[Vancouver] KDD (Korean Developer & Designer) is a non-profit organization for Korean IT and design professionals in the Vancouver area. They successfully held their AMA (Ask Me Anything) panel discussion on Saturday, September 30. This event was held at the AnvelyCenter in Lougheed Vancouver from 1 pm to 5 pm.
The theme and motto of this event was "A New Chapter Begins: Back to School Adventures". It consisted of two sessions, with 54% of the 60 participants being students and job seekers, and many of whom were professionals currently working in the IT and design sectors.
The first session featured panel discussion with developers and designers from various fields. The panelists included Yongju Kwon, a backend software engineer at Mastercard, Heart Cho, a product designer at Microsoft, Eric Kim, CEO and fullstack software engineer at Foodly, and Kihoon Kim, a project manager at UBC. The event was moderated by Nash Baek, who is in his final semester of the BCIT CST program. The experts were asked numerous questions about the pros and cons of their respective professions, stories of their first jobs in Canada, career paths, job changes, professional development, and the latest trends and technologies in the IT and design fields. In particular, tips coming from the panelists' experiences, such as "It's important to experience everything from start to finish is crucial," "Document everything consistently," and "Make good use of contract positions," were found to be valuable not just only for job seekers and students, but also for professionals.
The second session provided networking time for participants. Based on the "Back to School" theme, participants were divided into nine groups, and engaged in unique introductory games and various networking activities, fostering camaraderie and interaction among them.
Reflecting on the four-hour event, attendees commented: "It was great to hear first-hand stories from professionals in different fields," "The Q&A session was very informative, especially since I'm looking for a job," and "The clear flow of the event and the summary after each answer was both funny and incredibly helpful."
Yongju Kwon, President of KDD, expressed his gratitude for the increased attendance at this meetup compared to their usual monthly meetings, and shared his happiness that participants found the panel discussion beneficial. He added, "We have more activities and meetings planned in the future, and we hope for continued participation."
Starting in 2017, KDD has organized over 70 events to date. They regularly hold various events on the last Saturday of every month. KDD actively supports the interaction of Korean IT professionals in Vancouver, Canada, and even hosted an IT conference event in July with over 260 participants in cooperation with the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea
