Today, we have some very special news regarding leapcode.
 
In November 2019, we launched leapcode as an online platform for women in tech to share stories, best practices and help each other in the tech journey. In 3 months we grew to about 150 members on the platform, sharing stories, jobs, learnings etc.
 
In April 2020, we asked leapcode members, what areas would they like to explore and learn. The responses from the community was mostly on exploring open source projects and contributing. We spoke to a couple of members and realised that this is an area we could help them. We ran a couple of surveys and then started building a solution for this. We called that solution - Leapcode Open. After announcing Leapcode Open through a beta page, we got an overwhelming response from students &amp; professionals all over the world who are interested in contributing to open source.
 
This made us realise that this is an important problem that we should work on. To have an awesome internet we need good open source projects and contributors. Most of us are interested in contributing to open source, but get stuck on where to start and lack the motivation.
What if we could solve this and change the way people contribute to open source. We thought our focus should be on this and we have done our part in building a nice community for women in tech. This pivot doesn't mean that we are not focusing on diversity in our platforms, but we believe that we did our bit in starting a community for women in tech and will use the learnings to build the open source platform. Having said that there are tons of amazing communities out there for women in tech which we personally like. We won't be discontinuing the platform, but we will be moving it to a new domain <a href="http://women.leapcode.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">women.leapcode.io </a>and you can come back anytime and login using your existing credentials. Nothing have changed, apart from a new domain.
 
<a href="http://leapcode.io/">leapcode.io</a> will be the new landing page for Leapcode Open and we would also like to rename it to just Leapcode. The new l<a href="http://leapcode.io/">eapcode.io</a> will be an inclusive platform for all genders who are interested in contributing to to open source. We understand that this change will be confusing at the moment. But we promise you we are trying to build what's best for the community.

Special news regarding leapcode

We hope you are making this lockdown period productive. Here are some resources that we found on the internet that are free now! (not an exhaustive list)
<ol>
 <li><a href="https://www.dataquest.io/blog/covid-financial-aid-scholarship/">Dataquest’s Covid-19 Financial Aid Scholarship</a> : Successful applicants will receive three months of free Dataquest Basic access, which includes access to all Data Analyst in Python and Data Analyst in R paths. 
</li>
 <li><a href="https://fullstackopen.com/en/">Deep Dive Into Modern Web Development</a> : Learn React, Redux, Node.js, MongoDB, GraphQL and TypeScript in one go! This course will introduce you to modern JavaScript-based web development. The main focus is on building single page applications with ReactJS that use REST APIs built with Node.js. 
</li>
 <li>Machine learning 
Beginner: <a href="https://www.edx.org/course/machine-learning-for-data-science-and-analytics">Machine learning for data science &amp; analytics 
</a>Intermediate : <a href="https://www.udacity.com/course/machine-learning--ud262?coupon=UDACAFFIL2020&amp;cjevent=4af37b9c815911ea818401a80a180512">From Georgia Tech on Udacity 
</a>Advanced :<a href="https://www.edx.org/course/machine-learning/"> From Columbia University on Edx 
</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/">IBM's enterprise design thinking course is free now 
</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.pluralsight.com/">All online courses free on Pluralsight 
</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.udemy.com/courses/free/">Free courses from Udemy 
</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://blog.coursera.org/coursera-together-free-online-learning-during-covid-19/">Coursera Together: Free online learning during COVID-19 
</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ivy-league-free-online-courses-a0d7ae675869/">Courses from Ivy League Schools 
</a></li>
</ol>
Don’t forget to take a break :)
 
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.calm.com/blog/take-a-deep-breath">The Calm App premium features for free</a> (mindfulness) 
</li>
 <li><a href="https://www.selfquarantinebookclub.com/">Self Quarantine Book Club</a> : Slack Group with different Channels for different books people are reading 
</li>
 <li><a href="https://veronicakirin.com/work-remote/">Remote work job boards 
</a></li>
</ul>
That’s all folks !
 
Share any resources that you found helpful in the comments :)

Yet another COVID-19 free resource list for devs

Hello!
 
A month ago, we shared a thread for referring interested Leapcode members for an internship opportunity at amazon India and we referred a couple of members. Post that, we have received interests from our members for sharing similar opportunities here.
 
We have decided to start a “Who is hiring 🚀” post each month to share job opportunities that we know of or from our network.
 
If you or your friend’s company is hiring, let the world know by commenting on this post.
 
