Experiences Log

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WICS : Women in Computer Science

On the Web

I received an admission offer to Arizona State University’s M.S. program in Software Engineering. Although I had initially applied to the Computer Science (MCS) program, my application was redirected to Software Engineering following a departmental review. While I appreciated the opportunity, the program did not closely align with my academic and career goals, so I respectfully declined the offer.

The University of Arizona was the best fit for my career goals and the highest-ranked in Natural Language Processing among my admission offers (according to CS Rankings) . While I had other offers with scholarships, the University of Arizona was the most academically aligned option.

However, I wouldn't have been able to pursue this path without my parents, who put up nearly $50,000+ , a majority share of their life savings towards my education. That kind of support is a privilege, and I’m deeply grateful for it. Fortunately, I was awarded Graduate Assistantships throughout the program, which covered tuition, health insurance, and provided a monthly stipend. I ultimately didn’t have to rely on the financial support from my parents, but I want to emphasize that it was the privilege of having that choice that made it possible for me to pursue this option.

Looking back in 2025, choosing the University of Arizona was one of the most pivotal and rewarding decisions of my career.

I was honored to receive admission to NYIT’s Data Science master’s program at their Manhattan campus for Fall 2021. As part of the offer, I was awarded the Graduate Scholar Award, a competitive merit-based scholarship of $3,000 per year, granted to top applicants in recognition of academic excellence and future potential. In addition, I was selected as eligible for a Graduate Assistantship in my first semester, offering up to 6 credits of tuition remission per term, a role typically offered to high-performing candidates with demonstrated initiative and capability.

I was honored to receive admission to the Master’s program in Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell for the Fall 2021 semester. In addition, I was awarded the Provost’s Graduate Fellowship, providing a $6,000 tuition credit, a merit-based award given to top applicants in recognition of their accomplishments and promise.

Role : Artificial Intelligence Engineer

Date of Joining : 8 March 2021

This was, by far, the best interview experience I've had to date. The role was an excellent fit, and the process stood out for all the right reasons: deep, thoughtful technical questions that genuinely challenged my understanding, live feedback throughout, a smooth process, and extremely respectful, clear communication from everyone I interacted with. 

However, shortly after receiving the offer, I recieved admission offer from my masters applications, which would mean that I would have had to leave the role by July—after just four months—it didn’t feel fair to commit to a team only to leave soon after. Although I ultimately declined the offer, I can’t recommend this firm enough based on my experience. I don’t remember my interviewer’s name, but I hope he’s doing well.

Youtube

Fundraiser Page 

Goal: ₹15,000 INR Raised: ₹17,116 INR

For my birthday in 2020, I raised ₹17,116 INR for Rescue Foundation, an NGO that rescues girls from human trafficking and forced prostitution. Each year, the organization:

• Rescues 150+ girls through intelligence-led operations with police and anti-trafficking units.

• Provides care and rehabilitation to 400–500 survivors annually in safe homes across India.

• Offers comprehensive support, including education, healthcare, trauma counseling, legal aid, and skill training.

• Repatriates survivors to their families or partner NGOs and supports long-term reintegration through open homes and job assistance.

Thank you to our donors: Jesvin, Minimol, Babu, Ajith, Deepak, Anna-Grace, Gopikrishnan, and Rahul ❤

Job Offer for role Assoc. Product Dev. Engineer

DrupalCon 2020 Global is an international conference attended by hundreds of developers each year. This year not only is it going virtual, DrupalCon has partnered with Pehia Foundation to give 5 of its members a free access to the event otherwise worth 249$. Thank you Anto for connecting us.

It’d be missing some important context to leave this out. The momentum of building and doing cool things didn’t just jump off a cliff, we were in lockdown :)

My experience | Curated a list of resources

Thank you St.Therasa's for the opportunity to share my story admist so many powerful speakers. I spoke about the intial hurdles starting @pehiaorg , what it really means when we speak of challenges for women,  how my journey has been so far and what my takeaways and life lessons have been.

I received a campus placement offer from Incture Technologies in 2020. However, I was assigned to the UI/front-end track, which didn’t align with my strengths or interests. I chose to withdraw, prioritizing long-term fit over brand or convenience, a decision that reinforced the value of role alignment early in a career.

Full interview here

Tinkerhub leadership summit was the first get together of community leaders where 40 leaders from Kerala gathered at Mar Thoma santhigiri asramam Aluva with discussions, food, fun and lots of love!

Related blog : Thoughts from tinkerhub leadership summit 2018-chapter 1 - Gopikrishnan Sasikumar

Ze camp 2019, PEHIA Foundation's first endeavour in the ‘Transgenders In Tech’ initiative in association with the Mar Thoma Navodaya Movement, was successfully conducted at Mar Thoma Santhigiri Retreat Center, Edathala from 3rd to 13th January 2019.

Not a fan of the title I gave it back then ( I had < 30 mins to prep the talk ), but I spoke about how when we talk about gender representation in tech, we need to account for our transcommunity as well. 

Related Blogs:

Pehia’s Opportunity Hackathon - Arya Murali

Opportunity Hackathon organised by Pehia foundation at KTIZ, June 9 2018 - Farha Kareem

drafted with Sreepriya Radhakrishnan and Mufeeda CK

Team : Enfa Rose George , Anusree S and Adheetha O V 

"Thanks to Pehia, we had the best gender balanced hackathon so far. We had 5 women only teams from different part of Kerala joined for coopathon." from Hacking for harmony | The co-operative hackathon story by Mehar MP

Runner-up team with the organising team of one of Kerala's first ever women's hackathon SHEHACKS at GEC, Palakad.

(date may be incorrect)

March 5 and 6 2018

one of the many do it for the plot things 😬

Launch of PEHIA Foundation (initially as a subgroup of Student Developers Society) Details and blog post to follow

ZWYIE Team

Provided weekend tutoring and mentorship in science to empower children in support homes (orphanages), fostering academic confidence and essential skills for a brighter future.