Reena and I Skyped late last week. She has recently settled in Toronto, working to support herself while she seeks employment related to her long term career plan. However, this was only one aspect of a longer journey that started with computer science in India, a Master’s degree in Kingston at Queen’s University and most recently has brought Reena to Toronto. As you may guess, she’s a young computer science graduate with a background and serious interest in big data, machine learning languages and business analytics. These are skills and interests well suited for today. All of this is coupled with a sense of adventure and purpose. Reena aptly describes herself as a trailblazer and as woman in a very male dominated field and having travelled half-way around the world on her own, I think that’s a pretty accurate description.
| Reena has quickly become involved in the Toronto machine learning community at first volunteering to help at local events and conferences and now playing leading roles in organizing and delivery. She approaches these activities and networking with an important and critical philosophy - how can she add value. That’s the core of networking, not what can you get but rather what can you offer. People see and respond to that. What Reena needs to do is ensure her online presence and profile reflects this dynamism and energy. Like many of my discussions, Reena’s Linkedin profile in no way matches the well-spoken, dynamic and engaging person with whom I spoke. Yet, the reality is that most people and more importantly, potential employers are going to find out more about you via Linkedin, Twitter and other social media tools. So, all of us, including Reena need to do the hard work to ensure that our online presence reflects who we are, what we have to offer and why it’s valuable. For Reena, once that’s done it’s just simple case of connecting her excellent face to face networking work and outreach with a powerful Linkedin profile. That would be a very effective combination. |   |
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