If you are ready to refer people or give mentorship to help that person crack the job interview - You are welcome to do that :) We appreciate such efforts. ✌️
 
To start with, here are a couple of jobs I came across
 
<a href="https://angel.co/company/observe-ai/jobs/691919-frontend-engineer">Frontend Engineer at Observe.ai</a>
<a href="https://angel.co/company/itilite-1/jobs/205978-full-stack-developer">Full Stack Developer at ITILITE</a>
<a href="https://angel.co/company/bankopen/jobs/482972-laravel-php-developer">PHP Developer at Open</a>
<a href="https://angel.co/company/gamasome-interactive-1/jobs/709856-angular-frontend-developer">Frontend Developer at Gamasome Interactive</a>
<a href="https://hasjob.co/zefi.io/6qvic/appl/fjy24dcfkz">https://hasjob.co/zefi.io/6qvic/appl/fjy24dcfkz</a>
 
NB: No recruitment firms please

🚀Who is hiring in Feb 2020? 

This week Princiya has shared her blog with us on the art of asking questions. Princiya is a technology and start-up enthusiast. JavaScript is her second love, food comes first ;). She loves coding, attending technical conferences, learning new things and meeting new people. Here is the blog: Although I have always excelled at academics and extra curricular activities ever since my school days, one thing I have been shy or intimidated about is asking questions. It has happened <code>n</code>&nbsp;number of times to me in the past; my brain has always had a question, but I have always stopped myself from slipping this question out of my tongue thinking I would make a fool out of myself, and only to realise later that somebody else asked an almost similar question and got applauded for asking such a wonderful question! Do you relate yourself to this situation? It’s more than a year now, and I am getting better at asking questions, in-fact, sometimes I have way too many questions to ask. Thanks to the&nbsp;<a href="https://princiya777.wordpress.com/2017/05/05/outreachy-suspense-unfolds/">Outreachy</a> internship, I have overcome my <a href="https://princiya777.wordpress.com/2017/07/16/am-i-a-fraud/">imposter syndrome</a>! Also, these days, usually I am on the other side of the table while handling interviews or Pull Requests, and I have some advice on the importance of asking questions and how to ask them right. <a href="https://princiya777.wordpress.com/2018/12/25/the-art-of-asking-questions/">Read more</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/princi_ya">Follow Princiya on Twitter</a>

The art of asking questions by Princiya

Hello Folks,
 
Hope you are having a great 2020!
 
Here are some great opportunities that you could be a part in 2020
 
Lead Dev Conference
Lead Dev is a series of conferences and meetups designed with the needs and pain points of technical team leads in mind. Each conference is programmed around three key themes of Team, Tech &amp; Tools. The talks are designed to help very practically with common problems in these areas. 
Oct 7-8 <a href="https://sanfrancisco2020.theleaddeveloper.com/?utm_source=theleaddeveloper.com&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=conference">San Francisco</a>, <a href="https://leaddev.submittable.com/submit/50524863-5a95-44df-91bc-1155a16e1e28/leaddev-san-francisco-2020-scholarship-application">Scholarship</a>, <a href="https://sanfrancisco2020.theleaddeveloper.com/cfp">Become a speaker - CFP</a>
June 24-25 <a href="https://london2020.theleaddeveloper.com/?utm_source=sf2020.theleaddeveloper.com&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=banner-nav">London</a>, <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnNhIacftLaDZBLgRxOusHEufCIujLdxPtX9xbnSbzQdr9Ug/viewform">Scholarship</a>
 
Lesbians Who Tech &amp; Allies Summit San Francisco 
The Lesbians Who Tech &amp; Allies San Francisco Summit is the largest LGBTQ professional event in the world. The conference focus on increasing the visibility of LGBTQ women, trans and gender nonconforming individuals, LGBTQ people of color, and demographics that are underrepresented in the tech sector and LGBTQ spaces. 
April 23-25, <a href="https://lesbianswhotech.org/sanfrancisco2020/scholarship-application/?utm_source=Diversify+Tech&amp;utm_campaign=fd07d715fd-Diversify_Tech_Newsletter_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_00b3f69566-fd07d715fd-1266669789">Scholarship</a>
 
Southern Data Science Conference, Atlanta
If you are a data science enthusiast who is interested in learning from the experts and top researchers about the cutting-edge technologies and best practices in data science, don't hesitate to register for SDSC '20 Atlanta. 
April 16- 17, <a href="https://www.southerndatascience.com/diversity20?utm_source=Diversify+Tech&amp;utm_campaign=fd07d715fd-Diversify_Tech_Newsletter_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_00b3f69566-fd07d715fd-1266669789">Scholarship</a>
 
