As someone still fairly new to conferences in general, it was a pleasant first point of contact that Alexandra and Sameha were able to give for their “Careers in IT” web conference. With uncertainty of what to really expect as someone who is not necessarily interested in the IT industry, this was a very new experience for myself. I was fortunate enough to sit in and catch as much as I could receive from guest speaker Amar Latchman.

“Technology is best when it brings people together.” As Matt Mullenweg once said as it came across to Amar, Amar decided to bring that back to us. As he was able to do a deep dive into his experiences, we were able to to really attain the various meanings behind Matt’s quote and understand why Amar resonates with it as much as he does. Amar went on to talk about technology consulting and his specific focus on enterprise technology and performance which led to more insights towards the three pillars of business: Operations, Finance and Sales & Marketing. Not only did Amar have a clear explanation on a lot of the technical skills that go into any technical business, but as well as the soft skills that can be applied to any job, even suggesting having the same attention for both and understanding yourself through personality tests to know which scenarios you can thrive better in. Amar then followed this with potential jobs in both the business aspect of IT and the technological aspect. In my opinion, what also stood out was the attention on the jobs that belonged to both aspects. This showed our class potential through flexibility as it is not mandatory to be completely driven on one aspect of a business and that there is room for variety. As useful as the examples of jobs were, Amar’s presentation on how to really jumpstart your career was probably the most enticing. This portion of the conference was what could be taken within any industry and not only in IT. This involved networking, event participation and even reaching out to alumni. These are great tools that can be utilized at any point in one’s career especially when looking to take that next step.

All in all, the IT careers conference was rather successful as my expectations were not very clear. However, this group did a great job showcasing exactly what is out there for us up and coming Digital Business Management students. Amar was a phenomenal guest and even took a good portion of his time to answer any students’ questions ranging from life advice to interview advice. With that being said, it is amazing to see the different experiences anyone can provide and be able to inspire the next generation.