Women Techmakers Scholars Meetup 1.0
About Women Techmakers Scholars Program — formerly the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship Program — Google is furthering Dr. Anita Borg’s vision of creating gender equality in the field of computer science by encouraging women to excel in computing and technology and become active leaders and role models in the field. This program is designed to share resources, support the global community of women in tech and collaborate on projects to make continued impact.
I got the chance to attend the meetup, held at Coding Blocks Pitampura , on Friday, 1st November, 2019 and it was indeed a great learning experience.
Session 1: Introduction to Women Techmakers Scholarship Program by Sashrika Kaur
The speaker of this session was Sashrika Kaur, a recipient of Google APAC Women Techmakers Scholar’19 and pre-final year computer science student of IGDTUW , Delhi. She has also been awarded with WeTech Goldman Sachs Mentorship and Scholarship Program Award’19. Apart from this she is also a core team member of WooTech.
Sashrika talked about in detail on how to get through the Women Techmakers Scholarship Application. She explained about the application process right from the eligibility criteria till the submission of the application form. She guided the attendees about essay questions of the application form. Being the past recipient of this scholarship she also shared her experience on it. She also discussed about the interview round of this scholarship and how to prepare for it and also shared her best experience of this scholarship i.e the retreat which hosted by Google globally. This session was concluded with questions and queries raised by the attendees.
Session 2: #IamRemarkable by Ambika and Shubhangi Gupta
The speakers of this session were Ambika and Shubhangi Gupta, pre-final year computer science students of IGDTUW and #I am remarkable facilitators.
#IamRemarkable is a Google initiative empowering women and underrepresented groups to celebrate their achievements in the workplace and beyond.
The objective of this initiative is to improve the self promotion motivation and skills of women and underrepresented groups and also challenge the social perception around self promotion.
This session was basically a workshop ,where attendees were told to write about Why #I am remarkable. After this all of the attendees had to speak what they have written beginning from #I am remarkable because…..
After this workshop , we had lunch and networking session .
Session 3: Community Impact Panel: Paving the way, women taking lead, making an impact! by WomenWhoCode Delhi, WiMLDS and WooTech.
There was a panel discussion that included the representatives from different women in tech communities ,namely Women Who Code Delhi ,Women in Machine Learning and Data Science and WooTech. The panelists and representatives of the respective communities were Jap Leen Kaur Jolly, Arushi Chauhan and Sashrika Kaur.
The questions from the audience were taken and were shortlisted for the panelists in panel discussion by Akanksha Tanwar ,member of Women Who Code Delhi.
The panel discussion was about how the communities can impact your career and shape your future and how they can help you in different domains of technology .The panelists also discussed on how we can become part of the above mentioned communities even if we are not part any women in tech related society or community in college or otherwise.They encouraged in joining communities and explained the importance of strong networking and how it helps in making you aware of various technologies in different domains and other opportunities. It is beneficial to be part of society or community both in college and outside. They also discussed on how to deal with Imposter Syndrome .
The questions regarding on how to take initial step in finding a suitable project and on how to keep going while learning a new technology , were also asked. The panelists discussed the sources for project and also motivated on clearing the doubts no matter how small it is. We have to keep moving and never quit , that’s how one never looses interest while pursuing or learning a new technology. The questions related to the data science were also answered by Arushi Chauhan.
The panelists also discussed about how to keep the track of the on going scholarships and opportunities and on what goes in the mind of the reviewer of the scholarship application.They also encouraged girls to always apply for the scholarship and not to give into the fear of rejection. There was also an enlightening discussion on personal touch and on how the technology can help you in stimulating your past experiences.
In conclusion , it was an amazing meetup with so many inspiring young females in technology and I am looking forward to attend similar events in the future!