CodeLand Conference, New York
CodeLand is the community-first conference designed to level you up. Inspiring talks and hands-on workshops from some of the industry's greatest teachers.
July 23-24, <a href="https://codelandconf.com/?utm_source=Diversify+Tech&amp;utm_campaign=fd07d715fd-Diversify_Tech_Newsletter_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_00b3f69566-fd07d715fd-1266669789#scholarships">Scholarship</a>, <a href="https://codelandconf.com/#speakers">Become a Speaker - CFP</a>
 
<a href="https://theproductangle.com/product-impact-2020/">Product Impact 2020</a>, New York
A 1 day conference to level up your product skills.
April 1, <a href="https://theproductangle.com/product-impact-2020-scholarship/">Scholarship</a>
 
Women of the World 
An Amazon diversity hiring event across Engineering Schools
<a href="http://womenoftheworld.mettl.com/">Register Now</a>
 
Talent Sprint WE 
TalentSprint WE (Women Engineers), supported by Google, provides an opportunity for talented and motivated women engineering students to excel in the global tech industry. 
Applications open for 2020 cohort - <a href="https://we.talentsprint.com/">Apply now</a>
 
<a href="https://buildyourfuture.withgoogle.com/programs/iwd-event-series/?utm_source=Diversify+Tech&amp;utm_campaign=fd07d715fd-Diversify_Tech_Newsletter_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_00b3f69566-fd07d715fd-1266669789">Google’s IWD Event Series 
</a>Google is celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) with Google’s IWD Event Series. IWD 2020 consists of 15 global summits throughout the month of March.

Some great opportunities to pursue in 2020

I have been a part of communities as an Attendee, Speaker, Organizer. I have tried to contribute in the ecosystem but I am certain to have gained much more.
It all started with my visit to Google Dev fest in ISDI, 2017.
I could see what the world is upto or I should say I got to know, I need to know so much more !!!
The rooms full of tech ninjas and enthusiasts were so inspiring that I decided to continue being part of it and contribute along with learning from it.
The contribution took a big turn when I visited Bangalore for GDD 2017. There I ended meeting Google engineers, experts and community leaders. I was thrilled to have been choosen to run WomenWill program for women entrepreneurs for Mumbai.
We organize events, BizFest, Mentoring sessions.
Everytime while discussing or mentoring a startup, I grow my perspective. Whenever I have given talk on something, I have learnt a subject better. While attending an event also I make new friends &amp; peer connects.
 
Overall, when I look back all I can say is, I have grown as a person first and professional later. Only community or one-on-one meeting with people can grow you as a person.
 
The community like leapcode is much needed space to continue gathering like minded coders and entrepreneurs. I am really glad to be a part of this space.
Here was a beginning of my journey so far...
What's yours ?&nbsp;

How community helped me grow ? 

College days contribute a lot to our growing paths. This is the time when you step into the modern world of information and find your goal. In my college days, I also had that inquisitiveness to become the best of myself and learn more. Unfortunately, except the last year, you mostly don't get any professional experience in terms of Internship which able to guide you how things work practically. &nbsp;I had created many projects by myself but always had that urge to build an entire software.
 
 
While I was thinking about this, an opportunity popped into my path and it changed so many things. My college organized a 24 - hour hackathon in which I participated. Being in only a 2-member team we created a healthcare product for the doorstep Vaccination. Although, it was my first time, we came as a &nbsp;runner-up and won the prize as well. But those 24 hours, I invested my time in learning multiple things to complete my projects entirely which I would never learn if anyone tells me to do that. &nbsp;This was the beginning of something new.
 
 
After that, I participated in 5 hackathons. In all of these hackathons, I always chose the problem statements of different technical fields such as Android development, FinTech, BlockChain, and Computer Vision. Believe me, being a novice student who usually procrastinates for learning something new, can learn anything and can create a bug-free pipeline in a limited time period.
 
 
All of these hackathons helped me to shape my career as I get to know a lot in a limited amount of time. Also because of these hackathons, I filled the empty field of co-curricular activities in my resume which strengthen my profile.
<blockquote>The aim of taking part in the hackathons is not always winning but to become an updated version of yourself by thinking through creative ideas, networking with the like-minded people,and having a chance to win awesome goodies and prizes. There are many communities that organize hackathons regularly such as <a href="https://skillenza.com/">Skillenza </a>so be a part of these communities and become a better version of yourself.</blockquote>
You can see the advantages of hackathons from this link: <a href="https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2015/11/10/top-10-benefits-of-hackathon-participation">https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2015/11/10/top-10-benefits-of-hackathon-participation</a>

How hackathons helped me to push my capabilities beyond the limits

Every B.Tech student aims to find job at big companies and brands like Amazon, Google, Amex, etc . Being from a tier 2 or 3 college, it becomes difficult as such companies don't visit for oncampus recruitment, but that doesn't mean you should stop thinking about going there as your first company. There are other WAYS!
 
