Forem: Riya Dashoriya

Getting a Job via Career Fair

Riya Dashoriya — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 09:03:44 +0000

Hey..Career Fair? Is it really fair?!

lol ok sorry. I was not a fan of career fair, until I got a job because of that!

This post is inspired by something I've been sharing with everyone for a while.

When I moved to the USA for a Masters degree 🎓, it was the first time I was introduced to "career fair"."I had no idea what and how to do it. No one to ask to, or tell about how to take advantage of the career fair, which can help you land an interview. If you are not an American Citizen, landing an interview is even more difficult.😥🙀

To be fair, I was told by my University's Career Services department to follow these steps aka out of touch #BoomerAdvice 😉

Talk about you and when you are graduating
Tell about the positions you are looking for
Ask about them and if they are hiring for any

Year 1

⬇️ was my pickup line at career fair-

“Hi, I’m Riya Dashoriya, Masters of Science in Information Systems student. I am graduating in Aug 2016. I’m looking for internships or full-time positions related to Software Engineering. I was wondering if you can share more about your company. Are there are any open positions you’re looking to fill?”

Response 1: Hi Riya, nice to meet you. Yes, we are hiring. Please apply on the website.
Response 2: Hi Riya, thank you. We are so and so and so. We are currently looking for senior-level positions only.
Response 3: .... we don't sponsor H-1B visas 🤦‍♀️....
Response 4 (rarely): Hi Riya, we are so and so and so. We do have some open positions. We will forward to the hiring team.
End of conversation.

** Here are some fun stats:**
Number of companies I talked to: 40
Number of interview calls I received: 2

unmotivated and dejected and what a waste of time!

Year 2

A year passed. 🗓 The next career fair was coming soon, so I thought of trying something different.

Step 1: Research all the companies coming to the career fair. Maybe use pen and paper way 📝 Write the relevant open positions, skills they are looking for, any job ID.
Step 2: If possible, cater your resume accordingly and print it out.
Step 3: On the day of the career fair, target those companies, and talk to them.

Who are you and when you are graduating
Talk about the darn position you are interested in. This should show you’ve done your research. You are excited. Additionally, You can say fun facts you read about the company.

My new pickup line-

“Hi, I’m Riya Dashoriya, MSIS student looking for full-time. I saw company A has a software engineer role open with job id 1234, and you are looking for skills such as Java, React, etc. I’ve done some great projects in them (give an example or two). I was hoping if you could forward my resume to the hiring manager.”

That’s it. That's really it.

Funniest stats: 😉
Number of companies I shortlisted: 36
Number of companies I reached out to: 24
Number of interview calls I received: 15

Final Thoughts

I know that’s a pretty significant number. I only wish if someone had told me this. Ever since then, I’m sharing this with every student I’m meeting. I can proudly say the success rate is tremendous! Almost 90% of them have been able to land interviews. I feel so proud of them when they share their experiences. 🥳

Please please always do your research about the company before the career fair. This shows you know what you are looking for. You are very clear about your goals. This also helps cut the conversation short, and you to be able to focus on other things. 👀

For students looking for sponsorship - I know situation is not as favorable. You still need to ASK for it. At career fair, they'll tell you that they don't sponsor visas. But trust me, they'll hire you and sponsor if they like your creds. Take that chance! 😇

If you are looking for associate level positions, but you see only senior roles open on the website, APPLY. If they like you, they will create a new position for you!! Says my personal experience!! 😎

Signing off with the hope that this will help you if you are looking for a job. Know of any student in a university? Please forward this article to them. 😀

Umm are you looking for some motivation?

Riya Dashoriya — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 09:00:02 +0000

Am I 🥳 today?

Not every day, I wake up with happy feelings..excited for the day (I wish though!!!) Some days, I go to bed again if I don't feel good after waking up 👀 For me, I come first. My mental health is always my 🔝 priority I believe..if I'm taking care of myself, I can take care of everything else. For that, keeping myself motivated is a big task.

But.. I love over-thinking and over-analyzing situations. I have the power to think about the worst possible thing that could happen 😕 Occasional meltdowns. Embarrassing moments. CRYing 😿 In last 3 years, I've had many instances where I lost my cool. And you know what - its okay!

