Can hills be the next software development hub?
Abhishek Sharma
October 10, 2019

 

ColoredCow believes that the hills of Uttarakhand, India have a lot of untapped potential. There are a lot of talented people in the hills. Particularly students from various engineering colleges. The terrain itself can be harnessed for a greater productivity and livelihood generation. We believe software development specifically can thrive really well here. Somehow the native people doubt the potential of their place. So what can be done by a team of developers and designers to mobilise this potential.

 

 

Doubt, is a part of the unique challenge these terrains come with. But it’s not something which can’t be overcome with some effort. It can’t be ignored that building anything meaningful, sustainable and valuable comes at a cost. What we need to decide is whether we’re ready for that price. And for the hills, we are. We see opportunities in every nook and corner and that is why we believe that there’s a lot of possibilities to do good here.

 

 

ColoredCow has believed in this ever since the inception in 2014. A lot of this belief can be owed to most of the members being from hills. We yearn to make our home in the hills a better place for ourselves and other natives. The mission to unlock the potential of hills has been kept alive with various endeavours. One of them is to be co-located and conduct software development trainings for the students. We have branded these trainings as CodeTrek. We have taken more of these sessions that we imagined we could give it time. These have resulted in a positive impact among the student’s skill levels. However, this is a long term mission and will take a continuous effort on our part.

 

 

We can train for skills which has also been proved with the engagements so far, but we also need to alleviate their doubt and inspire them to partake in activities that will bring us closer to the dream of harnessing the potential of the hills. This is where we felt a communication is required in a way that moves the engineering students to believe in the potential.

 

The posters use the imagery that students in the hills are most familiar with like the road signs which are somewhat unique to the regions of Uttarakhand. This imagery allows us to be in sync with their surroundings and yet induce a message. A repeated use of ColoredCow’s logo aims to give students a hope that there’s someone who they can reach out to achieve their own ambitions.

 

 

We believe a lot can happen in the hills, especially in the software development area and these posters will be a reminder of the same.

 


 

Here’s some bonus posters we created along the way: