Uditi Sharma

Uditi Sharma embodies the independence and creativity of many standouts in the hacker community. A high school student living in Dubai, she is one of the few female coders in her community and has forged her own path. Her mission to help women enter the world of coding continues to push her forward today, and she shows no signs of slowing down.

She started coding in 7th grade, creating apps with the help of free online tutorials. She has taught herself many skills and technologies; motivated by a love of creating things from scratch, leading to incredible results.

While Uditi loves computer science, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. During her first hackathon, she saw how male-dominated the space could be. Though she had coding experience and knew her way around the technology, she felt pushed out. Not one to give up, Uditi found out about AIHacks, a hackathon for female and non-binary students. There, she realized the full power and potential of the hacker community. She says, “Since then, I've been a part of many more gender-focused hackathons, and I've had an incredible time being part of such supportive and uplifting communities!”

The tech community at her small Dubai high school is limited. Major League Hacking (MLH) member events and other hackathons provide a network of individuals who share her dreams and goals, and this support has inspired her to organize her own.

One significant contribution she has made to the hacker community is founding Elevate Tech, a nonprofit organization that empowers underrepresented genders in technology and entrepreneurship. Her organization offers coding bootcamps, workshops, mentorship programs, and its own hackathon – Elevate Hacks. This hackathon attracted more than 600 hackers from 35 different countries, all thanks to the efforts of Uditi and her organization. As the administrative lead, she handled all the logistics, outreach, and marketing for the event, and the reward was immediate. The participating hackers created apps that address pressing problems like climate change, educational inequality, and social injustice. For her, the most rewarding part has been witnessing the passionate young women at Elevate Hacks who were driven to change the world. She believes that every young girl has the power to change the world when given access to platforms that showcase their talents.

After Elevate Hacks 1, her team has dedicated itself to long-term initiatives supporting Elevate Tech’s vision of empowering people of marginalized genders in technology and entrepreneurship. These include a fellowship and mentorship programs geared towards introducing young developers to the intersection of technology and product development. Their team is also planning the second iteration of Elevate Hacks, scheduled for August 2022. Uditi’s nonprofit work at Elevate Tech has been recognized by Apple and Harper Bazaar Arabia’s joint campaign on women in technology and the Diana Award Foundation.

In certain parts of the world, tech is not embraced and taught as readily as in others. Uditi says, “Although I love the multicultural and diverse experiences I've had growing up in the Middle East, I'm saddened by the lack of technology-focused events, especially those targeted toward high school students.” She is doing her part to increase exposure to tech in Dubai for young adults through the hackathon she organized, Elevate Hacks, and strives to build more of the supportive community she feels is missing. Uditi has been involved with Girl Up’s MENA regional leadership team, overseeing STEM initiatives in the region and advancing education and opportunities for young women in the Middle East. Uditi currently interns at the Game2Learn lab at North Carolina State University, supporting a research group studying the persistence of women in introductory Computer Science classes. She is in the process of publishing a children’s book and hopes to inspire more young girls to break stereotypes and pursue STEM. She sees a future for herself in academia or the nonprofit industry.

For someone still in high school, Uditi has achieved major goals. Her selfless ambition to support young coders and women in tech makes her an inspiration to the hacker community.