In early November, the Women in Big Data Forum (WiBD) held our first “Networking with Recruiters” event, where members got to socialize with recruiters from our sponsoring companies. Throughout the evening attendees had numerous opportunities to learn about new jobs possibilities that would help them start an exciting career in Big Data, or to gain valuable insights to take their careers to the next level.

The evening was buzzing with activity, with over 45 members interacting. We had a healthy mix of members, including recent college graduates, folks who have just started their career in Big Data analytics and a few senior women in the industry. The room was set up to encourage and facilitate conversations with the recruiters. Members had the opportunity to engage in dialogues with recruiters and discuss not only potential career opportunities but also their career aspirations, career guidance and other related topics. This event truly helped our members forge powerful connections with the participating companies.

During the meeting we conducted a survey designed to provide the participating companies with key career-related statistics and information about the backgrounds of the women at the event. Attending recruiters from Cloudera, MapR and Andressen Horowitz found the event valuable and their interactions with a great set of diverse candidates quite insightful.

The evening ended on a high note, with first-time attendees expressing eager interest to join the WiBD group.

Many thanks to Inam Hussain and Karen Kalvelage, senior recruiters from Cloudera,  Eric Thomas, Partner, Technical Talent at Andressen Horowitz, and Stephanie Aguilera and Samantha Belardi, senior recruiters from MapR, for supporting the event. Thanks also to our amazing WiBD Networking committee for organizing a fun-filled evening of valuable networking (to say nothing of delectable food and drinks).

Hope to see you all at many more great WiBD events in the 2017.

 

About the Authors

Prabha Ganapthy, Big Data Strategist, focuses on understanding the emerging Big Data technical trends and usage models in Enterprise and driving a strategic partnership with the ecosystem to accelerate their adoption in the marketplace. She views Big Data as a catalyst for change that is transforming every walk of life, is excited to be part of this trend, and would like to see more women participating in this evolution.

 

Mrudula Venkatchalam: An intellectually curious analyst with experience working in fast-paced environments with clients in the financial and IT sectors, Mrudula has worked across the data analysis lifecycle, from requirements gathering, hypothesis testing, data collection, and data cleansing to quantitative model building and reporting of key insights. She is also a trained classical dancer, having trained for over a decade and given public performances in India and the UK; as a result, she has experienced multi-cultural environments, heterogeneous work groups/teams. Mrudula believes Big Data has the potential to transform industries and provide path-breaking solutions. A strong advocate for Women in Big Data, she wants to play a pivotal role in helping women transition to a career in Big Data.