"It's okay to cry. It helps clean your eyes and removes dirty water from your body." - my Dad 😂

What's more important is how I get my life together after that. 🥳 I'm sharing some things that I do, to stay positive, to keep myself motivated, to stop myself from quitting. It's not easy every day. 🙂 It doesn't work every day. So what? It works some times, and that's what matters. I hope this will help you too! 😇

Note: This is in no particular order. It works for me, might not work for you.

1. Take proper rest 🛌

Sleep. Sometimes when you don't feel right about something, take a damn nap. 💤 It helps. Then when you wake up, you'll be fresh and be able to start again with a new perspective. 😀

2. Believe in new 🆕 beginnings

It's okay to start over and over again 🔁. You don't have to wait until January 1 to start something new 🤗 Every day is a brand new, with new possibilities, with new opportunities. Start fresh every day 🤠

3. Talk to friends & family or your close ones 🤝

Sometimes, just having someone you can talk to, someone who will listen👂 to you, helps a lot. Whenever I get frustrated, I 📞 my Dad and rants about everything. In that, he will provide me comfort and cheer me up. Text your friends. Talk to your mentor. Find a therapist 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️
PS: I'll be happy to lend an ear whenever you need one. :)

4. Take ① day at a time 😌

Sometimes, things aren't easy, and you might feel like nothing is working; nothing is going right or as planned. When I was moving places in May, I was very much overwhelmed with everything going on in life. I knew San Francisco 🌉 is where I want to be but made no plans. I panicked 😨 when I got the job and realized I'd have to move in 2 weeks. Stepping outside comfort zone 😵 The best advice I got from my mentor was to take a deep breath 😌 and take 1 day at a time. Every day I woke up and planned for that exact day. That helped me for the next 3 months until I felt comfortable again 💫

5. Read inspirational books/quotes 📖

I tried reading books like "The subtle art of not giving a fck," and "Everything is fked, but there's still hope."🤞 God knows, I only read 50ish pages of both the books before I stopped again. 🤦‍♀️ I can't read books whatsoever. 🤷‍♀️ But I read quotes in the morning every day until I find the one which makes me ready for the day. 😎
PS: I've started sharing that one quote every day on Twitter. Follow the hashtag #RiyasThoughts or me @ReeyahSDasoriya if you're looking for some inspiration.

6. Surround yourself with people 👻 who motivate you.

If you are on any social media, follow (don't ⛔️ stalk/harass please) people who inspire you. I read stories on twitter about people doing fantastic 🤩 in their fields, which excites 😲 me to do good things. On Instagram, I've been following a few accounts who post inspirational quotes now and then. Every 🌞 I open Insta just to read good quotes to start my day. I'd highly recommend this.

7. Find a hobby which makes you smile.

I sometimes bake desserts or go to 💃🏻 classes. Cooking disasters always brings a smile on my face. And if the baked item turns out good, then OHMYDESSERTS 🎂🥮🍰🧁🍥! Dancing helps me forget everything going on in life, and be myself. If you are interested in 🎨, 🎙, 🎹🎸, 🌳, or any other activities - do it. Do whatever helps to get through the day.

8. Spend some quality me-time 😇

Stay quiet for a while. Take a 🏝. I've realized that sometimes I need some me-time to recharge myself. Block off everything and DO NOTHING 🙅‍♀️

PS: No, not everytime you’ve stay silent. Sometimes venting out anger/frustration, sobbing, screaming helps you calm down. Don’t be afraid to do it.

9. Take a break before/when burn-down happens.

Knowing when-to is not easy 😑 Sometimes you might not realize it early, but as soon as you do, leave. It affects your mental health. Learn when to let things go. I give multiple chances to people, to situations - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Find the limit.

10. You don't have to share opinions on everything.

NO, seriously. You don't have to reply to every tweet. You ❌ have to say aloud whatever is on your mind. Please give it some ⏰ to resolve on its own. Last week, I over-analyzed a situation and created a problem in my head which never existed in the first place 🤦‍♀️

11. SEEK WHATEVER SETS YOUR SOUL ON FIRE 🔥

Wanna watch cute 🐶 and 😸 videos? Please do it. Not in a mood to code 💻 -> don't. Don't wanna wake up? Sleep again 😴. Hungry? EAT.

