women in tech in Cebu. We look forward to the next WomenTechMakers event.
