Technology industry seeing improved gender diversity

BENGALURU: A sharp rise in enrollment of women coders for the fifth edition of Tech-Gig's Geek Goddess clearly shows that the technology industry is seeing improved gender diversity, said Ram Awasthi, Vice President, Technology, Times Internet.

The fifth edition of the coding challenge for women saw 73,000 registrations from nearly 39,000 in the first edition. “Biggest change is that we started from 39,000 registrations in the first edition and this year - in the fifth edition - we have crossed 73,000. This number is quite encouraging and shows the interest women (are) taking in coding,” said Awasthi, adding that this certainly shows improvement in gender diversity in the technology industry.

While the coding challenge for women saw more than 60,000 enrollments last year, it has jumped to 73,000 this year, of which, 375 participants made it to the finals, which took place here on Friday.


After the final round, 13 participants from multiple themes and a generic coding category will be selected as winners.

According to Awasthi, Tech-Gig participants have been rewarded with pay hikes and some have landed jobs for roles in multinational technology companies. He said TechGig primarily focuses on assessing and connecting the right talent with the right employers or platforms.

The fifth edition of the Geek Goddess saw six themes, based on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, Cloud, robotic process automation and others.