Being from a tier 3 college, I joined American Express as a software engineer in July 2019. I got this opportunity through GHCI-2018.&nbsp;
Grace Hopper Celebration India is India's biggest celebration of women in technology which happens every year at Bangalore in the month of November. It is brought up by AnitaB.org partnered by ACM India.
 
Being a Developer Student Clubs Lead during my 3rd and final year of college, I was sponsored by Google to be a part of this celebration in 2018. I did my search and got to know about the career fair that happens there. GHCI holds a 2-day career fair where you can expect all your dream companies to be there and you can talk to people at different booths and ask for different roles. Many companies like Amex also hold onspot interviews and give you offers.
 
Since I was in my final year of B.Tech then, I had brushed up my computer science subjects which helped me crack the interview. It was all a single day process with two interview rounds and by the end of the day, I had an offer from Amex with me.&nbsp;
 
Since GHCI focuses on empowering women and giving them opportunities in technical domain, their career Fair is one option which one should definitely explore. While the conference has a paid pass, career fair is free and you just need to apply online and avail your ticket.&nbsp;
 
To read further details about my interview, you can refer this link-
<a href="https://medium.com/@VictoriousAura/my-journey-to-american-express-through-ghci-db2efd50e32">https://medium.com/@VictoriousAura/my-journey-to-american-express-through-ghci-db2efd50e32</a>
 
Feel free to write any questions for me to help you!

You too can join Big Brands! 'My journey to AMEX'

Hello!
Here are some of the scholarships and programs for women in tech. Some of them are open to all.
 
<a href="https://railsgirlssummerofcode.org/">Rails Girls Summer of Code</a>
Rails Girls Summer of Code is a global fellowship program for women and non-binary coders. Students receive a three-month scholarship to work on existing Open Source projects and expand their skill set.
 
<a href="https://www.outreachy.org/">Outreachy 
</a>Outreachy provides internships to work in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).&nbsp; Outreachy internships are open to applicants around the world. Interns work remotely, and are not required to move. Interns are paid a stipend of $5,500 USD for the three month internship. Interns have a $500 USD travel stipend to attend conferences or events.
 
<a href="https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/application-now-open-for-mozilla-tech-speakers-2020-cohort/48782">Mozilla Tech Speaker</a>
Mozilla Tech Speakers is a program aimed at creating a community of technical specialists interested in promoting the open web by speaking in public, giving demos, and delivering workshops.
 
<a href="https://research.adobe.com/adobe-india-women-in-technology-scholarship/">Adobe India Women in Technology Scholarship</a>
 
<a href="https://research.fb.com/programs/fellowship/#About">Facebook Fellowship Program for PHD</a>
 
<a href="https://ghcindia.anitab.org/">Anita B.org Grace Hopper India Scholarship</a>
 
<a href="https://ghc.anitab.org/">GHC Scholarship</a>
 
<a href="https://www.womentechmakers.com/scholars">Women Techmakers Scholarship</a>
 
<a href="https://www.womentechmakers.com/udacity">Women Techmakers Udacity Scholarship</a>
 
<a href="https://events19.linuxfoundation.org/travel-fund-request/">Linux Foundation Travel fund</a> 
The Linux Foundation’s Travel Fund is intended to enable open source developers and community members to attend events that they would otherwise be unable to attend due to a lack of funding. We place an emphasis on funding applicants who are underrepresented minorities and those of lower socioeconomic status.
 
<a href="https://www.projectalloy.org/">Project Alloy</a>
Project Alloy is building a more inclusive technical community, one conference at a time, by offering financial grants and other resources to people who are early in their career and underrepresented in tech.
 
<a href="https://www.oreilly.com/conferences/diversity-application.csp">O’reilly Conference Diversity &amp; Inclusion Scholarship Program</a>
This scholarship is offered to help underrepresented groups in technical community to participate in O’Reilly conferences.
 
