How did you start your journey with Women Tech Makers, Chennai chapter?

I got selected to attend Google Developer Days (GDD) meetup hosted in Bangalore. I met developers from other cities leading local developer communities in their respective cities. A series of talks on the Anita Borg Initiative and by GDD and WTM chapters encouraged me to approach these communities in Chennai. I was introduced Swaathi, CTO of Skript and one of the founding members of WTM Chennai chapter. Since WTM was not very active that time, I was given the responsibility to organize and meetup and revive the community. There were two speakers — Bhavani Ravi and Swaathi. Bhavani Rani is currently working at Orangscape Technologies and heads a Chennai community named “Build2Learn”. The first session that I organized was in the Skript office with only 3 attendees. However, the success story spread and we have steadily grown to around 20 attendees in each session. Eventually, Bhavani also joined as an ambassador and we are now looking to collaborate with other similar communities and expand further.

What are some incentives for women to be a part of such meetups?

I agree that most information in a tech talk could be read up online but the important giveaway of such events is the opportunity to network with like minded people. In this way, we could discuss ways of resolving unique issues that might be pertinent to women in tech.

How do you balance your job along with organizing events for WTM?

I usually try to wrap up my work during the weekdays and keep my weekends free for organizing future events and talk to potential speakers. I also try to attend other communities’ meetups such as Google Developers Group (GDG), Women Who Code, Chennai and Lean In, Chennai.

What kind of feedback do you get from the attendees?

As I already mentioned, attendees wanted a reason to come back and the tech talks didn’t suffice. So, we modified the format to include informal discussions after the talks. That made a substantial difference to the interest in our community’s work.

Any interesting personal experience that you would like to share?

I have been a part of teams where I was the only female and being a new joinee, I was quite hesitant to speak up. Interestingly, in one of our meetups there was a lone guy present. He politely listened to all the talks. Bhavani encouraged him to share his views and he found it mind-blowing how uncomfortable he felt being outnumbered and that is something women in tech have acclimatized themselves to.

Any advice for students and women communities?

In general, I have seen girls being less willing to take risks and present their ideas boldly.

I think we need to encourage them to never feel bad about disturbing people because it’s for a greater good. I also believe we need to include men in these communities, they form an important part of the solution towards achieving better representation.

Any advice for us heads?

Try to start publicizing events two months before and maybe attempt to invite people outside IIT-M to participate in them. Also try to reach out to sponsors and speakers assertively. As I mentioned before, the benefits surely outweigh the disturbances.