Humphrey and the IEEEE
Read about what the IEEE has had me doing and what experiences I’ve had through the various platforms and events that the society has hosted.
If I were to be honest, I was baited into joining the society and I didn’t notice that it took so much money! On UCT, the main societies (excluding sports) pricing lists the UCT Student Branch as the second most expensive society at R400. That money would go to waste if you didn’t participate or make use of the resources. I don’t know how I did it, but I feel like I got my money’s worth as now I sit as the Chairperson! Talk about the twist.
So what’s happened?
Sometime in my first year of joining, I got an email about a hackathon and I decided to go. It was an interesting day as they called for an 8am start and realistically things got rolling quite late. It really annoyed me but a small price to pay for what ensued. Check the video below to see.
And after this event, I was hooked. I have no idea what exactly it was that got me into it, but I was just enthusiastic about taking part in another one of these events. It was also great to be around high school kids and teaching them a bit about the Arduino board, which I knew nothing about back then. I was determined to be at the next one, and it had to be hardware based and not just software. I even wanted to run and host it, but I didn’t know how to nor did I have the funds. To be honest, this was the first time I thought that I wanted to actually lead the society or at least be the Events Coordinator.
The following year, 2018, was quite uneventful as I spent little time doing much in the society, just looking at being a part of the next hackathon. I was greatly disappointed that nothing took place that was close to this event. What made it worse was what I did next. I decided to take IEEE seriously for the first time, and I signed up to be an IEEE Day Ambassador. This was a role I’d take on to promote IEEE and make students aware of the society and its impact worldwide. It was a bad experience for me, as I cowered away from doing anything on campus. I did not even approach the society to help out in any way with their plans. It was a bad effort on my part, and definitely I look back at it as not my best moment. That was however followed by me signing up to be a part of the subcommittee for 2019. I wanted to be the Events Coordinator(surprised?) I did not get that position, but ended up as the Marketing and Public Representation Lead for 2019.
I had strategically planned at this point to be the chairperson for 2020, but slowly building up myself for it. But something changed in 2019, I didn’t want it any more. I guess seeing how hard it was internally was helpful in slowing down my dreams and opening my eyes to the fact that there was a lot of work behind it. So I for once laid down that dream. I said I was okay actually continuing in Marketing and PR (believe it or not) because I saw there was so much growth for the society in that area. So the year progressed with many posters and advertisements being designed by me, Things got a bit complicated at this point as suddenly the year ended, and all eyes were on me to be the Chair for 2020.
In a complicated manner, I ended up accepting the nomination and, in 2020, I was the Chairperson of the UCT IEEE Student Branch. In my time as chairperson, I managed to redesign the student branch website, set up the committee for the year and help set up protocols for signing up students. My team was extremely supportive and helpful in all of this, and trust me. Later that year, I wrote an article for the UCT EBE Faculty Newsletter (find it here) or read the article below.
This page is constantly going to be updated with all updates and experiences that I have with IEEE.