Conferences offering Scholarships:
 
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.mongodb.com/mongodb-diversity-scholarship">Diversity Scholarship</a> to attend <a href="https://www.mongodb.com/world">MongoDB World</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://us.pycon.org/2020/financial-assistance/">Financial Assistance</a> to attend <a href="https://us.pycon.org/2020/">PyCon 2020</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.oreilly.com/conferences/diversity-application.csp">Scholarship Program</a> for&nbsp; <a href="https://conferences.oreilly.com/software-architecture/sa-ny">O’reilly Software Architecture 2020, New York</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.oreilly.com/conferences/diversity-application.csp">Scholarship Program</a> for <a href="https://conferences.oreilly.com/strata/strata-ca">O'Reilly Strata Data &amp; AI Conference 2020</a>, San Jose</li>
 <li><a href="https://githubuniverse.com/">GitHub Universe</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://reinvent.awsevents.com/community/we_power_tech/">AWS re:Invent</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.writespeakcode.com/">Write/Speak/Code</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://linuxfoundation.org/">Linux Foundation Diversity Scholarship</a></li>
</ul>
Know more scholarships or programs? &nbsp;Share it below👇

What are some of the best scholarships & programs for women in tech?

One of our goals through Leapcode is to help our members progress in their careers. As part of this, we will be sharing opportunities in tech on Leapcode.
 
Today we have an internship opportunity at Amazon Bangalore for the role of SDE (Software Development Engineer) Intern from Jan 2020 to June 2020 (6 months).
 
Two of our deserving members will get a referral &amp; an opportunity for 1:1 mentorship from an SDE (Software Development Engineer) at Amazon.
 
You can read more about the internship &amp; eligibility criteria here: <a href="https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/990626/software-development-engineer-intern-6months-interns-jan-to-june-only" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/990626/software-development-engineer-intern-6months-interns-jan-to-june-only</a>
 
If you are interested in applying for this role please comment below by the 4th of December. Brownie points if you are sharing one of your achievements in tech in your comment.
 
We will reach out to you personally once you share your interest :)

Who is interested in an internship at Amazon? You might also get an opportunity to receive a referral & mentorship.

How I Started I started with the typical engineering degree in Computer Science.In my 2nd year of college, I apprehensively attended a boot camp organized by a community exclusively for women. Throughout my college days, I had seen only guys fiddling with tech or building cool websites outside of college hours. The bootcamp turned out to be an eye-opener where I got to interact with so many amazing women developers and programmers. That was when I realized that a huge supportive and inclusive tech community exists outside of the college.Afterwards I ensured that my learning and growth wasn’t just confined to the academics alone and used to attend community meetups to keep up with the latest in tech, industry and also network extensively.&nbsp;After attending such events I came to know there was a big section of people who weren’t even aware of those opportunities outside. So I started conducting events,workshops and hackathons within the college with the support of the department and volunteered outside through communities. I enjoyed coding &amp; solving problems &amp; facilitating opportunities and by the time I was about to graduate, I saw my girls building event websites for our college fests!I got placed in an MNC via an online coding competition and joined them.I worked as a backend developer and worked extensively on databases. I worked there for close to 2 years.In between job hunts for a new role, I was asked if I would be interested in the role of a Product Manager. They wanted someone who can understand technology, communicate well with stakeholders and think user-first. I fit some but not all the criteria but was willing to learn.After reading extensively about it,I made my first trade-off(Developer v/s PM). I realised it was a great opportunity to try something new and I took a leap of faith. How I started with product management - resources &amp; helpAll I had was up my sleeves when I took up the role was what I read extensively on the topic. My manager gave a lot of curated articles on FinTech &amp; UX to familiarise with.&nbsp;I read several blogs and newsletters including and from Medium, Mind the Product, Coursera, Product School, Product that Counts, Lenny’s Newsletter, Silicon Valley Product Group, Hitensim.com(Hiten Shah), Product Hunt, Scrum.org,Optimizely blog etc.I also researched on user experiences,prototyping and design principles. How to crack the PM Interview was a very good book as well.I also used to read a lot of engineering blogs from Hackernoon, Uber, Swiggy, Airbnb etcI did not pay for any courses because I felt quality resources were available freely.I hadn’t worked with mobile applications before and I had to learn the technical know how’s first- the development frameworks,hybrid v/s native, Android/iOS, mobile analytics etc as well as about payment &amp; banking systems for the domain.I also learned to do research and market analysis which additionally helped in figuring out where we stood and where we had to go aligned with the company’s mission and values.I did not have another PM experience to compare or another PM in my company to trade notes with. I had the freedom to shape the role for the product and myself in my journey.And experience surely trumps the learning that you get from all the readings. Things may not go smoothly from design to production. There would be multiple iterations of design, bugs in live release, estimations gone wrong, efforts needed doubled, technical debts which was unknown, unplanned leaves of team members, new members joining and existing ones leaving, sudden business deadlines, push from growth and marketing teams for feature additions and so on. Only after going through the different situations, you learn to handle them better and over time the quality of your decision making will improve. Advice to someone who wants to become a product manager I was an ‘Accidental PM’ but I have truly enjoyed every minute of it. Every day is filled with new challenges and I don't think the learnings would stop.If you are someone who loves writing code or has build code, can communicate and negotiate pretty well and wants to truly solve challenges and make lives easier for users, this is the perfect career for you. You will get to don a lot of roles as a PM.&nbsp;A lot of companies hire MBA graduates as Product Managers because they might be able to understand the business goals and help execute it efficiently. If you also have a technical background, it would really help understand and empathize with the engineers and negotiate while planning for efforts and when trade-offs are required.If you have an interest in psychology/cognitive behavioural sciences, you would be able to plan for user study/focus and research groups. It would enable you to empathize with the user and figure out how and why people act or behave in certain circumstances. There is a lot of thinking that goes behind choosing a color or the placement of a button!Being able to analyse data is also necessary because a lot of &nbsp;decisions are based on it and not personal instincts. What you might think personally works for the product might not be the best decision in the big picture.Always talk and share your experiences and learnings with other product managers. You will gain a lot of understanding about the different approaches followed in different companies. The role of a PM is vague and often interpreted differently in various companies with roles at times having more emphasis on either design,tech or business. I call a lot of PM's in different companies to hear about their experiences,challenges and processes followed. It is to be remembered that there will not be that instant gratification that you would get once your code is deployed bug-free. You might actually launch a product with so much planning and effort only to not get the traction you hoped for or to get it shadowed by a competitor feature. You might do extensive research and prototyping only to have it shelved at the last moment upon consensus. &nbsp;While you need to be able to connect with the product it’s important not to be emotionally attached.Be open to thoughts and criticism and try to inspire and ignite that same excitement that you feel about your product/features within your teammates.This is a great article about PM to know more about it: <a href="https://hackernoon.com/product-management-skills-no-one-talks-about-5d50debfb815">https://hackernoon.com/product-management-skills-no-one-talks-about-5d50debfb815</a>Being a PM is not that glamourous behind the scenes. However, there is nothing more exhilarating than hearing your product making someone’s life a tad bit easier.

