Women In Technology: Breaking Barriers And Finding New Ground

Bhubaneswar: Women professionals in the IT industry, teaching and allied areas came together on Friday to participate in WinIT or women in technology conclave on Friday, September 21.

Organised by Infosys Bhubaneswar Centre, the event essentially aimed to create a forum to connect the women working in IT and academia; create awareness around IT trends, work environment, policies of the industry and discuss and debate the challenges faced by women in this industry.

The conclave primarily evolved around three major levers – Building YOU 2.0, Breaking Barriers and Brand YOU. The conclave kicked off with an audio visual, bringing forth the play of technology in the current era. There were sessions on emerging and niche technologies, data privacy and an activity-oriented session on Breaking Barriers and Stereotypes.

Close to 70 participants from organisations such as TCS, MindTree, Tech Mahindra, AaBsys, CSM Technologies, ESSPL, StratLytics, Infosys, CapGemini, KIIT, IIIT, In2IT Technologies, ITER, GITA, CV Raman College of Engineering, Silicon Institute of Technology and WIPRO participated.

The highlight of the conclave was a session on ‘Branding Oneself’ by the Director, Vertical Limit Education, Govindrajan Srinivas and IAS, Director-cum-Additional Secretary, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Roopa Mishra. While Govindrajan gave a brilliant talk on the construction of brands, Mishra enthralled the audience with a power-packed deliberation, full of anecdotes from her personal and professional journey.

A fun-filled Coffee Quiz with two lady achievers- AVP & Senior Group Manager Unit Planning, Strategy and Operations, Rashmi Vishwakarma and Associate Professor, KIIT, Krishna Chakravarthy had the participants mesmerised.

Sheetal Rout from CapGemini said the fine work, excellent planning and realistic scheduling resulted in an informative and smooth running conclave.

“Such sessions really gives our self-confidence a boost and makes us aware of our abilities. They also give us a chance to review ourselves, to know where we lag or are doing well in terms of skills and knowledge,” said Pallavi Panda of MindTree.