Sisters Are Inspiring Women To Code In Sacramento

Ashma and Shruti Sethi are both computer engineers at Intel, founders of Women Who Code Sacramento and sisters in real life. They were born and brought up in Mumbai, India. The Sethi sisters both joined Intel after earning their Master of Science degrees (M.S.) in Electrical Engineering; Ashma from Syracuse University, New York, and Shruti from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.

"Coding skills are part of our day job. Intel engineers code in verilog (RTL design), C++, ruby, perl and python and use a variety of tech development tools. Keeping skill-sets up-to-date is vital."

To stay current, they often immerse themselves in numerous tech events in the SF bay area that enables coders and programmers to do so. "We'd love the Sacramento area to become as vibrant and energizing too! We'd like companies to start here, and women entrepreneurs to lead them. That's our main motivation for driving WWCode-Sac. WomenWhoCode is the perfect platform. They send out weekly newsletters with employment opportunities, conferences,and hackathons."

Passionate about women's advancement in the tech industry, and avid volunteers of community organizations such as TEDx and Startup Weekend; they are proponents of constant learning and growth. Accordingly, they host WWCode-Sac's study-groups and tech-talks; often sponsored by local tech companies and co-working spaces like HackerLab. Companies like Google, Nike, VSP and Intel are supportive too because they are interested in increasing the diversity in their workforces.

"All ages and backgrounds are welcome. We would love to see more women join the ranks and bridge the gender gap in the industry. Women have a keen sense of attention to detail, an important attribute to excel in tech careers. The biggest challenge is to enable people to get out of their own way. Resources already exist around them. We connect and inspire them to start absorbing, enriching themselves and to not give up when the waters seem tough."

Interested persons who wish to improve their tech skills or help other women do so can sign up on the WWCode-Sacramento Meetup Group to learn of next upcoming events; which are also posted at the groups' Facebook page.

Karen Hansen M.S. Earth Sciences, has been an educator and consultant who is currently an analyst regarding land and other public information records. She lives and works in Sacramento, CA. She has been writing about earth and the environmental sciences for Examiner.com since May of 2010. Find her work in several sections of the publication. You can find her work at SF Solar Energy Examiner, SF Environmental News Examiner and Environmental News Examiner