PWiC Dubai: Meetup and Networking Event
On Oct 27th, 2019, PWiC Dubai local chapter was kick-started with its first social meetup and networking event held at the Careem office, Dubai. Zobia Badr Ul Huda (chapter lead PWiC Dubai) led the meetup along with Bushra Shahid (co-lead). The event included an introduction to PWiC, a group discussion and networking over coffee, and was attended by a diverse group of women technologists including university students, entrepreneurs, women from the local tech industry, and even stay at home moms.
Introduction by Zobia Badr Ul Huda and Bushra Shahid
The event started by Zobia and Bushra introducing themselves. Zobia briefly shared her story of starting out from a small village in Kashmir to building software in Dubai. She also described the challenges she faced in this journey and how she overcame those with persistence, hard work, courage and by believing in herself. Co-Lead Dubai chapter, Bushra Shahid also introduced herself and welcomed the attendees to become part of the local community.
Zobia introduced PWiC by sharing its vision of connecting, learning and growing together. She also outlined the global outreach of PWiC with its 6 local communities (Islamabad, Seattle, Berlin, Silicon Valley, Abottabad and Dubai) and 2K+ global community members. Additionally, she touched upon the different kinds of programs organized by PWiC including social networking, mentoring, learning workshops, returnship programs, job search opportunities, and speaking opportunities.
Group Discussion
The introductions were followed by a discussion about the expectations of attendees from the local chapter, types of events that can be organized and contributions that can be made by individual members. The attendees showcased great enthusiasm and shared multiple ideas of events such as toastmaster meetups to improve public speaking, mock interviews, career mentoring sessions, workshops on pre-work essentials e.g. resume building, negotiating offers etc, knowledge and experience sharing sessions, meetups for freelancing women residing in Dubai and tech talks by inviting speakers from different domains.
Networking over Coffee
After the discussion, the participants got a chance to network with each other over coffee and snacks. Attendees felt passionate about contributing to PWiC and helping each other and were excited to meet other like-minded women in technology.
Sponsors
The event was sponsored by Careem Dubai
About the Authors
Faiza Anwar is a Software Engineer residing in Dubai. She has a bachelor’s degree in CS from the National University of Sciences and Technology(NUST), Pakistan and 3 years of work experience in network-based applications, cloud computing, and network virtualization. Apart from being a tech enthusiast, she is a passionate learner, an ardent reader and believes in giving back to society.
Zobia Badr Ul Huda is a Dubai based backend engineer currently working in Careem Dubai. She has a bachelor’s degree in CS from the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES), Pakistan. Besides work, she is a travel enthusiast, loves reading and dreams of empowering and inspiring women around her.
