I joined the college as a CSE student with zero Technical knowledge and skills. When things went directionless, I got to know about tech communities and that's how my life took a turn. I explored a lot of things, figured out what was good for me, and kept going. I want to reach out and help people who are stuck in the same situation where I was once, it's my turn to give back to communities.

In my 3rd year, I got an opportunity to participate in a national level hackathon by linkedin and fortunately our team won 1st prize. The feeling was unparalleled as this was the first time when I went out of station without my parents, unaware about all the challenges I faced, still managed to confidently present our idea in front of senior engineers and managers. Winners received summer software development internship offer with LinkedIn. I accepted their offer and worked with LinkedIn as a software developer intern. Appreciating my efforts and the value that I added in the team, LinkedIn extended my internship offer to full time employment. In such a long journey from a girl with insecurities to a strong independent women, what remains constant is my will to keep moving and to keep working for myself. The only way to change your life is to change it yourself. Thank you!

Then I opted computer science engineering for my career as by that age I knew that I like problem solving and logic building. I secured a seat at Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University, and I thank god every single day for this. With the support from my college,I started earning from the first year of my engineering. I had a decision in my mind of paying my college fee by myself. I started my first work as an educator at Unacademy. In parallel, I used to practice coding but by that time, I didn’t have a laptop so I used to code on my phone with a keyboard attached to it. In the second year I did an internship as Associate developer at sensuslabs incorporation after which I joined one step forward foundation as a fellow to create awareness about STEM education among young brains. I also worked with many startups like Data-stats, tutorialscup, Uaceit, Science place and many more. With every new experience, I get the exposure to learn a new skill.

Hey folks, I am Rishika, currently working as a software developer at Linkedin. So my journey to IT started after I completed my 10th and at that time I decided to apply for admission in a government school due to financial problems in my family. By god grace, I was able to secure a seat in Sarvodaya kanya vidyalaya. Although I was not sure about what I wanted to be, I was clear enough that biology related subjects are not inclined with my interests. Still as at that time not many government schools had computers as an optional subject, hence I took biology as an additional subject and handled engineering and medical entrance at the same time. With all the support of my teachers, family and friends I was able to crack national level competitive exams JEE-mains, JEE-advance, NEET and AIIMS at the very first attempt.

Started coding because my father wished to enroll me in computer science. Truly speaking I hated it at that very moment scored less marks and was terrified of coding. My mother at my back used to support me telling my achievements to me, lol. Came to college and enrolled in Electrical and Electronics Engineering branch but I always had a knack for technology. Got to know that there's a community in my college for coding enthusiasts wasn't one but joined it with the hope to learn something and eventually earn swags. Started my tech journey from MLH learn got supported by many community folks and enjoyed the whole week working hell lot got tired but worn a smile of satisfaction and pride. The person who supported and motivated the most in community can never be missed out, he is my super senior Kartikey Rawat. His support and my motivation pushed me towards tech domain. I learnt python, C and few other programming languages and started participating in hackathons. Thankful to communities

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So my journey as a women in tech started on a clean slate. I had no idea how my future is going to be like, reason being having no inspiration to look upto. I started communicating with more people. I met some great knowledgeable people, some great allies who wanted to see me succeed in my life. I joined technical club of my college. I joined Microsoft Student Partners community. That's how the world of technology was introduced to me. Then things gradually started to unfold. I learnt a lot from communities, my friends, my mentors. With their help and self dedication, I was able to get an offer from my dream organization Microsoft. I feel my journey in tech has just started and there is a lot more coming to it...

Being a women in technical field has been an enriching experience. The lack of guidence and mentorship was a barrier until I was introduced to tech communities. Tech communities opened a new horizon of opportunity, learning and development. If the right guidence and support is being provided, we will be able to see more women in tech in upcoming days!

Story of the day: Ada Lovelace Ada Lovelace is the woman credited with writing instructions for the first computer program in the mid-1800s and considered the world’s first computer programmer. With a talent for numbers and language, Lovelace was asked to translate an article on Charles Babbage’s analytical engine meant to perform mathematical calculations. She not only translated the original French text into English but added her own thoughts and ideas about the machine. Her work, which ended up being 3x longer than the original article, was published in 1843 in an English science journal. Her notes described how codes could be created for the engine to handle letters and symbols in addition to numbers. She also theorized a method for the engine to repeat a series of instructions, known today as looping. Lovelace’s contributions to computer science weren’t discovered until the 1950s. In 1980, the U.S. Department of Defense named a new computer language “Ada” after Lovelace.