It was a ‘David versus Goliath’ scenario at TechGig Geek Goddess 2019 finale when Tanneeru Leela took on more than 73,387 women technologists to win this year’s title crown. She braved 375 women technologists at the four-hour-long, offline final code competition to clinch the crown.
TechGig Geek Goddess is the annual, women-only coding competition from TechGig that brings together women programmers from all the walks of life to showcase their technology skills and claim their glory. In its fifth edition, TechGig Geek Goddess recorded the highest ever participation at 73,388+.
The 2019 edition was announced on August 19 and was closed for submissions on October 21. All the code submissions were checked on various parameters, including innovation, quality, the ease of application among others. After the rigorous check, only 375 women technologists were invited for the finale day hackathon on November 8, 2019, at the Four Seasons hotel in Bengaluru.
The event was graced by some of the most notable names of India’s IT industry. The event began with an inaugural address by Ruchika Panesar, Vice President Global Services Group Technology and Head of Technology – India, American Express. Dr Neeta Verma, Director General, NIC delivered a special address at the event. A series of panel discussions ensued in the evening ceremony where technology and diversity leaders from Goldman Sachs, Automation Anywhere, Wipro, Oracle, Cisco, Capgemini, TomTom, Xoriant, Cognizant, Capgemini, American Express and RBS participated.
This year’s competition was intense with the introduction of cutting edge technologies as hackathon themes. They are being: Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Cloudify everything, Solution hunters’ hackathon, among others.
“We saw enthusiastic participation for niche themes as RPA, AI/ML with the registrations in the range of 4,000-6,000. This is proof that women technologists are raring to work and shine in the new-age technology streams. Owing to a tough selection process and high cut-off marks in the prelim and semi-final rounds, out of 73,388 registrations, only 375 women technologists made it to the final round. With only 0.51% of participants making it to the finale, I feel that all the finalists were best of the best coding minds in India. To win over this genius talent pool is a true feat and I congratulate all winners for their indomitable spirit,” said Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig
Adding to that Ram Awasthi, VP – Technology, Times Internet mentioned, “This is the first time that I am a part of the TechGig Geek Goddess finale event. The energy here is infectious and I was amazed to see such young girls coding enthusiastically using the new-age technologies like Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, Cloud and others.”
TechGig Geek Goddess 2019 edition finale day was marked by a live hackathon in the morning, followed by a Women Disruptors’ Conference in the evening, followed by a glitzy awards ceremony. Like last year, this year too TechGig Geek Goddess is presented by American Express, a globally integrated payments company. Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment bank and active investor in India, is the contest’s platinum partner this year.
Ruchika Panesar, Vice President Global Services Group Technology and Head of Technology – India, American Express heartily congratulated all the hackathon participants. “This outstanding accomplishment is the latest chapter in an inspiring story about women achieving great things in technology. At American Express, we strive to be a place where women want to work and build careers. It’s fantastic to see so many women technologists compete in this unique event, and we’re excited to see what all of you go on to achieve in the world. Congratulations to TechGig Geek Goddess for creating this great platform to nurture talented women in technology,” she said.
Overall, nine winners were felicitated at the ceremony. Collectively, all winners took home prizes worth Rs 7,50,000.
TechGig Geek Goddess 2019 concluded with an exclusive job fair for participants on November 9, 2019, where participating companies hired candidates for their companies. A complete list of winners at TechGig Geek Goddess 2019 is as follows:
Theme winners –
Automation Anywhere Hackathon:
Winners – Sarika Patil, MrunalKotkar
Runners up – KatheejaBeevi, SornamThiyagarajan
AI/ML Hackathon by American Express:
Winners – Laisha Wadhwa
Runners up – JayathilagaRamajayam
Cloudify Everything Hackathon by Hexaware Technologies:
Winners – Arti Kumari&Navya Singh
Runners up – NandanaKudeti
Solution Hunters’ Hackathon by JetBrains:
Winners – Nithya Vasudevan
Runners up – Rajhrita Dutta
Coding winners –
TechGig Geek Goddess 2019 Champion: Tanneeru Leela
First runners up – Urvashi Rai
Second runners up – Snehlata Mishra
Third runners up – Anviti Srivastava
Fourth runners up – MridulChirania
