At some point, I came across an email about Write/Speak/Code (which I’d never heard of before early 2015). I clicked on the link in sheer curiosity, thinking nothing would come of it.

I started reading about the conference, looked at the schedule and my curiosity began to peak. Here was an intense three days of writing, speaking and learning to code with women who have a passion for technology. Can you say, #Score!?!

I am reading this and saying, “Clearly, I am 0–3 right now!” Glad that this was a LEARNING and TEACHING moment for little grasshoppers such as myself!

I entered the conference, not knowing what to fully expect. I knew no one attending and was honestly, scared because the skills being taught were things that I needed and wanted to learn, but lacked in parts, big and small.

Day One — Write. We developed a list of topics to write or speak about and an outlined draft for one topic. I am thinking, “Are we seriously going to have to present this in front of others?!” The steps we learned to develop a topic, outline the topic, further develop the topic, I am thinking, “Where was this 20+ years ago?!” #WriteRocks

After Day One, I was completely exhausted, but utterly untroubled with the amount of information as well as the information, itself, learned that day. I was blown away by the diversity of cultures, level of knowledge in tech and ages of the women who were participants as well as speakers. For the first time in a very long time, I went to bed tired, but woke up, refreshed, before my alarm and ready to see what day two held.

Day Two — Speak. Further developing from what we wrote on Day One, my partner for the day and I presented our topic to our small group and it was well received with good feedback. WHEW! Relief. We also learned about how to submit to speak for conferences, what conferences are looking for and how to develop lightening talks! Talk about an eventful and jam packed day! #SpeakRocks

Day Three — Code. I am clearly thinking, “YIKES” in my head. I mean of the three days, THIS one was my weakest link. I’d met a few of the ladies and knew about their background. I was in INTIMIDATION mode at this point. I mean, my coding skills are non-existent other than going to a few forums and Meetup groups. I was proved WRONG, again. The ladies, from all levels of coding knowledge, were EXTREMELY helpful and the Code Montage set up class was super helpful with getting Github set up. By the end of the day, I knew how to use Git and GitHub as well as I’d done my FIRST pull request on GitHub. #CodeRocks

I can’t thank the ladies enough of Write/Speak/Code for having a lasting impact on my life. In those three days, I met so many women in tech or who want to be in tech, who LOVE what they do and have a passion for technology. I honestly didn’t want to leave due to the amount of knowledge I was attempting to absorb. I have PAGES of notes, several new bookmarked web pages, new Slack channels I’ve joined, new Twitter friends and a new tech family. I am STILL reviewing and reading information from the conference as a reference in my tech self-study.

I proudly have my Write/Speak/Code sticker on my laptop case with no other stickers overlapping, etc. I want the WORLD to know what the conference is and the impact it’s had on my life. I am a LIFE advocate of the conference.

Thank you to the generous sponsors for believing and supporting a conference such as Write/Speak/Code. The life-long impact of these three days can’t be described, fully, in a blog post.

Thank you could NEVER be enough, ladies of Write/Speak/Code <gracefully bowing>.