Women Who Code Launches Network in Pune, India

Inaugural Event to Include Speakers From Microsoft, Barclays, Redhat, Virtas

Pune – February 28th, 2017 — Women Who Code (WWCode), an international 501c3 dedicated to empowering engineers to achieve their professional goals, announces the launch of a Network in Pune, India. This group will will support the local tech community with training and leadership opportunities as well as educational events, coding workshops, hackathons, and discussion panels.

The launch of Women Who Code Pune was an all day event that took place February 25th at the offices of Veritas Technologies. It began with a Networking session, followed by panel discussions with Nandini De, Director Engineering, Veritas, Shabda Chaudhari, AVP – Data Product Manager, Barclays, Aditee Rele, Director, Technical Evangelism, Microsoft and Amita Sharma, Sr QA Engineer, Redhat.

The second half of the event included a hackathon entitled “Data-thon for Good.” The goal was for participants to use open data to gain valuable insights which can be used by organizations working to make the world a better place.

Women Who Code Pune is lead by Network Directors Sonal Bobde and Janki Chhatbar. Sonal spoke about the motivations behind her involvement saying, “There is no lack of talented women in tech, but there is definitely a lack of support for them to excel in the industry. My goal with the Pune Network of Women Who Code is to bridge this gap and ensure that they receive the support that they need.”

Janki echoed those sentiments saying, “In India there are fewer women in leadership roles. I want to change this ratio, make women more confident about themselves, and make them technically strong. This Network will give me an opportunity to interact with lots of women, hear their stories/doubts and help them. With WWCode I hope to make an impact on women’s lives, share my experiences and learnings with them, and inspire them to achieve more.”

WWCode Pune, which already has 116 active members, is the fifth Network to launch in India joining Bangalore, Delhi, Gujarat and Rajasthan. It is also the latest in a string of recent Women Who Code launches in Southeast Asia following the establishment of groups in Singapore and Manila just a few weeks prior.

Women Who Code Global Leadership Director Joey Rosenberg spoke about the launch, “We are excited to expand our presence in India. Pune is a growing tech hub with talented engineers and an enthusiastic start up community. We are thrilled to have Sonal and Janki leading the way. They are experienced tech professionals who are going to make great leaders for this new Network. With their guidance, I know that WWCode Pune will be able to empower a lot of women engineers to advance their careers, and have a real impact on the community, and the economy, of the city.”

About Women Who Code
Women Who Code (WWCode) is an international nonprofit dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. WWCode is building a world where women are proportionally representative as technical leaders, executives, founders, VCs, board members and software engineers. The organization has executed more than 4,200 free events around the world, garnered a membership exceeding 80,000, and has a presence in 20 countries. Help empower even more women to advance in tech with the training and community they need to succeed by supporting WWCode. Learn more at womenwhocode.com.