Women Tech Quest 2023, an initiative of 10Pearls University, is a platform for women to compete, learn, network and showcase their tech talents. The 7th edition of Women Tech Quest (WTQ) took place on June 17, 2023, and was physically held in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Over 700 women in technology from across the three cities took part in the event.
WTQ, launched in 2017, is a competition dedicated to help women assess and showcase their tech skills, get recognition, and also win great cash prizes and exposure. Additionally, there are inspirational speaker sessions and workshops, in which leading professional women share their experiences to help other budding professionals grow and excel.
According to Syeda Sana Hussain, Head of People & Programs – EMEA, 10Pearls, “This was our 7th consecutive year of successfully conducting Women Tech Quest. As one of our flagship initiatives for gender diversity and women empowerment, WTQ has kickstarted and boosted careers of 5000+ women, strengthened Pakistan’s talent pool, and provided women an established platform to gain visibility and showcase their limitless potential.”
Multiple Competition Streams
The competition comprised three streams; Coding, Testing and Design. The Coding competition included a series of problems presented to the participants; they could use any programming language to solve them. The Testing competition presented contestants with a set of objectives to test database and automation concepts; while the Design Competition required participants to solve a UI/UX challenge, and their approach towards user research, persona building and user flows was gauged.
There were two categories – Professional and Student – for each stream, in each city. Each city had 6 winners, so in total 18 winners were announced. Winners received grand cash prizes and shields, whereas all participants received swag kits and certificates of participation.
Invigorating Speaker sessions and Workshops
Apart from the Competition, WTQ also featured inspirational speaker sessions by esteemed women such as Meighan Newhouse (SVP, Transformation and Enablement, Inspirant Group); Zartaj Ahmed (Director, PSSEC); Mehvish Waliany (COO, Alkaram Studio); Alice Bhagataney (Co-Founder, Upstream); Meenah Tariq (CEO, Metric); Usra Murtaza (Senior Marketing Associate, Walee); Saba Kalsoom (Senior Manager Markets and Enterprises, Fasset); Sadia Khan (Fintech Entrepreneur); and Humna Raza (Creative Director and Podcast Host, One8nine Media).
In her opening note, Meighan shared how empowerment and true joy comes from within, “Finding yourself is a deeply personal journey and also the root of everything we do in life. To be able to empower ourselves and other women around us, we have to first know who we are, what we value, and what we seek in life. Only then can we take meaningful steps that make a true and lasting difference.”
The event also hosted an interactive workshop on Women’s Health and Wellness by Mahlaqa Shaukat (CEO & Co-Founder, Aimfit).
Endorsed by leading companies
As the event of the year for tech women, WTQ 2023 was endorsed by top names in technology and other industries. This time, the event partners included reputed names such as CaterpillHERs, Figma Community Lahore, GDG Kolachi, MLSA Karachi, Lahore & Islamabad, WomeninTechPK, Bytewise Ltd, Growelle Labs, CodeGirls, AWS User Group Karachi, Daftarkhwan, AimFit, and Claymate.
The event was sponsored by Careem and Testworthy.