How did I stumble to a career in Product Management - KJ Gopika, Product Owner, Lulu International Exchange

Who am I? 
I am Ashwathy Venugopal, an entrepreneur, a Kectil International Youth Leader, a Global Shapers Community (World Economic Forum) [Trivandrum Hub] member, Indian Ambassador for Digital Grassroots Program (initiative of Internet Governance Forum, The UN), Wedu Changemakers Rising Star, 2020 Vital Voices GROW Fellow, Headstart Volunteer and an aspiring thought leader who wish to guide young minds to make their life interesting- one day at a time.
 
My Story 
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” 
I grew up admiring my dad who has not gone to work for a single day in his life. He has always been an entrepreneur, transitioning across enterprises over the years. With him I have experienced many highs and lows of entrepreneurship- the joy when the customer pays, the pang when you incur a loss, the emptiness when a business (unfortunately) shuts down and the thrill when you begin the next venture.
 
Not surprisingly, I truly believe (and know for a fact) that the world is full of opportunities- there is always a new door to open. Maybe this is the reason why it did not give me a cold foot to quit a well-paying Managerial role at Amazon to become an entrepreneur today.
 
I had a good stint as a Software Engineer and an MBA later I landed my dream job with Amazon as Team Manager in Operations. Then some of the best things started to happen in my life, and I left Amazon and Co-Founded Avasarshala.
 
Opening Doors 
Initially I was not aware of the huge number of leadership programs and fellowships available nationally as well as globally. I always thought my academics and college activities were enough exposure. Once I joined the corporate jungle I was hit by the need to up-skill and stay relevant. What started as a hunt for webinars and online courses led me to the world of leadership programs and international fellowships. I was surprised at the number of avenues that are available for youth. I started applying, and had to go through numerous unsuccessful applications until I was selected for the 2017 Kectil World Leadership Program. It was a year-long program which tested our commitment and mindset to ‘be the change you want to see’. 
In 2018 I was selected as one of the 27 Youth Leaders across 108 countries and 700+ participants to represent our respective countries in the Kectil Youth Leadership Conference (2019) at Atlanta, USA. This has been a huge avenue for me to meet many world leaders, engage in problems faced by youth around the world and truly reflect on what more I can do as youth in my own society back in India.
 
