Joining SWE is a great way to meet other like-minded women engineers to bolster your professional and social network. We understand how difficult it is to meet other women in the workplace and would like to provide a warm environment for networking, developing professional and soft skills, and cultivating friendships that last for years.
These are a few of the benefits of joining the Santa Clara Valley section of SWE. This is simply a short list of things you can expect when you join our section and attend our events.
Wide variety of events
We have events tailored towards different aspect of your life. Here are some examples:
- Career – speaker events about managing your manager, working with co workers of different personality types, how to interview, etc.
- Personal – yoga in the park, speaker events on financial planning and buying a home, running in a 5k together
- Fun – happy hours, barbecues, picnics with the collegiate sections
Conferences
In addition to our annual National SWE conference every October, we also have a Region conference held in the January/February time frame. These conferences are discounted for SWE members and are filled with workshops, social gatherings, as well as local attractions. For example, our 2012 Region Conference will be in Hawaii!
Community Outreach
Not only do we have events for our members, but we also have huge events for the community. Our section is well known for our outreach events, which include 3 very large-scale outreach events aimed towards introducing girls to engineering and science.
- Designing Women – a one-day annual event where we bring in 100 middle school girls and hold engineering workshops and conduct a lab or company tour of the sponsoring facility
- WOW! That’s Engineering! – similar to Designing Women, WOW! is for high school girls and is held at San Jose State University, whom we run the event with the collegiate section.
- GetSET – our signature outreach event, this is a 4-year program where high school freshmen commit to a week-long stay-over summer camp for each year they are in high school. GetSET is composed of several workshops, engineering Olympics, company tours, and a graduation ceremony for the entering senior class.
Leadership Opportunities
Our officers are all SWE members and volunteer their time and efforts to run this organization smoothly and successfully. We elect our officers annually in June and these roles encompass many different aspects of our organization. For a description of our Execute Council as well as Committee Chair positions, please visit the About page.
