Nishtha Goyal

When Nishtha Goyal discovered technology, she knew it had tremendous potential. Seeing it as a way to level the playing field for all, she realized it could be her path to creating real-world change—and she has done just that.

Nishtha attends the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW), where much of her experience in the hacker community has taken place. She began coding in her first year and immediately saw its appeal. Creating code, engineering solutions to problems, and working together to innovate are all parts of what attracted her to technology. Her approach to coding is to use it as a tool for social good, to connect people no matter where they come from or what they believe. As she says, “One of the reasons I like technology so much is that it treats everyone equally. Gender biases, religion, caste, or creed have little bearing on the availability and benefits of technology.”

She jumped into the world of hackathons in the fall of 2019, participating in the Microsoft Imagine Cup. That first experience catapulted her into many more, as she thrived learning new technologies, collaborating with other hackers, and joining diverse communities of people from different backgrounds.

Nishtha’s competitive run in hackathons has been impressive. She has won more than ten hackathons, achieved third place out of more than 80,000 participants in the Flipkart GRiD 3.0 event, and achieved first place in the VMWARE CAP Hackathon. Through her connections and successful ventures in the MLH community, she became an MLH Fellow and even landed a Software Engineering internship at Google, further boosting her resume.

One of the most transformative moments for her tech journey was when she and three hacker friends founded a university technical club named Celestial Biscuit IGDTUW. Her focus has always been on creating positive change, and this was a chance to act on it. Celestial Biscuit IGTUW mixes technology and innovation to improve student lives on campus, benefiting the entire community. It is open-source, giving all students the option to contribute and collaborate.

She also is the Management Lead of Google Software Development Clubs IGDTUW, through which she and her team organized a hackathon that anyone could participate in, acting on her belief that technology should be available to everyone. This hackathon was part of a larger event that her group put on called DEVCATION’22. There were several components to this technology festival, including a designathon, an ideathon, the hackathon, and smaller events, each aiming for equality and accessibility for all students.

Beyond the tech stacks and coding expertise she has gained during her career, Nishtha has stayed true to her roots and her family. She credits her mother for her success, because she consistently encourages Nishtha to be the best she can be. As she says, her mom “is the one who anchored my identity, shaped my mind, influenced my beliefs, and made me who I am.”

Commitment to equity and fairness in technology is just part of Nishtha’s focus. Her sense of community, dedication to her family, and appreciation of diverse voices and backgrounds continue to drive her success.