The #1 Lesson from ACT-W PDX

I’ve been thinking about ACT-W PDX since it wrapped up last weekend. Trying to absorb all the wonderful tidbits of information and deciding what my biggest lesson was – which is no easy task!

Especially when you look at the lineup of fantastic speakers. These were just a few of my favorites.

• Let’s give it up to @perrysetgo who gave a wonderful performance as the very first MC of the conference
• CEO and founder of ChickTech, @jlevenha shared a very personal story of how ChickTech came to be
• I loved the keynote from @jillnelsonpdx who reminded me that if you do what you are passionate about, you won’t let anything get in the way.
• A super informative session from @WhataTiberius on salary negotiations – who by the way I was super excited to meet. She too has an HR background before transitioning to engineering!

But by far, I think my favorite session was the last one of the conference.

When @AndoTheRando taught me to break shit! Weird I know.

But he reminded me that sometimes, you have to break something before you can fix it. It’s ok to not know the answer.

Write down your question and your hypothesis. Then look it up and write down what you found.

Doing this makes the information stick!

Pick something, google it and look at the documentation. It will sink in so much more when you are looking at it for fun rather than because you have to!

The other lesson I learned from him, read what the method does!! Don’t assume what the return value will be. That caught me a few times!