September 21, 2018, New Delhi: India’s biggest coding arena for women, TechGig Geek Goddess, launched its fourth edition in association with American Express, a globally integrated payments company. Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment bank and active investor in India, is the title sponsor for the event. Geek Goddess is managed by the team TechGig, which holds Guinness World Record for hosting the world’s largest online programming contest, Code Gladiators. The grand finale of Geek Goddess will be held on November 23 followed by Women Disruptors Conference on November 24 in Bengaluru.
For IT employers, diversity is a big concern. The number of women professionals typically dwindles from bottom to top of the workforce at most organisations, leaving the sector with just a handful of women leaders and mentors.
It is here that women-oriented technology initiatives like TechGig Geek Goddess emerge as a possible solution to tackle the gender diversity challenge. TechGig Geek Goddess has been instrumental in bringing women technologists to the forefront and presenting a latent talent pool to IT employers. This women-only code competition invites women coders to share their ideas and product solutions in different programming languages and ropes in IT industry leaders to mentor these coders.
Announcing the new season, Ramathreya Krishnamurthi, Business Head, TimesJobs & TechGig said, “The brilliance of women technologists remains unsung in many companies. TechGig Geek Goddess is a unique opportunity for women technologists where they can showcase their genius without facing any bias. I invite women coders from all walks of life to join in as we put up this mega show to celebrate talented women technologists with our presenting partner American Express”.
Commenting on the association with TechGig Geek Goddess Ruchika Panesar, Vice President, Global Services Group and Head of Technology, American Express India, said, “In the age of continuous disruption in the payments ecosystem, technology is the key differentiator. We, at American Express, have been on a journey of building technology and engineering capabilities across the globe and great technology talent is critical to our business.
As we continue to grow our team in India, we aspire to be the ‘Best place to work for engineers’ in the country. As a Woman in technology, I am personally excited by the platform TechGig Geek Goddess provides us to take this vision further and bring talented “Women who code” and “Women Technologist” to the organisation.”
Gunjan Samtani, Co-head of the Goldman Sachs in Bengaluru, said, “To achieve and maintain our country’s engineering excellence, we must have the most talented workforce. At Goldman Sachs, where technology is a key component driving our firm’s growth, we believe a talented workforce comes from a deliberate and committed focus on diversity that allows us to bring the best ideas and services to our clients. Our firm is proud to be associated with this significant initiative that encourages women to embrace engineering and further strengthens the national talent pool.”
The latest edition of TechGig Geek Goddess also has CGI as the platinum partner, Expedia group as the diamond partner, ABB as the Internet of Things theme partner and Mphasis as the base partner.
The last edition of TechGig Geek Goddess had seen a massive participation of 49,000 coders. New themes like UI, Data Science & IoT were intentionally introduced in last season to let the programmers experiment vigorously in technology environments. With this legacy, the fourth edition of TechGig Geek Goddess 2018 is poised to be bigger, bolder and better.
The contest has already garnered 25,000+ registrations so far and counting. Prizes worth Rs 7,50,000 are up for grabs. Complete details are available @ https://www.techgig.com/geekgoddess
About TechGig
TechGig is a culmination of everything related to technology. TechGig is, a platform exclusively for IT professionals to synergize, share, exchange ideas, facts and information as well as showcase their work and express their views on the vast repertoire that the IT industry encompasses. Garnering cutting-edge insights, jobs, reviews and news, as well as providing a platform for connecting with colleagues and peers are the mainstay of TechGig.
About American Express
American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.
About Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Goldman Sachs has been serving Indian clients since the early 1990s and established an onshore presence in India in December 2006 following a ten-year joint venture. Today, it serves leading corporate and institutional clients through corporate finance (investment banking), equity sales and trading and fixed income securities businesses, as well as providing macro-economic and investment research. Goldman Sachs is also an active investor in India, deploying more than $3.4 billion in capital since 2006.
In 2004, Goldman Sachs opened its office in Bengaluru. Today, as an integral part of the firm’s global activities, the Bengaluru office with more than 5,000 professionals is the firm’s second largest office in the world. In 2014, the firm broke ground on a new campus in Bengaluru and will invest approximately INR 1,200 crore ($200 million) on the construction and the completion of a state-of-the-art complex, which is expected to open in 2019.
Since 2008, Goldman Sachs has committed in excess of $1.6 billion to philanthropic initiatives, globally to academic partners and non-profit organizations, including in India. As part of the firm’s ‘Community TeamWorks’ initiative, Goldman Sachs engages extensively with local non-governmental organizations around the world. To date, since 2005, Goldman Sachs in India has partnered with more than 100 non-profit organizations to engage in approximately 1,900 community building initiatives.