Tech Talks - Growth Opportunities in Unexpected Realms

Join Women on Stage Tech Talks - “Growth Opportunities in Unexpected Realms”! Our in-person meetup by Women on Stage, powered by Taboola!

**Note that the event will be in Hebrew and open to all genders.

Join us for Women on Stage Tech Talks! A series of engaging talks highlighting and celebrating leading technical women from Israel’s tech industry. Gain valuable insights, skills, and connections that can help take your career in tech to the next level. You’ll get the chance to learn from industry experts, connect with like-minded peers, and build your skills and knowledge in a supportive and empowering environment.

If you’re eager for some professional and inspiring content and for some networking with top industry leaders, this is the event for you!

Agenda 

17:30-18:00 Gathering & Networking

18:00-18:15 Opening Notes - Moran Weber, CEO & Founder of Women on Stage and Reut Turgeman, Employer Branding @ Taboola

18:15-19:00 Gali Katz - Bridging the Gap: Exploring the Synergies Between Academia and Industry for Technical Innovations

19:00-19:30 Eti Noked - Taking the Drama Out of the Postmortem: How to Use Failures as a Growth Opportunity

//Bridging the Gap: Exploring the Synergies Between Academia and Industry for Technical Innovations

Often, when transitioning from academia to industry, we rarely expect to revisit the academic realm. However, what if I told you that incredible potential for remarkable technical innovation lies in combining these two worlds?

The collaboration between academia and Industry has proven to be a powerful catalyst for innovation, combining the theoretical expertise of academic institutions with the practical knowledge and resources of Industry. However, this collaboration is not without its challenges.

In this lecture, we will explore the main hurdles faced when bringing academia and Industry together and highlight successful models that have fostered fruitful partnerships. Drawing from the experiences @Taboola, I will present selected technical projects resulting from such collaborations, showcasing the potential and impact of these joint efforts. Lastly, I will address how both the industry and individuals can enhance this cooperation to foster personal growth and development.

Gali Katz, Algorithm Engineer @ Taboola:

Gali Katz has been with Taboola for 6 years and has a total of 17 years of experience in the industry. At Taboola, she worked as a senior full-stack developer in the Infrastructure Engineering group. In the past year, she has been working in the Algorithms group as a machine learning engineer. Gali holds a PhD in Cognitive Science. Throughout her career, she encountered and successfully addressed, real-life scaling and reliability challenges. Additionally, she mentors graduate students in internship programs and is a public speaker advocate.

//Taking the Drama Out of the Postmortem: How to Use Failures as a Growth Opportunity

The word “postmortem” oftentimes evokes fear and discomfort among engineers, and not just because of its unpleasant connotations from the world of anatomy. Discussing failures and accepting blame is uncomfortable in the healthiest of organizations. Add some office politics or dysfunctional teamwork into the mix, and each postmortem becomes a powder keg waiting to explode.

Yet if you ask those same engineers who dread postmortems how instrumental failure is to eventual success, most will agree that you must be willing to fail in order to succeed truly. They’ll also tell you that successes are usually iterative, built upon a foundation of mistakes. And yes, they’ll recognize the importance of productively discussing the failure to learn from it.

This talk will provide engineers with a framework for drama-free postmortems that diffuse intra-team tensions and maximize the effectiveness of extracting valuable insights from every such event. You’ll learn to mitigate potential pitfalls with pre-mortem meetings, see how postmortems can be steered into providing constructive feedback and promoting collaboration, and understand how insights should be structured to avoid a negative impact on the team.

Whether you’re a seasoned manager, team leader, or engineer seeking to leverage the power of learning and improving your skills, this talk is for you.

Eti Noked, VP R&D @ Wilco:

Eti is an experienced software developer and manager. Passionate about building strong teams, Eti puts a special emphasis on engineering culture through technical coaching and professional growth mentorship, which emphasizes the strengths of each member. Eti’s previous work experience includes Checkmarx and WeWork. At Wilco, she leads the development of a platform that will empower every developer, regardless of their background and skill level, to unlock their full potential.

Eti volunteers as a moderator in Baot, the largest Israeli community for women in technical positions. She also manages the "Coffee & Code'' community - a bi-weekly online discussion on topics related to software development - and mentors young managers to help them grow and overcome their day-to-day challenges.

About Taboola:

Taboola powers recommendations for the open web, helping people discover things they may like.

The company’s platform, powered by artificial intelligence, is used by digital properties, including websites, devices and mobile apps, to drive monetization and user engagement. Taboola has long-term partnerships with some of the top digital properties in the world, including CNBC, BBC, NBC News, Business Insider, The Independent and El Mundo.

More than 15,000 advertisers use Taboola to reach nearly 600 million daily active users in a brand-safe environment. Following the acquisition of Connexity in 2021, Taboola is a leader in powering e-commerce recommendations, driving more than 1 million monthly transactions. Leading brands, including Walmart, Macy’s, Wayfair, Skechers and eBay are among key customers.

Learn more at www.taboola.com and follow @taboola on Twitter.