March 17, 2015 IWD Spotlights – [Jarvis11]

Say hello to Sumitra Dhakre, also known as Jarvis11. She is from India and is a recent member of our community. She is a Topcoder Ambassador at her university where she encourages other students who enjoy coding to learn about and join Topcoder to pursue their passion and meet other programmers. She loves programming, learning new technologies, Linux, and hacking.

Read on to learn more about Sumitra’s story

Q. How and why did you join Topcoder?

I got to know about Topcoder when Appirio hosted an SRM at my University as part of a campus recruiting event. I have been a Topcoder member since.

Q. What was it that first attracted you to the technology field?

Since childhood, I have been passionate about technology and engineering. NASA is one of my favorites. But computers attracted me the most because I want to learn how they operate and the numerous ways that you can make them work. They are just the most innovative thing to me.

Q. How did you acquire the skills you needed?

I believe I am in the process of acquiring skills. But some of the things that I have learned like Linux, hacking, and Swift I want to thank Topcoder, Google and Wikipedia for it.

Q. What are you working on now that excites you?

Currently I am working on Swift, penetration testing, and Salesforce as they all really excite me.

Q. What are your best words of wisdom for other girls/women starting out in technology field?

Put all your focus and passion on one single thing that you love to do, and forget what the whole world says. Fight for your dreams no matter what it takes. That’s the only message I would like to pass on to all techno-crazy girls.

Q. What can be done to encourage more girls/women to pursue technical careers?

I believe to encourage more women technocrats, we should respect their knowledge and give them opportunity equality that they deserve. It’s not that women are less intelligent or less capable than anyone; they can attain the highest levels of expertise in technology if given a chance. They simply need a good friend or mentor as well as encouraging environment from both corporations and government.


Come to chat and congratulate Jarvis11 in our forums.