QUEEN’S ROAD: HackerEarth, a Bengaluru based start-up, is conducting an online hackathon targeted at women, to celebrate International Women’s Day. The event is aimed at encouraging women to take up programming and also celebrate the spirit of International Women’s Day through technology.
The event will see women programmers indulging in a non-stop three-day code fest. From March 6 to 8, women developers will build products under any of the three themes: productivity, social and gamification. Women can apply either individually or in teams of two. The winner will get a MacBook Air, while the first and the second runners-up will get an iPhone 6 and iPad Air respectively.
SnapDeal is the title sponsor of the event. It is also supported by NASSCOM’s 10,000 start-ups and has leading technology companies such as ThoughtWorks, Harman, Altimetrik, Akamai, Sandisk and Capillary backing it.
“The last time men and women programmers were equal in distribution was 22 years ago, way back in 1993,” says Sachin Gupta, CEO, HackerEarth. According to an IDC report, out of the 5 million developers in India, only 18 per cent are women.
“Women programmers need to be encouraged to continue with their chosen field and fresh candidates need to be brought into the system to fulfil the increasing demand for top talent in the industry,” adds Sachin.
The event will be held online, so the participants can code from the comfort of their homes.
“The HackerEarth system is robust and has already been used for similar events before. But this time, it is more special as we are trying to encourage women and girls to take up programming seriously. We are aiming to bridge the gender gap in technology,” Sachin further says.
For registration, log on to www.hackerearth.com/women