#BookingHacks — My experience at All Women Edition

Aline Bastos — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 00:42:00 +0000

The application

When I found out that Booking was going to host an all-women Hackathon in Amsterdam my heart nearly stopped! I’ve never been on a Hackathon before, and that was my chance to start in a great way!

Of course, the impostor side of me kept saying that I was not going to make it, but I gathered all my courage, improved my curriculum and applied.

My daily reminder of a life-changing experience that I didn’t even know that was about to happen:

The process

After a long wait of more than a month, almost losing my hope, I received an email from Booking inviting me to take a Front End test. Of course, once again, I thought I wasn’t gonna make it. I would have 20 minutes to complete the test on Hackerrank, so I started studying a lot, using all my time left until the deadline. Well, it’s now or never, so I clicked the link sent to me. It was nothing like the practical things I was studying for the last hours, but 20 theoretical questions. Ok, let’s go! Did it, really nervous, running against the clock! I sent it and hoped for the best!

It took them five long days to send me some feedback. The recruiter, then, sent me an email inviting me to have a call to talk more about my experience and about Hackathon.

Oh, my goddess! That means I did pass the test!

It’s really hard for me to believe in myself! And, as a single mother, is even harder, because I don’t have so much time and freedom to study what I want and when I want. I’m always behind. At least, that’s how I feel about myself all the time.

Four days later we had the call. We talked about my past experience, what I am doing right now, my desire to move to Europe and about my ideas for the Hackathon. We had a great talk and, in the end, she said:

Ok, so I want to invite you to come to Amsterdam to join our Hackathon! We will send you an email with the details.

At that point I wasn’t listening anymore, I was running around my apartment, with the cell phone on my ear, looking for my daughter and screaming without making a sound!

I did it!!

Later, I found out that I was selected between more than a thousand women! I still can’t believe it :)

The preparation

Now the complicated part: My ten-year-old daughter and my father, who is having some old age issues and memory loss, what am I going to do with them?

With a lot of rules written down, a lot of groceries bought, a lot of assurance from my sister, who works all day from Monday to Saturday, that she was going to be at my apartment every day to take care of them and cook for them, I tried to stay calm and go.

My arrival in Amsterdam

After about twenty hours of flight, I arrived in Amsterdam. I was so nervous before the travel that I didn’t plan how I was going to go to the hotel, as I always do before any travel. I didn’t look at any map, didn’t plan anything. Since I was also short of money, I couldn’t take a taxi from the airport to the hotel. The result? I got lost, of course!

After a train to Central Station, more than one-hour walking and short taxi travel, I arrived at the hotel.

About a week before the event they created a Slack group for us to meet virtually, so when I arrived I already knew a lot of them. So, having met everyone, we went to have dinner and some drinks. It was great! I’ve got to know a lot of wonderful women, we talked about everything, it was a great way to start our journey together!

The Hackathon

Finally, the most expected day!

We started the first day by visiting the Booking’s office and having some really inspiring talks! Then, after a delicious lunch, we started to form the teams.

Iffat Gill from Code to Change:

Since I’m describing the event from my perspective, I have to say that by that moment, I was having a terrible day. I received some messages from home, questioning how I left my father. I knew he was been taking care of, but I felt apart anyway, thinking I shouldn’t be away from home. My sister made everything for me to calm down, so I started to feel a little better.

But I started to feel really better when they selected the teams. I ended up with some wonderful and talented women, that I enjoyed so much to meet. We connected, we helped each other, the project went so well that, even without a Product Owner, and being a small team, we delivered a great project and received an Honor Mention at the end!

Our project was about finding a better group of hotels near some points of interest the customer wants to visit and be close to. It shows the better hotel option too, the one that has the best location related to the points of interest. We are so proud of our project, of our team, of the great relationship we had the entire time.

Team Hack-5:

Going back home

I went back home feeling really happy, very powerful like I can do anything that I want! Even better, I went home full of ideas! I already participate in a lot of projects made especially for women here in my region, to include and empower them to start working in tech, and now, who knows, maybe I’ll create our own All Women Hackathon here :)

Para quem acha que não existe machismo na área de TI.

Aline Bastos — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 15:24:36 +0000

Tenho muitas histórias para contar sobre o que eu já vivenciei na área todos esses anos, até hoje ainda sofro com esse tipo de coisa, mas resolvi contar a mais inesquecível.

Em 2010 eu estava procurando emprego como frontend. Eu já trabalhava fazendo freelas, mas não estava sendo suficiente financeiramente. Minha filha tinha 3 anos na época, e dependia somente de mim.

Na época era bem difícil achar algo na minha área, então surgiu uma vaga para a qual eu me qualificava numa empresa que eu não conhecia. Era bem longe de casa, eu precisaria pegar quatro ônibus por dia, mas como eu não podia me dar ao luxo de escolher, mandei o currículo.

Me chamaram para uma entrevista uns dias depois. Fui com muita esperança, pois eu tinha experiência em tudo o que pediam na descrição da vaga. Chegando lá eu e o dono da empresa começamos a conversar.

Ele perguntou se eu sabia PHP, eu disse que tinha noções, mas não programava, e ele então falou que cada desenvolvedor lá pegava um site e fazia do começo ao fim, que eu deveria saber PHP, e ficou surpreso de eu querer trabalhar sem saber a linguagem! Comentei que não pedia isso na descrição da vaga, senão eu não teria me candidatado, mas ele nem me olhou, ficou todo o tempo olhando meu currículo.

Em seguida perguntou quantos sites eu já tinha feito, pois quantidade era muito importante ali, tem que fazer vários sites, e quanto mais fizer, melhor. Fiquei surpresa, pois nunca contei quantos sites eu já tinha feito, mas chutei uns 10. Ele deu uma risada e continuou olhando meu currículo.

Aí ele falou que viu no meu currículo que eu tenho uma filha pequena, e começou um discurso sobre não valer a pena contratar uma mulher com filhos, que eu não ia conseguir me concentrar no trabalho, que ia ficar só pensando nela, que ia acabar faltando muito, e que isso não seria bom para a empresa, por isso ele não pensava em me contratar. Quando ele terminou de falar eu estava, juro, de boca aberta! Quando consegui me recuperar do absurdo que eu tinha escutado eu perguntei por que então ele tinha me chamado ali, já que estava no meu currículo que eu tinha uma filha e ele já sabia qual era o pensamento dele sobre isso. Ele então respondeu, rindo: “Eu estava curioso”.

Gastei uma grana que eu não tinha com passagens de ônibus, corri atrás de alguém para ficar com a minha filha para eu poder ir na entrevista, tudo por que ele estava CURIOSO!

Voltei pra casa completamente arrasada. A dificuldade de conseguir uma vaga era grande na época, eu já estava procurando há bastante tempo, e depois desse episódio eu comecei a pensar em desistir e mudar de profissão.

Agora fico feliz de eu ter me dado mais uma chance e não ter desistido, pois aconteceram coisas maravilhosas comigo depois disso, sei que estou na profissão certa, e amo o que eu faço!

Fica de reflexão pra quem acha besteira ou exagero todo esse movimento sobre ter mais mulheres na área, mais inclusão, mais respeito, aulas de programação só para mulheres, código de conduta nos eventos, mais mulheres palestrando, etc.

Situações assim acontecem com mais frequência do que imaginamos, e afastam as mulheres da área de TI.

DEV Community: Aline Bastos