HCL Technologies is committed to building a diverse, meritocratic organization that welcomes innovation, disruption, and out-of-the-box ideas.
Vinutha Rao, Head of Capability and Capacity Team in HCL's Digital & Analytics Practice discusses the company's Women-only Hackathon initiative and how it encourages women Ideapreneurs across the organization to take up technology-centric leadership roles in the future.
"In today's highly dynamic competitive business landscape, enterprises that survive need to scale digital across the breadth of the business," advises Vinutha.
Collaborating with peers and women leaders
For the Hackthon, the women were divided into groups that complemented their skill sets and worked together to identify solutions to varous challenges.
The event provided an opportunity for women to meet their peers, interact with women leaders and potential mentors, and to test their abaility to leverage technology to solve real-world problems.
Prioritizing women technologists
Vinutha outlines the twin objectives of the HCL Hackthon as being:
- to drive change by giving employees permission to break established conventions and experiment with new approaches
- to reinforce the benefits of workplace gender diversity by prioritizing women technologists
"We do this by engaging them early on by using the right channels, doing away with the existing and potential professional barriers, providing role models and guides to help them, and connecting them with the right set of opportunities," she adds.
Empowering women to tackle global challenges
Thanks to the Hackathon, HCL is providing a platform to bring together innovators, developers and creators to showcase their extraordinary problem-solving abilities. Many talented hackers gathered together from different organizations, and for some it was an introduction to the agile principles of working at leading global technology firms such as HCL.
"At HCL we believe technology is the answer to pressing global challenges and we are set on empowering women across the globe by giving them the tools and opportunities to tackle them," adds Vinutha.
Take on real-world digital challenges at HCL
HCL is always looking for talented female innovators to use their problem-solving abilities to tackle digital challenges affecting today's world.
If you're looking for a challenge, search and apply for a job at HCL.
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Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.