Women in Tech (WIT) Learning Program

Rethink’s Women in Tech Learning Program is a 4 week learning program for female engineering students, designed to equip them to leverage the various Women in Tech opportunities.

Premise

There are a number of excellent opportunities for female engineering students out there. These opportunities mostly provide financial aid for young, smart women to pursue technology, and also facilitate mentorship/industry connect for them to excel in their career.

Some of the existing brilliant opportunities for women in tech in India are:

  1. GHC Student Scholarship
  2. Facebook-GHC Scholarship
  3. GHC India Student Scholarship
  4. WeTech Qualcomm Global Scholarship
  5. Adobe Women in Tech Scholarship
  6. Google Women Techmakers Scholarship
  7. Western Digital Scholarships for STEM
  8. Rails Girls Summer of Code
  9. Outreachy

Most of our girls do not apply to these programs NOT because they do not have the merit to get selected but mostly because:

This is where our Learning Program comes in to facilitate information, guidance and support in equipping them with the necessary skills to apply to opportunities such as above and get selected.

If you are a female engineering student, this program is for you. The program has been curated based on the learning and insights from over 100 girls who have nailed these opportunities.

It is going to be a 4-week hustle to improve your confidence and skills in applying to these opportunities. You can expect to have super interactive, fun activities paired with peer-learning throughout the course. You will also receive access to the previous winners of these programs and learn from the winners themselves. By the end of the program, you can expect to be aware of the various WIT Opportunities, how you can discover them, how you can put in a winning application and how you can improve your profile so you stand a better chance at getting selected.

Program Details

Program Pre-requisites

Our learning program will be conducted online. All our key communication will be facilitated over email and our discussions will happen on telegram, which is why it is imperative that you regularly check your email inbox and also have a telegram account.

So, it is mandatory that you have:

Feel free to apply if,

In the program, we will cover,

What you can expect is a series of fun activities to understand each of the topics above. When it comes to applying to opportunities, there is no one right answer. It is always about perspectives and how you approach these opportunities. This is why you will have a more hands-on experience and will rely heavily on peer-learning/discussions to form perspectives. We will also look to rope in previous winners of these opportunities so they can share their approach, perspectives, learnings and experiences that helped them get selected.

To know more about why we rely on peer-learning, checkout this blog.

During the program, you will be expected to

(TWTW stands for The Week That Was and is a summary of your learning and experiences through the week. Checkout some sample TWTWs here)

By the end of the program,

Selections

We will soon open applications for Cohort 2 of the WIT Program.

Program Anchor

Arya Murali

Arya is a 2015 WeTech Qualcomm Global Scholar and a 2016 GHCI Scholar.

Since 2017, she has been leading the Opportunity Project at Rethink where she facilitates guidance and support to students and help them avail various opportunities at their disposal.

So far, the Opportunity Project has touched over 7000+ students who have collectively applied to opportunities worth INR 6 Crores and secured opportunities worth INR 1 Crore.

Program Mentors

Annie Sijo

Program Coaches

Fausya Hima Amrita
Sethu Pheba Amalu
Nikita Sukriti Ayushi
Lavanya Sharon Aastha
Swechha Paavini Rutuja

Scholarship Partner

This year, WIT Program has partnered with AnitaB (GHC) India in setting up the WIT-GHCI Scholarship that is awarded to Top 5 performers of the WIT Program’s Cohort 1.

Selected students will receive a GHCI 2018 Conference pass worth INR 8500.

GHCI GHCI is India’s largest technical conference for women in computing and technology. The conference is co-presented by the Anita Borg Institute (ABI) India and Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) India.

Timeline: WITx

Applications Close - Oct 14, 2018
Stage 1 Selection Results announced- Oct 15, 2018
Stage 2 Selection Results announced- Oct 21, 2018
Program starts - Oct 22, 2018
Program Ends - November 5, 2018

Application Process

As with every opportunity, we also have an application process. The purpose of this process is for us to know slightly more about you as a person and what your aspirations in life are.

Your application to the program happens in two stages:

  1. You record your interest.
  2. You fill the application form.

Stage 1 (Recording your interest) happens on Telegram. We use our Rethink Bot on telegram to create your profile with us and capture your interest in the program. Once you create your profile, you will receive a Profile Reference Number(PRN) along with the main application form. This is a number unique to you and will be asked for in the main application.

Stage 2 (You filling the main application) happens through a Google Form. After creating your profile, you get the link to the main application form. You can enter the PRN you receive when you create your profile with us and fill in the remaining application. Upon successful submission of the application, you’ll receive a confirmation email from us.

Remember, if your PRN is invalid, your application submission will also be considered invalid.

How to set up your profile with us

Here is what you should do to set your profile and record your interest in Stage 1:

Note

apply

Help and Support

We have a telegram group created for you to quickly clarify your queries. Upon recording your interest with us by typing /WIT in the bot, you will also receive the link to join our group. You can click on the link to join the group and ask away your queries there. We will be available in the group from 6 PM to 7 PM to answer your queries.

You may also email your queries and clarifications to v@r (volunteers@rethinkfoundation.in).