“I didn’t know what coding was. I had heard about it from others but I didn’t know how to do coding,” says Megha. Megha Jhibkate is a 22 year old girl from Lobhi village, Bhandara District in the state of Maharashtra.
Megha is currently pursuing her 2nd year of college studies at Seth Narsinghdas Mor College of Arts in Tumsar, Maharashtra. “I have never worked in or been associated with any organisation.” She was introduced to Sajhe Sapne, an organisation focussed on launching careers of rural women in the modern workforce through her older sister.
Her assessment at Sajhe Sapne for the course enrollment was nothing short of nerve wracking. “I was so nervous because I didn’t know anything about coding,” recalls Megha.
Her early days at Sajhe Sapne were challenging but exciting, primarily because of the language and cultural diversity that she had not been previously exposed to. Adding to the challenge was the fact that she was the first girl in her family to move far away from home for a residential course.
The first coding language Megha was introduced to was Python. It was challenging to learn and at times, she felt like she wouldn’t be able to succeed. However, with dogged determination and consistent study, Megha managed to learn it. Next, she was taught Frontend Development, but the terms HTML and CSS were completely new to her. She continued in her efforts to learn these new languages.
Megha’s happiness when she created her first application using HTML and CSS is something that will stay with her. This was the first of her achievements and gave her the confidence that she could do even better. She challenged herself at every step of her learning process.
Halfway through the course at Sajha Sapne, Megha and her classmates applied for internships and was successful in obtaining an online internship for 2 months with AirCampus in Goa. This was her first job. She worked on projects related to HTML and CSS, and developed game apps. She had a good mentor at her internship.
“Earlier, we used to think that we could solve a problem with a google search or by watching a youtube video. Sajhe Sapne taught us how to solve problems with 5 different solutions.” Coding no longer seemed hard to understand.
Towards the end of her course, Megha applied to several organisations and got selected for a Tech4Good fellowship at Tech4Good T4G Labs. The selection process consisted of several rounds of interviews and problem solving. She is excited to join T4G Labs in Kerala, despite the fact that it involves a change in language, food, culture yet again. Her family is very proud of her and happy for her achievement.
Megha’s message to the world -
“Coding is something by which we can give commands to the computer, Isn’t that cool? I think everyone should learn to code. Through coding we can make different apps and games. Anyone can make a career in coding if they are willing to learn it, especially girls. Through coding we can help people also.”
Written by: Varsha (Sapnewali from Sajhe Sapne)
Edited by: Deepali Kulkarni
Message from Tech4Good T4G Labs: We are so excited to have Megha join us. She is an inspiration to all of us. Join us in wishing her the best with your comments, replies to this post. yay! 
thank you 