We missed you at our event

This post is about professionalism, honouring your commitments, and clear communication.

Our purpose at Summer of Tech is to help students make the leap into employment. 3 things that will help you get your first job in industry:

1. professionalism
2. reliability
3. communication skills

To help bridge the gap between learning and earning, we run a bunch of events throughout the year, including bootcamps. Most of these are led by volunteers from industry who want to support the transition to work. All of our events are supported by sponsors who provide venues, time, and sometimes even money for catering.None of our events are compulsory for students, and they are all free. Sometimes people ask us to find students to support to attend conferences, and often these are fully subsidised (free) tickets. Sometimes, we pay for students to attend industry events, too. We recognise that what these event do consume is TIME, which is a scarce resource for students, in between study, work and life commitments. But we hope they're a good use of time for people who are striving to make the leap into a job.Our "bootcamp" events are delivered by industry volunteers, not trained teachers. They are often alumni from our programmes who remember how hard it was being a student seeking your first career break. Volunteers want to give back and make it easier for those people following behind them. You won't become an expert or get accreditation from attending, though your attendance is recorded on your profile on our website, which is something employers look for when they're considering who to hire.The benefits of bootcamps include hearing from real life industry people who are working in places that you might want to work. You can hear about the tools, technologies and experiences they have had, to help you understand if this career path is a good fit for you. You can ask questions, find out about how they're using the tools in the real world, and above all - make connections!Many of our bootcamp presenters are employers. Their goal in delivering bootcamps is to connect with students, especially those who are interested, who ask good questions, and who seem keen to learn. Many presenters come back year after year and say that the interns they end up hiring, are the ones who are engaged during bootcamps.

That's the background. Now to the point of this post:

We are having hassles with no-shows at events this year. We understand that plans sometimes change and life can definitely get in the way of attending bootcamps... but please PLEASE show us the respect of letting us know if you can't make it.If you are registered, we expect you to attend. If your plans change and you can't come we ask that you PLEASE withdraw your registration as soon as possible. Ideally, more than 24 hours before the event is due to start. If an emergency pops up, that's ok, but it's polite & professional to send an apology and explanation as soon as you can, so that the organisers know that a) you're ok and b) that you were genuinely sorry for any inconvenience your no-show caused.(By the way, this advice holds for ANY meetup or industry event or actually any social event that you've RSVPed to, too.)

From the event organiser's perspective, here's what happens when people register but don't show up:

• our team and volunteers feel like their time & effort wasn't appreciated
• our sponsors are disappointed that they couldn't support a successful event
• we spend too much of our VERY scarce budget on catering and/or stationery and/or venues
• if we had planned for work in teams then we can't run the exercises properly
• if we had a waitlist for the event, then YOU have just prevented someone else from attending
• the organisers and presenters may form the impression that you're unprofessional or unreliable, which doesn't bode well for you as a potential employee

To be clear:

None of our events are compulsory. All of our events take time, energy, and money to plan and run. A lot of that time is from volunteers who are giving up time they could otherwise be earning money or spending with their families.

• We are NOT saying you have to attend events.
• We ARE saying that you have to communicate about your attendance.
• If you are "registered" then we think you're attending.
• If your plans change, please let us know.
• Ideally, you should withdraw from the event so that someone on the waitlist can take your spot.
• If you have an emergency at the last minute, that's ok, we understand. Please send a message to the organisers as soon as you can, to let us know you're ok, and that you had an unforeseen situation.

Attending our industry events and things like meetups and conferences is a great way to learn, to connect, and potentially kick-start your career.

When you're engaging with industry & events & volunteer organisers, please use this as an opportunity to show you've got

1. professionalism
2. reliability
3. communication skills

Hope you can make it to an event soon! We have some awesome opportunities to connect & learn. If you can't make it, that's ok, just please let us know or we'll miss you!!