Interview of Ipshita Chatterjee by Swati Kanwal.
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
Swati Kanwal did an online interview of RGSOC participant Ipshita Chatterjee as a part of WIT cohort 1 activity and I’m privileged to get an opportunity to write a summary of their interview.
Ipshita Chatterjee is a student of Computer Engineering at NSIT, University of Delhi and a student of Team 200 OK, working on coala. She is a participant of Rail girls Summer of Code.
“I ardently believes in innovating and using technology to make a tangible impact in society. The quest for learning from people across the world prompted me to apply for RGSoC and I am extremely excited to be a part of its fifth edition. Apart from being a programming and tech enthusiast, I am passionate about literature, prose, poetry, reading and writing.”-Ipshita Chatterjee
THE INTERVIEW
The interview started with the introduction of Ipshita Chatterjee. She is currently working in Noida .She participated in the RGSOC program with the Koala project.
Swati: Where did you come to know about RGSOC?
Ipshita: In my 5th semester I started participated in hackathons and attending various community meetups and some random browsing.
This taught me that a lot of opportunities are out there , you just have to reach out and grab it.Also women feel hesitant to apply or to grab opportunities but if we don’t move out of our comfort zones we won’t be able to see the huge world outside our own.
Swati :Most people define you as hardworking what else gets you through.
Ipshita: Hardworking is something that gets you through but that’s not the only thing in general like for RGSOC , most of us women have this tendency of being hesitant for applying anywhere so I think self believe and courage plays an important role for doing anything that is out of your comfort zones.
Ipshita talked about how they reluctantly asked for help for their project .She described about her friend Prachi and her mentors on how they helped her for making the project participate in RGSOC .
She was very fascinated by open source community , like how people across the world come together and build projects.
This interview gave me an insight, the importance of reaching out to people from and connecting with people.
Swati: How did you manage both college and the project.
Ipshita: People think that extracurricular activity and the things in syllabus don’t go together.I won’t advice anybody to do anything at the cost of academics.The first half of project was done in the vacation and for later part balanced both studies and project (did project at night).
Ipshita also talked about how she and her team members battled the feeling impostor syndrome with the help of RGSOC and it’s experiences. She spoke in detail about how to get started for RGSOC — google,study version control,reach out to past scholars.
Key takeaways that Ipshita said about from her experience of the project-
- learned how a project is build, tested,debug.
- Collaborating, reaching out,network.
I loved the last question Swati asked that led me to think what would I say if someone asks me the same about any of my pasts projects , what would I change?
Swati: If you were to repeat the entire process of the RGSOC what is that one thing that you would do the same and what is that one thing that you would do differently.
Ipshita: Definitely my team , I wish to work with them again and what would we have done differently is that somehow we haven’t realized the importance of communication and seeking help in the initial stages.
Swati added fun in the end of the interview by having a short rapid fire session where she gave few words and Ipshita said the first word that comes to her mind.
Talking about Swati what I loved about her is that she did an excellent research on the person she was going to interview. Even Ipshita seemed quite impressed by her in depth research on her. The questions Swati asked were truly helpful and she was able to connect with Ipshita really well.She showed her interest and her will to learn something new from Ipshita . I loved the way she interviewed , the flow of conversation was really impressive.
The key takeaways are-
- I came to know about RGSOC.
- The importance of reaching out , asking for help and seeking new opportunities.
- How to connect with people.
- When you have to get an interview of a person — research ! research! research!
- Hard work ! and balance your work and the curriculum.
- Have self believe and courage to accept new opportunities and challenges.
You can check the interview that really inspired me here
And also the blog on the coala project for RGSOC .
A BIT ABOUT RGSOC
Rails Girls Summer of Code is a global fellowship program for women and non-binary coders. Students receive a three-month scholarship to work on existing Open Source projects and expand their skill set.