Final thoughts

BE KIND TO YOURSELF! BE KIND TO OTHERS! BE YOU! Take pride in whatever you do. Honor you. Do it all for you. Appreciate yourself ☝🏻
These are the things that help me. They might or might not work for you 🙂 I'm sharing this with the hope that at least one person will be inspired and feel good about themselves today or later, now or forever. As you start planning for 2020 goals, remember 2020 is very personal, and you owe yourself a lot.

Please share in comments what works for you and what doesn't. I'm sure that will help me and everyone else. 😃

Ending this post with some of my favorite quotes I recently read -

6 Weeks of Public Speaking

Riya Dashoriya — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 07:12:20 +0000

2019 and goals

Earlier this year, looking at Twitter trends, I too posted online about my top 3 goals for 2019 with speaking at meetups/conferences to be my #1 priority. 🥳🎤

From March till June, I spoke at many meetups, conferences, and whatnot. 🤯 Lightning talks to workshops. You can find the list here.

But..

However, in May-June, I started realizing that I was no longer interested in speaking. ☹️ Something was missing, and I couldn't figure out what. Burnout is real and awful. I had a breakdown after my last talk in June, cried for hours. 😭 I called up my Dad and explained to him how I felt because I didn't do good at my talk. I feel like I didn't give my 💯 and that that was the worst talk I ever gave. I was having self-doubts if I should continue or not. I called up a few of my friends to know their opinions too.

I should fix this..

I decided to take a break for a while to figure out what is going on with me, and if I WANT to continue public speaking or not. Time for Retrospect. One of my friend, Vikram, explained: "It's easy to lose motivation if you are giving the same talk over and over again. I know you are passionate about tech X. But you need to modify the content for every single talk. Make minor changes so that you won't feel like you are repeating yourself." His words stuck with me, and I spent some time thinking about this.

So let's plan..

In August, I decided that I want to give public speaking one more try. If I don't like it this time, if I don't find my motivation again, I'll never think about doing this again. I'll stop public speaking and never look back. 🤞

So to start with, I realized that my favorite events DevFests by GDG communities are coming up in the USA in September! (Fun fact: I've been with the GDG communities as an organizer in an on-off relationship since 2014.) I decided to submit Call For Proposals to speak at multiple DevFests. Ended up applying to 5, and 4 of them got selected. Yay! 🥳 (I still can't believe it to date. The same talk on accessibility, 4 places whaaaaattttt 💫). My success criteria was I need to convince at least 1 person to think about accessibility. ✅

Its execution time, they say..

For the last 6 weeks, I've been continuously traveling ✈️, either speaking at 🎤or attending conferences. Below is the breakdown of 6 weeks I'd like to share(excludes internal talks at Quizlet):

1. DevFest Los Angeles, September 13, 2019
Lessons learned: Speak slowly. Do not complete your session in 20 minutes if you are scheduled for 30 min. This, I believe, was an excellent start for me and helped me prepare better for the next ones. 🙂

2. DevFest Auburn, September 15, 2019
This was a very unique conference. It was their first time organizing, and the community is brand new. The attendance was mostly students. 👨‍🎓👩‍🎓 I don't think I ever spoke at a conference, with the majority of the audience being the students. 50%+ had no idea about accessibility, it was more exciting for me to share about #a11y. 😇 Fun fact: I used Quizlet sets to present, instead of regular google slides.

3. DevFest San Francisco, September 21, 2019
Ok, this was a crazy event. 🤓 I never thought of speaking because I was a part of the organizing team. However, 2 of my co-organizers were presenting, which made me think about speaking too. Fun fact: I started having severe back pain from the mid of the event. All of my photos after that have my hands supporting my lower back. 🤦‍♀️

4. DevFest Wisconsin, September 29, 2019
They said it was their first DevFest. Pretty sure they're lying. 🤨 This conference was GREAT in so many ways. Organizers were fabulous with the communications, parties, supporting local communities, arrangements, and whatnot. I learned from them how to organize events. Pretty sure I'm going to copy their tactics. 😉 I got many good comments regarding my energy level during my talk. In reality, I was on another level, a completely different person. 😬 It's worth noting that I was not on sugar or coffee or any desserts. It was my passion and my excitement for accessibility (and lessons learned from previous talks). 😎