I realized, life is what you make of it. There are abundant facilities to gain exposure and bring change to your own life and others around you- just that we should be ready to receive it when it comes by.
 
Finding Avenues- Shaping Lives 
 As I mentioned in the intro, one opportunity led to the other and now I am involved in many leadership and international organizations. I am mentor at Kectil for the upcoming cohort, I have been chosen as cohort member for Wedu Rising Star and recently received my acceptance to the VV GROW Fellowship 2020. I will be one of the 45 business women chosen from across the world to be mentored and supported through a year-long acceleration program.
 
As women the avenues for us are abundant- now more than ever. If you are on the lookout, the possibilities for you are infinite. I have set myself in the path of realizing my dreams and ambitions, and I am moving with a mission to help as many young people achieve the same, with me. This is the core idea behind my new venture Avasarshala.
 
What do I do? 
I am always on the lookout for new and interesting avenues that can help shape young minds and lives. Did you know about Wedu or Kectil or even Vital Voices till today? Chances are, not. Did you know there are organizations like FRIDA which funds feminist initiatives and that platforms like Wedu and Vital Voices are specifically designed for women alone? My way forward is to make young adults around me become familiar with such abundance of avenues, and make it easily accessible to them.
 
Recently I have also been getting a chance to fulfil my love for public speaking through invitations to address youth and students. I use such stages to familiarize them with opportunities available locally and globally that can lead on to more avenues for them to think and do things differently. I am curating the same and making it available as a mailing list to students and youth who have approached me with interest. More information can be found at <a href="http://www.avasarshala.com/">www.avasarshala.com</a>.

Realizing Your Full Potential Is Easier Now Than Ever- This Could Be You Too Tomorrow!

My first encounter with AI and Machine Learning was at the Grace Hopper Conference – India’s largest conference for women in computing, to which I had earned the scholarship to participate while I was in my second year of engineering in 2015. I was fascinated by the capabilities of machine learning, and its vast, untapped potential in creating a healthier, better future. Hailing from a backward district in a small hamlet of Odisha, I have seen the disparities in healthcare between the rich and poor, like the lack of doctors, access to quality medication, timely treatment etc. This struck a chord with me and I started working on my first project where I crafted a mobile application to solve the problem. This mobile application was selected for showcase at Developer Summit organised by Google India and TATA Trusts. Selected among the Top 5 apps at the Summit, the health literacy app named "Sushruta” featured first-aid videos, report/call to doctor and ambulance, symptoms in regional language that would help users map to diseases.While working on this exacting application, my interest in Artificial Intelligence grew and I realized while machines should never replace humans, it can assist professionals like doctors, community health workers for early detection and diagnosis. A contextual care protocol using neural networks and decision trees , thatI built for doctors to track the changing symptoms of patients for effective diagnosis and a solution that can be delivered in remote healthcare centres was selected at the Health Hack 2017 under Innovation in Healthcare by General Electric. This work, as well is accepted in the IEEE International Conference on Electronics Conference on Electronics, Computers and Communications. Though, studying was like second nature to me, I always believed in practical applications of my knowledge.I chose to volunteer at Women TechMakers where I was involved with organising tech talks and conducting technical workshops to motivate women to embrace technology. This was a brilliant opportunity for me to meet women from diverse forums. My greatest accomplishment at this organisation was being able to influence a few women to pursue their love for technology and excel in it.Owing to my dedication to Women TechMakers, I was appointed the Lead and in the past 3 years, I have seen this initiative grow from strength to strength.My responsibilities included mentoring women in programming, conducting technical workshops on Machine Learning, Android, Cloud etc. and organizing hackathons to encourage an inclusive tech environment for them to thrive. The power to build things that have a positive impact on real people around, through software engineering and the ability to build softwares that are more efficient and intelligent using AI &amp; machine learning motivates me. This is why I believe in the impact intelligent algorithms can have especially in cancer detection, something I am working on full-time as a research engineer at NIRAMAI Health Analytix. I would like to encourage young girls and women to dream big, to always be on a look out for problems around and never give up while you are in the process of solving it. Never forget that failures are mandatory experiences to derive learning from and are momentary while you are building great things. JUST NEVER GIVE UP!

