Your Django Story: Meet Tapasweni Pathak
This is a post in our Your Django Story series where we highlight awesome ladies who work with Django. Read more about it here.
Tapasweni Pathak is working as a Software Developer with SAP Labs. She is a GSOC mentor for Systers Org. She is in the organizing committee of GHC India for the Hackathon track. She is an OWASP Summer Code Sprint 2015 student. She contributes to the Linux Kernel and works on a lot of side projects. She is a FOSS enthusiast. She reads and writes on Quora. She loves C, Python, Operating Systems and Compilers. In past she has worked as an Outreachy Linux Kernel Intern, Engineering Intern at Qualcomm Inc, and Research Intern at I.I.T Delhi.
How did your story with code start?
I was 9 when I first used a computer. I completed a basic certification course then, the most interesting part of that was I created a webpage, which printed my name in shiny characters. :)
I used to try random things, whenever I used to get the access of a computer. After high school, I had a choice to opt for biology and computer science for senior school, and I opted for the latter one.
I wrote my first Hello World in 11th grade in Turbo C++ as a part of the school curriculum. My first laptop was a Dell Inspiron 1525. I did not have any internet at that time. In my school we used to get 4 hours a week with a computer, to finish the assignments and learn C++. Apart from that I used to practice small programs and programs which helped me learn the syntax of C++. At that time I did not know that internet can be useful.
But those two years made me curious about Operating Systems, I learnt some C++ and some simple logic building.
I decided to pursue a bachelors in CS. During my bachelors, I got internet access, as well as a computer, whenever I wanted to.
I got to know about so many interesting topics in CS. This was the time, when I was free to try and learn anything that I wanted to do and then I started coding.
What did you do before becoming a programmer?
I’m a CS lover from the very first day I first understood, what does it mean to be interested in something. So I’m a developer from the very beginning.
What do you love the most about coding?
With some lines of code, you can do so many amazing things, you can help so many people, you can touch so many lives. Isn’t that awesome?
Why Django?
I started with Python at the end of 2013. I participated in many MOOCs, I used to read tutorials, try small projects in Python. In 2014, I decided to start participating in hackathons. I worked at a startup that introduced me to Django. How awesome Django can be, theoretically. I wanted to try it. So I started learning it.
I choose Django, Bootstrap, PostgreSQL as my stack for my first hackathon. I realized that there is so much to learn, and how awesome it can be. Since then I’ve been using it, in all the hackathons I participate. Most of my side projects are in Django. I have a lot to learn in Django.
What cool projects are you working on at the moment/planning on working on in the near future?
I’m working as a Software Developer at SAP Labs. Apart from that I’m a GSOC mentor for the Systers Organization. I mentor the Systers VMS project that uses Django. :)
I’m an OWASP Summer Code Sprint 2015 student. There I’m contributing to OWASP’s Hackademic project. My timeline includes making the large codebase follow PSR standards, adding Travis CI to the repo and many more interesting things. :D
Apart from this I contribute to the Linux Kernel. :)
I have a lot of side projects, that need some fixings. I’m unable to find time, to even look for the pull requests I get from them. Recently I attended a hackathon, there I created a web app that is gonna help women to fight against crimes against women. One of the features of this app is to report once. If a victim wants to report her case, she needs to tell her story to a lot of people. For example if she has experienced domestic violence and she wants to report her case. She will go to police, and answer all their questions. Questions like how many times did the accused beat you, where all he hit you, did he used some sort of weapon, have you faced any sort of sexual or mental harassment as well, what all happened etc. Then after the police gets all the answer, they may direct her to someone who’s gonna write all these things. Then she needs a lawyer, she will again answer all these questions. Apart from the physical pain she has experienced, she is again and again going through to all the mental trauma. I felt this can be avoided, so I came up with a feature called report once in this web app.
In this she will be able to write about all the general questions (mentioned above), and can save it. We have added a send email button. Using that she can simply type the email of her lawyer, police, doctor, ngos, agencies and send her answers. She can also save it as a PDF. Then when she goes to her lawyer, they can avoid asking the questions which are already covered and ask some specific questions connected with her case.
One other feature is to help women with information. Not everyone who goes through such crimes knows about her rights, what all tests she needs to have, what all agencies are there to support and help her, what all government organization are there. So we added all that information to our web app and provided her the option to share the link of that web page using a send sms button. She can also opt for automated call which will read out loud what is there on the web page. So may be her parents, or some other family member, who does not know how to use websites, they can simply hear and get the information. I plan to launch this website with as few bugs as possible. Right now there is a lot to fix in this. I will open source the code, so that whoever is interested can come forward and contribute to this.
I’m also planning to contribute to AAP’s portal, which uses Flask and Python.
What are you the most proud of?
I’m proud of my habits. How I plan my day, how my thinking process works, how I manage things, how I do what I like, how I learn things, and there is a lot to improve. I think I will be able to do what I’m planning to. I hope. :)
The session 2013-2014 was eye opening for me. I learnt a lot. I came to know about a lot of new things. I found a lot of good things in this time, when everything was going wrong.
I now know even if everything falls apart again, I know how to build it in a much more beautiful way. I know how to manage failures.
What are you curious about?
I love Operating Systems and compilers. I’m curious about a lot of things in them. One of them being not sure, that the best way (practically) to avoid deadlocks is using the Ostrich Algorithm (not testing for them at all). May be I need to read more to believe this, or may be I can come up with something which makes it a fallacy.
I’m curious about can we do something with technology that can measure gender bias in an environment be it conscious or unconscious.
Can we build some sort of app that will help anyone to come out / control the impostor syndrome inside them, and many more things.
What do you like doing in your free time? What’s your hobby?
In my free time, I take pictures, of anything. I like photography. I enjoy doing it. I’m religious and I enjoy travelling, so I like going to temples. I have a lot of plants in my home. I like spending time with my plants. I also like trying Origamis. This is my todo list. :)
When I do not have anything to do or I need a break, I use Quora. I write, I read, alot. I love the product.
Do you have any advice/tips for programming beginners?
Don’t get scared, get started. Almost everything is doable by anyone. Most of the things are easy to learn. So start doing what you like. There are lot of things on the web to help you out. Just be truthful to yourself.
Everyone is learning. So do not hesitate to ask questions. May be from your question someone else will be able to learn something new.
Feel free to ping me at @TapasweniPathak, for any help, I would be happy to help. :)
Thanks Tapasweni! :)