5. Attended Grace Hopper Conference, Orlando, Oct 2-5, 2019
I went to Orlando early (September 30) to have fun and work from there. But by this time, my health declined more. Instead of fun, I stayed in the hotel for 48 hours, eat - sleep - work. That's pretty much what I did. After that, OH MY GHC! Soooo many in tech 🤩 I was seriously awestruck looking at everyone at GHC.
I attended some tech sessions - some were great, some not-so-much. Non-tech sessions were RAD! Inspiratonal speakers, motivating quotes everywhere, huge venue! Ran into many friends I haven't met since long 😅

PS: I visited Disney World for Mickey's Not-So-Spooky Halloween Party! ❤️

6. Attended North America Women Techmakers Summit Austin, October 13
I LOVE THIS CONFERENCE! 💛Last year at WTM Summit in New York, I learned so many things, and which is why I was particularly excited about this one. Speakers, content, presentation skills, food, venue - everything was BEST. Thank you, Women Techmakers!

7. DevFest DFW, Dallas, October 19, 2019
I totally believe this was the best conference to end my 6 weeks gig. I was a little reluctant to say yes to this one, mainly because I thought 5 weeks were enough. But I loved watching their last DevFest, and speaking here was one of my goals, so I said yes. Also, because Stacy ❤️I was surprised to see large attendance with minimal promotions! Met many who mentioned they are now thinking about accessibility, which made my heart happy 💜 This was more dramatic and interactive of all. 😄

(Yes, I'm bad at taking selfies)

Final and most important thoughts..

I'm very grateful that I got the opportunity to be able to travel and speak and attend conferences. A million thanks to my team at Quizlet for GHC, for understanding my goals and passion for public speaking. Thanks to my colleagues, who helped review my slides. Special shoutout to my manager for being really very supportive. 😇

Every time I went to a different place, I stepped outside my comfort zone. I belong to a liberal family from a rural - conservative place. Even 20yo Riya would have never imagined that she will travel alone to many places in 5 years. 🙃 Visited University of Texas at Dallas and Auburn University. 🏫

While everything looks super fun, here are some extras..

Excessive travel without any breaks. This isn't easy. I will never recommend that. 🙅‍♀️
Health problems - I suffered (and still am suffering) from severe back pain mainly because I've not been able to rest appropriately. My schedule is as weird as it could be. Traveling to different timezones also affected my sleeping times.😔 Lost my voice multiple times in between and have sore throat now.
Personal life - It's been 6 weeks I have not been able to talk to friends and family much.
I didn't get enough me time to recharge.🙁

You ask, what's next?

Am I going to continue public speaking? 🤔 HELL YES! I enjoy this. I LOVE THIS.
However, taking health into consideration, I've decided a few things for the next few months:

Saying 🙅‍♀️ for all the speaking engagements in the USA. I do have some open discussions for talks in other parts of the world for Nov'19-Feb'20, which I'm going to carefully decide after reevaluating my health.
Limited presence and support for the monthly meetups I run for the communities I'm associated with.

Ok really final thoughts..

This was my first year of public speaking. I did 20+ talks at meetups, conferences, internally, everywhere!!! And I'm thrilled I did this. 🥳 While in the last 2 months, all of my sessions were on accessibility, I also gave talks on Inclusion & Diversity, Actions on Google Assistant, how my life changed because of communities, public speaking, and few more topics earlier this year. You can find more here.

Tips if you are looking to get into public speaking:
Reach out to your local meetups and speak there. Once you've enough confidence, apply to slightly bigger events, then conferences. Do as many dry-runs of your talk as possible. Have someone review your slides. These things helped me, and I hope will help you too.

If you are looking for speaking opportunities, or need help with getting into public speaking, or wanna talk anything about public speaking or randomly anything, feel free to reach out to me via twitter @ReeyahSDasoriya 😀 (PS: Please don’t slide into my DMs with just “Hi”.)