PWiC Karachi’s Year In Review — 2021
Community building — a method of bringing together groups of talented individuals — has benefitted us the most in times where there was a need to unveil hidden talents. In such times, it was only fair for a global community of Pakistani women to sit together and discuss the rather intricate topic of tech.
Pakistan Women In Computing has had a similar vision for all the women who flourish inside it; to Connect, Learn and Grow Together. From presenting a learning platform for women in tech all around the world, to understanding the job market for these women, PWiC spent the year 2021 very productively. The following are all the events, sessions and meetings that were held by the PWiC Karachi Chapter in the year 2021.
WORKSHOPS AND SESSIONS
UI/UX 2-Day Bootcamp
UI/UX skills had a shoot up in demand in the job market in 2021. Design maestros started conquering the world of product development bringing forth a new field of Product Design. Among these maestros were Hassan Ahmed Rana, Mahnoor Imtiaz and Shaharyar Memon. PWiC was honored to gather these three on the 28th and 29th of March, 2021, to conduct a 2-day bootcamp where these experts paved a zero-to-hero pathway of UI/UX design for beginners.
On the first day, the participants were introduced to UI/UX along with its many elements such as colors, typography and imagery, a basic knowledge of wireframes, mockups and prototypes and the toolbox required to craft an interface design.
The second day consisted of active learning where the experts discussed the components of design on some case studies with the participants. Participants also engaged in building their very own prototypes and had a feedback session with the experts.
Dockers and Containers Workshop
Talking about user experience and compatibility, there is also a growing need of understanding how software can be virtualized for easy deployment.
On 30th May 2021, the Karachi chapter of PWiC hosted a workshop titled Dockers and Containers to expand awareness about how containerizing a developed system can assist in effective functionality irrespective of operating system and hardware configurations.
Quite a mouthful. Right?
In order to convert this complex description into an easier one, PWiC held a one-day free virtual workshop, led by Taban Shaukat and Shakeeb Siddiqui, both adept in their respective fields and a prominent part of PWiC’s Karachi Chapter. The workshop was presented to the audience in an uncomplicated and interactive manner where Taban introduced dockers and focused more on the theoretical part. Shakeeb on the other hand gave a practical demonstration of the topic to encourage learning among the participants.
Salesforce: Conquering the world of CRM
On 4th September, PWiC was joined by Mahrukh Tariq, a 4 times Salesforce certified Business Analyst. In her workshop on Salesforce, Mahrukh explained why and how CRMs emerged into the tech world and how their presence has been ensuring organizations a smooth sales process. She also introduced Salesforce as the leading CRM in the world to the participants of the workshop and provided a brief practical demonstration of the sales platform.
COLLABORATIONS
Sofstica Solutions
In November 2021, PWiC had the honor of being invited by Sofstica Solutions to visit their software house and get a tour of their friendly and productive work environment. A reputable firm in the tech industry, Sofstica aims to provide product development services to its clients with the integration of a wide range of domains leading from Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things to Fintech and Ecommerce.
The representative of PWiC on this visit was our esteemed Karachi Chapter Lead, Eisha Tir Raazia. She was hosted by Sofstica’s Social media and Content Specialist, Ghazala and HR Manager, Laraib, who led Eisha through a tour of their office.
Eisha also met with Muneeb Sheikh, the CTO of Sofstica Solutions, who had an extensive discussion on how PWiC could help Sofstica in their hiring process and what goals they should keep in mind to stay connected with PWiC. The Get Hired prep days were filled with Sofstica’s presence as it was one of the sponsors of the event. The company assisted participants with a mock interview session hosted by Muneeb.
Women Tech Quest 2021
A giant in the world of digital transformation, 10Pearls is quite eminent in the rapidly progressing tech community. PWiC was honored to join hands with 10Pearls for two significant events in the year 2021.
One of 10Pearls’ big initiatives, 10Pearls University, strives to present a resourceful platform for individuals seeking to learn different tech-based skills. From carefully curated courses to effectively organized competitions, 10Pearls University is an epitome of learning and networking. In 2021, 10Pearls University hosted the Women Tech Quest which had PWiC as one of its community partners.
A contest filled with utmost diversity and immense support from well known sponsors, the Women Tech Quest 2021 consisted of three themes for its competitions, Testing, Design and Coding. Held virtually, the event had over 1500 registrations consisting of all women teams, loads of global and local speakers and an elaborate media coverage.
AI Summit 2021
The AI Summit 2021 was sponsored by 10Pearls in collaboration with PWiC as a community partner. It is a congregation held every year to fuel talks, conferences, and workshops mainly revolving around Artificial Intelligence. Ranging from popular domains such as Data Engineering and Deep Learning, to highly complicated domains such as Explainable AI and Video , the AI Summit aimed to gather industry experts, domain experts, startups and enormous enterprise brands together to provide an all in one Artificial Intelligence experience.
