The interesting thing about technology is that it runs faster than you ever can. As soon as you think that you have learnt about the latest trend in technology, it becomes old and something new is available in the market.
Learning never ends in the technology sector. But the real question is, what portion of our tech workforce is actually updated with the latest? Are we really ready to take on the latest trends in Big data, Cloud and Analytics?
This is where the need of a constantly updated training resource comes into picture. A need that is being fulfilled by the Bengaluru based startup Edureka founded in 2011 by Lovleen Bhatia and Kapil Tyagi. Edureka, an e-learning platform that is on a mission to revolutionize online education.
The challenge is not just for Indian workforce but is existent across the globe. A trends report by IBM in 2012 revealed that only one in ten companies have the necessary skills across these emerging technologies.
Although Gartner states that 4.4 Million IT jobs would be created globally to support big data by 2015, it’s a fact that today about two-thirds of big data skills are not met due to lack of skilled professionals.
Hence, growth across India’s IT, mobile, communication and digital industries are at the risk of getting hampered by an impending skills gap brought about by the rapid proliferation of big data, cloud and mobile technologies.
It is this growing technology skills gap that Edureka aims to address with its pioneering online courses in new age technologies such as Data Science, Big Data, Business Analytics with R, Python, NoSQL, Cloud Computing, Hadoop Administration, Apache Cassandra, Android, Business Intelligence amongst others. Lovleen, the Co-founder at Edureka says:
“While the curriculum for each of these courses is custom designed, what really distinguishes Edureka is its delivery methodology is that we provides a first of its kind ‘live instructor led courses’ for a duration ranging between 4 weeks to 8 weeks and 24×7 support to solve student queries. Our course designers and instructors include senior and seasoned technology professionals who have hands-on experience, ensuring the course content is industry relevant and up to date.”
Edureka assigns course participants projects to work on during the term, resulting in faster career advancement. On successful completion of the project, learners are awarded a certificate from Edureka. Edureka is a PMI* (Project Management Institute) approved REP (Registered Education Provider).
Lovleen Bhatia(B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT-BHU), the CEO and Co-founder of Edureka, was always passionate to impart necessary knowledge for seekers. He has written a paper on – education system in India identifying the problematic areas and suggested solutions to address them-which was presented in the International Conference of Education Research and Planning in Madrid, Spain, and garnered positive reviews.
Lovleen has authored over 20 technical papers in various international and TI conferences and has been an invited speaker at various industry forums worldwide. Lovleen started his career with Infosys as a Software Engineer and moved on to be a part of the Synopsys Worldwide Application team.
He was a Technical leader at Texas Instruments for nearly 7 and half years and was responsible in the development and deployment of innovative design methodologies across TI Japan, TI France and TI US.
Going forward, he spearheaded the R & D at DbyDx Software Pvt. Ltd., for nearly 2 years, prior to becoming an Entrepreneur. As CEO of Edureka, Lovleen has played a pivotal role in setting up scalable processes in Sales and Marketing at Edureka.
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Kapil Tyagi(IIT Bombay), the CPO and Co-Founder of Edureka. Kapil spearheads the Course Delivery and Customer Service verticals that are very critical to the organization.
Kapil is also a leading thinker and practitioner in recognizing the impact of new technologies on business models. Kapil brings a strong portfolio of experiences, encompassing Outsourced Product Development, Applications Outsourcing, and Global Business Development. During his graduation itself, Kapil Tyagi set up an IT venture that was profitable.
Kapil started his career at Infosys in 2002. Later in 2005, he co-founded DByDx Software in 2005 and played an instrumental role in its growth. He served his tenure as CTO of DByDx which was later acquired by Kellton Tech in 2012.
Being awarded 1st in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 India 2014
Among the many feathers that Edureka wears on its cap, are the Top rank in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 India 2014 and in June 2015 along with being awarded the Coolest Startups of 2015 by Business Today. Kapil adds:
“Edureka has successful and veteran mentors on board who not only spearhead the decision to include newer professional courses in-demand within the industry, but also look into the best practices that can be welded into the ongoing course structure and teaching methodology to benefit the Edureka students and the IT industry at large.”
IT veteran, Kalyan Banerjee, Cofounder of Mindtree and VC, Centurion University with his decade long industry experience has been instrumental in shaping the future of course curriculum and prospects of Edureka as the Chief Mentor and Advisor of Edureka.
Apart from the founders who have been a pro in their respective fields, the Edureka team consists of very seasoned professionals:
- Durgesh Kaushik, Chief Marketing Officer, is a B.E. from NSIT, University of Delhi and MBA from University of California – Irvine. He has worked with organizations like Facebook, Silicon Valley based InfoStretch Corporation. Durgesh brings the global, diverse marketing experience with a focus on digital.
- Laxmikant Pathak, Head of Product, is an MBA from Chicago Booth School of Business and MS from IIT Chicago, B Tech. IIT Bombay. He has 17 years of cross-functional experience in product management, software design, development and program management at Amazon, Qualcomm, Motorola and a software startup.
- Vikas Singh, Practice Head, is an MBA from ISB and B.Tech. from BIT Mesra. He has been working on strategy planning/P&L management/ relationship management/solution sales /consulting experience in various leadership positions across industries and domains, including Fortune 500 Organizations for a decade.
- Gaurav Nigam, Practice Head, did his MBA from ICFAI, and leads the Big Data technology courses category. He has over 11 years of experience in market research, analytics, sales and operations in Retail- CPG / E Learning. At Edureka.
- Nishant Shukla, Practice Head, Certification Courses, did his DBA – Telecommunication Management from West Coast University and is currently pursuing MBA in Project Management. He has over 2 decades of experience and is responsible for executing the company’s strategic vision through evaluation of outside opportunities for partnerships and alliances with a goal to emerge as a leading brand.
- Sumit Agarwal, Head of Operations holds a B.Tech and MBA degree. He is responsible for instructor acquisition and management, besides quality of delivery. Prior to Edureka, he was with Berkshire Hathway group of companies in London, working in business process re-engineering.
- Prakash Agarwal, Head of Content & Partnerships, is an MBA from IIM Calcutta and did his B.Tech. from IIT BHU. His focuses is on developing strategic partnerships with sellers and creating a unique and highly engaging experience for Edureka’s community of learners. Prior to Edureka, Prakash was a director at UBS London where he traded in derivatives and has also been a recipient of T.T. Krishanamachari Prize.
As one of the visible testimonies of its effectiveness, Mehvish Mushtaq Hakak, who underwent the six-week online tutorial on mobility became India’s first Kashmiri to create the first-ever Android app ‘Dial Valley’ for the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Edureka has announced to offer $1M in “Edureka Digital India Scholarships” for learners from small towns and rural India after the launch of PM’s Digital India Week this year. With this it became the first education start-up in India to rollout such a thoughtful offering post the DIW launch.
Edureka has successfully assisted in upgrading skill-sets of more 80,000 IT professionals and have extended their offerings to a subscriber base of over 200,000 mid and senior levels IT professionals across India, US, UK, Australia and EU.
This bootstrapped company has been running successfully since 2011, due to the immense hard work, planning and vision put in by the team.
Edureka has been witnessing 20% quarterly growth sequentially, indicative of the immense growth potential in this space. Edureka plans to introduce 100 courses covering diverse segments in emerging business education and technology domains.
