WE Program by Google and TalentSprint
I was drifting through college life in my freshman year when I came across the Women Engineers Program (also known as the Women Techmakers Engineering Fellows (WTEF) Program at a point of time). It was a random poster on one of the many college groups I was a part of. Several coding bootcamps, opportunity to learn from top instructors across the country, interacting with Google leaders, being a part of an amazing community and the handsome scholarship amount, all of this seemed too dreamy and far fetched to achieve. Nonetheless I applied, and this blog shares the details of my application procedure, some tips and the impact the program had on me.
Quick Intro
WE is a 2-year gender inclusion program, offered by TalentSprint and supported by Google, which seeks to balance gender disparity in the tech domain. This experiential interactive online program selects, trains, and nurtures deserving first-year women engineering students to become world-class software engineers.
The first three batches received 55,000 applications, of which around 500 participants were invited to join the program.
Link to official website: WE Program
Application & Selection
Eligibility:
- A woman student currently in the first year of engineering
- Pursuing a degree in B.E. / B.Tech
- Specialising in IT / CSE / ECE / EEE / Maths / Applied Maths or equivalent
- Scored over 70% in both X and XII
The selection procedure was:
- Online Application: There was an online application where basic details were asked like college, year of study, family background, existing CS knowledge etc.
- Online Aptitude Test: Perhaps the stage where most filtering took place. Easy to medium level questions on aptitude, logical and numerical reasoning were asked. Speed and accuracy are key in this round. I remember practicing from online sites with a timer on as well as going through some books that were lying on the shelf laden with years of dust (belonged to my dad you see ;P). On 17th February 2020 I received a mail stating I had cleared the round, I was beyond happy and more motivated to crack this now.
- English Test: This was a versant test conducted to test English Language Skills. I would recommend going through this article to get acquainted with the format: Article on Versant Test. I was confident about acing this round but was only worried about the typing test. I was a slow typist at that time so for the next 2 days I was practicing typing on online sites like keybr, typingstudy etc. The results came on 20th February 2020 and I moved towards the coding test round.
- Coding Test: This round can be intimidating if you are a 17–18 yr old being asked to learn a new programming language within a week. Looking back now it feels like a great criteria to test if you can grasp things quickly and are ready to push yourself. Unlike other tests, we were only allowed to code in python in the online round. I had never written a line of code in python but had basic understanding of C++. TalentSprint also provided us with online study material and conducted sessions where we could ask our doubts. There were 3 programming questions of easy — medium level. It basically tests your understanding and ability to turn logic to code. On 4th March 2020 the results were out and I was thrilled to have reached the last stage of the selection procedure — My first ever interview for a major program.
- Interview: I remember preparing for the interview while college mid semester exams were going on. It was the final stage and I didn't want to mess up, but I was glad to have come this far in the procedure. My interview was preponed due to certain issues, surprisingly I was very calm when the interview began. I had two interviewers and they made sure that I was comfortable before starting the interview. Questions based on my coding round, my interests in technology and behavioural questions were asked. I was also asked an interesting puzzle, which led to an engaging discussion with the interviewers. I was happy with my performance and was proud of completing the five stage selection procedure.
It was 10th March 2020, after celebrating Holi the entire day, and taking a long afternoon nap, I woke up to see an acceptance mail to the WE Program! Being among the top 126 candidates selected from a pool of 15000+ applications for the cohort 2 of the program was a surreal feeling. I was on cloud nine!!
Journey and Impact
This program had a significant impact in shaping me as an individual. I would have never thought I’ll take up a project in AR-VR, self learn it and make a kick ass project in it. Nothing was treated as something we couldn’t do. Each of the other 126 scholars inspired me to push myself.
We(pun intended ;P) are a community passionate about tech and ready to take on the world. My mentors inspired me and made see things which are perhaps difficult to see otherwise. Google Immersion Week, Coding Marathons, Project building and Presentation to top leaders, Diverse range of CS topics, Communication sessions, Clean coding, Resume reviews and more were a part of the program. The exposure I got via this program is unparalleled to any other similar initiative.
I would like to end this blog by quoting our mentor —
“Be incharge of your destiny”
