When like-minded individuals with similar intentions come together to guide and support others, something magical happens. We were thrilled to have organized a beautiful event that brought together such people - the Rails Girls in Bangalore.
Rails Girls is a global community that organizes workshops to help women from diverse backgrounds kickstart their careers in tech. Recently, our team had the pleasure of hosting this community event, and let us tell you, it was nothing short of amazing.
The event took place at the Microsoft Reactor in Bangalore and was packed with excitement and enthusiasm from start to finish. We had a lightning-fast registration process that got everyone to slowly sink into the day. To top it off, we hooked up attendees with some cool laptop stickers and Rails Girls t-shirts. The best part was when everyone proudly sported their tees throughout the event, creating a real sense of belonging and camaraderie.
The event began with a warm note from Dinesh Kumar, our CEO, who shared his passion for giving back to the community. As if that wasn't inspiring enough, our friends from G2, who were also our platinum sponsor for the event, pitched in with an internship opportunity for the participants, providing them with a glimmer of hope to start their career.
The keynote speaker of the day, Shruti Balasa, was an inspiration to us all. Her story of overcoming adversity and forging a successful career in tech was a reminder that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.
Then began the installation fest! The room was bustling with participants eagerly installing Ruby on their systems, while our mentors provided enthusiastic support every step of the way. Chaitali and Amulya from our team, then took the stage to expertly give the audience an overview of the programming language.
Before diving into the application building, Amulya made sure everyone was up to speed with the basics of Ruby programming. She began by explaining fundamental concepts such as variables, methods, and classes, making it accessible even for those without prior experience. Participants were then given a chance to apply their newfound knowledge through coding exercises that challenged and tested their skills.
Then, Chaitali continued - introducing everyone to Rails, the web framework they would be using to build their application. She provided an overview of the basics of MVC and explained the many advantages of using Rails for web development.
Amulya and Chaitali's thorough and engaging approach left everyone feeling confident and excited to take on the next challenge.
After a scrumptious lunch and some networking, we asked ourselves: how could we make this day even more fun? That's when Bhimsen, one of our team members, hit the stage with some killer Zumba moves that had the crowd buzzing with excitement. Before we knew it, participants had joined in and brought a whole new level of vibe to the day.
Then, it was time to get our hands dirty with some serious coding! We encouraged the participants to build a Facebook clone app using Ruby on Rails. To ensure everyone could get the most out of the workshop, we assigned mentors to work closely with groups of 6-7 attendees. As everyone settled in, the atmosphere became electric with participants quickly making new buddies as they dove into the task at hand. It was inspiring to see everyone fully engrossed in building and making progress throughout the day, with mentors working tirelessly on their toes to assist them.
Our experience as organizers was filled with exhilarating moments. Collaborating with passionate mentors to plan out the workshop, hustling through the logistics, and other arrangements while simultaneously building connections with our enthusiastic attendees, was an adventure in itself. Witnessing the community come together to share knowledge, learn new skills, and have a great time made all our efforts worthwhile.
As the day came to a close, there were beaming smiles all around the Rails Girls camp. The participants had learned something new and were excited to take their first steps in their tech careers. The mentors were proud of the knowledge they had imparted and the connections they had made with each other. Our team was ecstatic to have been a part of such a powerful and impactful event, and we're already looking forward to the next one!
