TechGig Geek Goddess 2019 India’s biggest coding arena for women was yet again monumental in shaping the future women workforce in India. The competition was concluded on 8th November in India’s silicon city- Bangalore.
In the 2019 edition of this event, 73,300 + code submissions underwent strict scrutiny and only 375 women technologists were invited for the final hackathon.
Tanneeru Leela beat 73,388 women technologists to take home the title crown and winners took home prizes worth Rs 7,50,000 collectively.
Following is the interaction with Ram Awasthi, Technology, VP- Technology & Chief Architect at Times Internet, who has shared with us his vision about the future of women coders in India and also crowned the winner of TechGig Geek Goddess 2019.
What is TechGig Geek Goddess?
TechGig Geek Goddess is an exclusive hackathon for women software developers and coders. We have been hosting this event for the past five years. Any woman technologist, keen on showcasing her skills can sign up for this contest. There are multiple screening rounds for the code submissions and eventually, we select the best of the best for the finale round.
Can you elaborate more on the event, like how many women were filtered out, what is the total number of themes, prizes to the winners and on what basis do you rank their performance?
There were three rounds in total. About 73,388 women participants signed up for the 2019 edition of TechGig Geek Goddess 2019. After successive filtration of code submissions about, 375 women were invited for the finale.
The collective prize money was Rs 7,50,000. Also, the ranking criteria are ICMA which is standard across the industry and we are using the same.
Do you organise this event by yourself or do you have more companies as a part of TechGig 2019?
We have enthusiastic partners as American Express, Goldman Sachs, Automation Anywhere, JetBrains, Hexawere, CGI, Logitech and more companies who are the part of this great initiative. Post-TechGig Geek Goddess there is a job fair organised where we have a few good companies to hire the women technologists.
How do these events act as a bridge between the industry and talent in a practical way?
Every company wants to attract and hire good talent and it is very critical for any organisation to retain that talent. The company needs to conduct multiple interviews and on sight coding tests which takes a lot of time. By our platform, the candidate comes in and proves their wit in a certain skill which might be a requirement for a company. Since these coders have proven their worth, companies can jump the recruiting and filtration process and focus on better things like how to attract the available talent.