My journey as an AI Engineer - Minerva Panda, Research Engineer at Niramai Health Analytix

<h3>Some of the projects I have worked on:</h3>Working with data and predicting future based on it is my passion and it has always made me feel like a Magician! I am an AI and Data enthusiast who loves to share her experiences with others. From facilitating the first pilot of Google's Machine Learning Crash Course in India back in 2017 to becoming an international tech-speaker, I have always loved to share my knowledge and experiences with participants in unique ways to help developers &amp; students who look forward to grow their careers in the field of Artificial Intelligence. I have been a Research Trainee at Indian Space Research Organisation in 2018 where I worked in the pipeline of smart cities mission of India by implementing Computer Vision and Deep Learning approaches. After completing BTech in Information and Communication Technology from Ahmedabad University in 2019, currently, I am building the Next Generation Document Agent to automate data entry and paperwork involved in global supply chains for Gigabytes of Structured and Unstructured data​ at Shipmnts.com, India, as a Machine Learning Engineerr. <h3>My MozFest session experience:</h3>Speaking at my very own college to local Google Developers Groups' meetup to mega events such as DevFest Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Bangalore and many more, I have shared my knowledge and experiences with 1000+ tech enthusiasts. But MozFest19 has been a whole different challenge and a great learning experience for me. Why? Before delivering a session, a speaker would expect to know a bit about the participants, approx. how many of them will be students and how many working professionals with great background will be there? Should a speaker prepare content for beginner level or advanced? What present of participants would be having some-what technical background? How to engage every single attendee in your 90 minutes of session who might not be a native English speaker? All of these questions were never in my mind before MozFest, but MozFest taught me to think, prepare and deliver content which person of any age group, any educational and working background understand and get started with. I had my session on Decentralized &amp; Personalized AI, with Privacy by Design which was divided into two phases, Learning Phase and Practicing Phase.<ul> <li>In the Leaning Phase I delivered content, introduced them to the new dawn of Federated Learning having the potential to disrupt Cloud Computing, the dominant computing paradigm of today.</li> <li>In the practice phase, I arranged an ideathon, where participants came up as a team to build an idea by brainstorming and prototyping algorithms and presenting it to the rest in the end with one-on-one mentoring by myself.</li></ul>Apart from my session, I got a chance to listen to some other fantastic speakers around the world. Got networked with a lot of industry experts and visited the science fair. <h3>How did I prepare to speak at MozFest - submitting the proposal:</h3>Not only MozFest but for any talk in general, the first step is to have an interesting topic to speak on which interests and benefits larger audience. If you have found the topic which you are comfortable with and have thorough understanding, plan every single minute of your session. List down all the things to be done before your session from designing posters of your talk to preparing study materials to planning fun activities to the things to be done post session to get engaged with the audience.Pro tips for planning any session with ADIDS analogy where ADIDS stands for, A - ActivityD - DiscussionI - InputD - DeepeningS - Synthesis Activity: The session begins with an activity that is connected to the topic of the session. This is meant to introduce the topic to the participants and get them grounded in their own contexts in connection to the topic.Discussion: In this part of your session, everyone talks about what they thought of the activity they just completed. The facilitator should prepare questions to guide the activity.Input: The trainer presents on issues, sub-topics and more advanced concepts related to focus of the sessionDeepening: In technical training, this is usually the hands-on segment of a session. This is where the participants will get to put what they are learning to useSynthesis: A good training habit is to always summarize the session. Talk about what happened in the session, some of the results of the discussion, what issues were discussed, what solutions were made, and give some more time for participants to ask more questions before the session is closed. <blockquote>Also remember, a great session is when every person in the room speaks 1/nth of the total session time.</blockquote>Prepare your session and do not forget to getting reviewed your session plan by your mentor or a colleague. The next step is to submit your plan and wait for the results!! And then...Congratulations, you have been selected as a session facilitator at MozFest 2019, London with full travel stipend!! :) <h3>My message to women in tech:</h3><blockquote>"Believe in yourself and you will be unstoppable"</blockquote>There will be times when you feel like giving up on everything but remember Hard Work Pays Off, it may take longer than expected but the reward would be much larger than expected.Be clear with fundamentals, and have SMART goals for your studies, college assignments, finding a job, changing career or just a pet-project. Where SMART stands for, S - SpecificM - MeasurableA - AchievableR - RealisticT - Timely Specific: Well defined, clear, and unambiguousMeasurable: With specific criteria that measure your progress towards the accomplishment of the goalAchievable: Attainable and not impossible to achieveRealistic: Within reach, realistic, and relevant to your life purposeTimely: With a clearly defined timeline, including a starting date and a target date. The purpose is to create urgency. Give a pet on your back after finishing up your task-list at the end of the day, do not hesitate to ask for help, put your imposter syndrome aside and let the world know who you are and what you can achieve. Happy Learning! :)

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