Harshita Sharma

Harshita first discovered coding when she was in high school in India. After finishing her first project, a simple website about herself which she created using HTML, Harshita was inspired to learn as much as she could about technology. Harshita says her love of programming stems from her love of the continuous process of effort, of trying and failing and trying again. But the process of trying and failing until you get it right is much more challenging in front of others, and for Harshita—who saw herself as quiet and insecure in high school—getting involved in the hacker community was a big decision.

By her sophomore year at the Birla Institute of Technology Mesra, Harshita was beginning to overcome her doubts, and decided to register for Hacking Heist as a solo participant. She enjoyed the experience enough to register for TechTogether New York the following month, where she submitted a winning project with her team. Through her early hackathon experiences and workshops at her school, Harshita slowly realized that her doubts about others judging her for not knowing things were misplaced, and that the hacker community was encouraging and welcoming.

While Harshita initially liked to hack solo, support from peers and mentors at hackathons helped her find the courage to begin working with teams. Not only has she developed exceptional cooperative skills from participating in hackathons, but she says it has been a lot of fun just participating and meeting completely new people who turn out to be great friends.

As a first-generation tech student herself, Harshita knows how challenging it can be to build a career in tech without guidance. When she first applied for classes at the Birla Institute of Technology, she did not make it into the ultra-competitive computer science program, and instead enrolled in electronics and communication. But through her efforts she was eventually accepted  into the computer science program. Her experiences sparked her passion for mentoring others and drove her to get involved with Go Girl Organisation, which focuses on empowering underserved communities through technology. Harshita says it is an amazing experience to teach young students and create presentations for them as part of Go Girl, and if any of them decide on a career in tech in the future, she will consider herself “successful and accomplished.”

Harshita says she has “always believed in giving back to society and making technology accessible for all.” One of her favorite projects to date has been a browser extension for Google Chrome called Alexia, which aims to help people with dyslexia read text more easily. She has worked on a number of projects aimed at helping others, including a sign language interpretation platform she created using MATLAB at HackMerced VII.

Harshita remains actively involved with Major League Hacking (MLH), Go Girl Organisation, Women Who Code, and Girls Who Code. She is also the open source lead for her university’s chapter of Google Developer Student Clubs and the sponsorship coordinator for her school’s technical committee. In 2022, she was awarded a Palantir Global Impact scholarship. She credits her family for her success, because they consistently encourage her to be the best she can be. She recently joined MLH as a Marketing Coordinator, and will continue to serve as a mentor for younger students blazing their own trails.