Friday, October 02, 2015

Closing Keynote #DevLearn: Natalie Panek

These are my live blogged notes from the opening session at this year's DevLearn, hosted by the eLearning Guild and happening in Las Vegas. Forgive any typos and incoherencies.

Natalie Panek: Learning without Boundaries

How do you grow from what you learn?

Perseverance.

She describes a long process of rejection -- she applied year after year for a NASA internship. After the fourth rejection, she decided to just call them. And she got the internship. She made her own way there.

Peak moments. What was a time working on a project that you felt full of life? What were those conditions? Was that a peak moment? Are you moving towards or away from those conditions? What do you need to do to get back to those conditions?

Reflecting on peak moments feeds you going forward - go out with a friend and ask these questions. 

Peak moments are often projects that don't go according to plan.

Embracing failure.

Working outside of your comfort zone.

Learning to fly (quite literally - she learned to be a pilot).

Understanding how things work. Being competent in our tools.

The importance of teamwork.

Mentorship. Connecting generations of people, hear lessons learned, forge one-on-one relationships. And you can be both mentor and mentee at the same time in your career.  Mentorship is different than a role model or hero.  A mentor is someone who you're in one-on-one contact with on a regular basis.

Go home to a young woman in your life and introduce them to one woman in technology. Not every girl will go into science and tech, but it's important they know they have a choice. And choice is empowerment. 


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