Students hailing from Tier II and III cities are generally at a disadvantage when pitted against those from more developed regions, especially in the technology sector. But thanks to a unique start-up, this is no longer the case. GUVI, an IIT Madras-incubated brainchild of three ex-Paypal employees, students in places like Rameswaram and Kanyakumari have just as much of a chance at landing a great IT job as coders in IIT Madras.
GUVI recently organised a Community Conference, a competition in which aspiring candidates are given a week's time to come up with innovative solutions to a problem posed by a recruiting company — and then present the same during the subsequent GUVI Conference to the potential recruiters. S P Balamurugan, one of the co-founders and the CEO at GUVI, says "The partner companies give the problems to GUVI, which then circulates them among their students. These talented programmers and coders then come up with innovative solutions to the problem."
Founded by Arun Prakash, Balamurugan and Sridevi, GUVI is essentially an online technical learning platform. It functions in two ways – by providing video courses in advanced software such Python, Java and Big Data, as well as a stage wherein aspiring students from Tier II and III cities can showcase their problem-solving abilities and coding talents to potential recruiters. The biggest strengths of the start-up stem from two highly meritorious points: i) the video courses and online training, inspired by YouTube channels, offer the learning instructions in vernacular languages, and ii) provide a competitive platform for students to display their skills in a fair manner, sans time constraints and restrictions.
Balamurugan says, “Through Google platforms, we are able to train and give them practice, and then connect them with the right hiring partners, thereby giving them the best possible opportunities.” Furthermore, the platform offers other advantages as well, such as based on individual assessment. “For instance, you might be a good programmer, but the usual 30 minutes of time that most companies allocate to you might not be enough." Thanks to the way the conference is conducted, students now have ample time to propose creative solutions to the problem, without feeling the time constraint.
GUVI has begun expanding across India and follows a systematic approach for the selection of finalists who are eligible for hire by reputed companies. During their annual event, the officials pose a series of problems to the students, and those who successfully solve them are shortlisted for the next round. GUVI says that it can empower students to become ‘job-ready’ within just six weeks, and has also partnered with top firms such as Chargebee, Scapic, Ionix, and Infinity Software Solutions. The start-up boasts 140,000+ registered students, 150 mentors, and over 60 hiring clients.