Rangoonwala
Eisha Mazhar, the Lead of PWiC Karachi and Sara Fatima from the core team of PWiC Karachi, visited Rangoonwala on Saturday, 6th February 2021. They were fortunate enough to be presented with a carnival that was pre-organized by Rangoonwala. The event consisted of competitions and a chain of stalls setup by small home-based businesses. This helped our PWiC core team members to achieve a few unacknowledged but important goals.
Eisha and Sara visited stalls and talked to their business owners. The owners were quick and comfortable to talk about their everyday struggles in business due to a lack of technical knowledge and awareness. The specific area where there is a lack of learning for many potentially successful businesses, is their ability to optimize their solutions using computers and technology. This was the first goal; plan technical workshops for small business owners and get their business cards to reach out to them for these workshops. Since then, this exercise turned out to be very useful for PWiC as well as the innovative business owners!
Next, Sara and Eisha visited 7 classes where they held a brief session with the students about the importance of PWiC and asked them to fill out a survey form which would give PWiC further insight into exactly what students are eager to learn in tech. The students eagerly agreed to provide their thoughts and were also interested in getting to know about more technical skills that they could use to earn or acquire jobs in the IT field.
Harfun Aurat
On 13th Feb 2021, Google Developers Student Club from Mehran University hosted a virtual session named ‘Harfun Aurat’ to celebrate women’s day. In the session the hosts emphasized upon opportunities in tech for women and hence called guests who were experienced in the aforementioned domain. Eisha Tir Raazia as lead and representative of PWiC Karachi, talked about her involvement in the tech industry with regards to career and volunteer work. She shared stories about her observations at the GHC conference and how the connections that she made there had become beneficial for her in the long run.
ACM-W FAST NUCES Khi Chapter
Eisha Tir Raazia was invited to FAST NUCES Karachi campus to present her experiences as a woman in tech to the future women in tech. Eisha gave an empowering speech that encapsulated her endeavors as a student and a leader at the same time.
She told her story of initiating the Karachi chapter of PWiC after being inspired by some of the influential Pakistani women in tech all around the world. Her journey started when she got a chance to attend the GHC conference that hosted loads of women across the globe carrying a tremendous amount of influential experience.
Eisha also guided the undergraduates on how to approach jobs and consequently secure them with ease.
ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE YEAR 2021
Apart from initiating efforts that assist the female tech community, PWiC Karachi Chapter also gathered some victories along the way.
GovTech Hackathon
The Karachi Chapter Lead of PWiC, Eisha and her team participated in the GovTech Hackathon from 8th to 10th October 2021. It comprised five themes, namely, Education, Health, Climate Change, Mobility, Travel & Tourism. Hosted by Code For Pakistan, this idea representing the contest was one of the biggest across Pakistan with thousands of participants and an adequate amount of sponsorship assistance.
The Team Lead of PWiC Karachi, Eisha and her team won the second prize at GovTech Hackathon, taking home a prize of PKR 150,000. Their app, Driv(H)er’s main idea was to introduce a carpooling app for the women of Pakistan with safety and security integrated in its functionality.
HackerRank Hackathon Challenge
Ever since the beginning, Driv(H)er was a unique idea that contributed to the safety of carpooling passengers. Due to its idiosyncratic functionality, the app won the Hackerrank Hackathon Challenge among 15 other submissions.
Digital Youth Summit
In December 2021, a PWiC-packed team traveled to Peshawar to attend the Digital Youth Summit and receive the prize money won for Driv(H)er by the team of Code For Pakistan. PWiC’s team had an amazing experience by communicating with various tech and business industry experts and also had a chance to meet some well known names such as Jehan Ara, the founder and CEO of Katalyst Labs, Samina Rizwan, Country Head of Code For Pakistan and Ali Raza, Director of Technology at Code for Pakistan.
These three opportunities gave the team of PWiC an exposure to the tech, business and startup industry alongside a boost to their idea of making transportation safer and easier for the women of Karachi.
What’s Next?
The year 2021, as observed from the details above, was jam-packed with loads of interactive sessions, career fair, and hackathon victories. The year directed the attention of many companies and females towards PWiC, displaying our global mission to Connect, Learn and Grow Together. As for 2022, PWiC has progressed rapidly in putting together tech related events. The workshops have started yet again and preparations are in progress for bigger and more fascinating events for the rest of 2022. With a new team that envisions effectively applicable initiatives and roots for good causes, PWiC Karachi Chapter is set out for a new era that ensures that every woman in tech is acknowledged and appreciated.
