69.
0%
SMALL COMPANIES ARE MOST LIKELY TO
HIRE DEVELOPERS WITHOUT A DEGREE
What is the highest level of education
you’ve completed?
31.9%
18.4%
14.9%
8.6%
Less than Bachelor’s degree
Coding during Covid: There are
short-term courses you could take
Learning
platforms have
launched a slew of
tech programmes
for those sitting
at home
Aparna.Desikan@timesgroup.com
B
eing at home during the
lockdown and practising
social distancing can give
you the time to pick up
some skills. Many are us-
ing it to learn coding, learn new
programming languages.
Abhinav S, who has been a .net
developer since 2015, is using the
lockdown to get an introduction
to Python, a programming lan-
guage which forms the base for
data science, analytics and ma-
chine learning. “I have always
wanted to change track and work
on Python. This lockdown period
gives me three hours to spare
every day and is perfect for me to
do that,” he says.
Some digital platforms already
have courses that can be done in
under a month, while others are
making use of the lockdown to
launch coding courses and chal-
lenges that can enable people,
including school and college stu-
dents, to learn coding in a short
time. Companies specialising in
the K-12 lear ning space are
launching courses in Python,
graphical user interface and DIY
(do it yourself) coding courses.
IIT Gandhinagar has intro-
duced coding exercises for its stu-
dents under its Project Isaac. It
has the “12 days of code” pro-
gramme in which students will
work for 24 hours on new coding
problems released daily.
Coding Ninjas, whose primary
market segment is college stu-
Why Google’s Go is so
hot with programmers
Habeeba.Salim@timesgroup.com
T he clock speed of computer pro-
cessors is stuck somewhere
between 3-4Ghz. But developers
are now tearing this hardware limita-
tion wall down through better pro-
gramming. With its magic mix of
properties, programming language
Go or Golang (domain name golang.
org) from the Google stable comes as
a giant shot in the arms of program-
mers seeking to overcome this hard-
ware hurdle.
Go is a multi-paradigm language
that has lavishly borrowed features
from different schools of program-
ming languages (object-oriented,
functional and interpret-
ed). “Golang is syntacti-
cally a combination of the
best things that you can do
with Python, JavaScript,
and various concepts from
functional programming
languages. Syntactical en-
hancements have made Go expres-
sive, concise and clean, making a
developer’s life easy,” says Rahul
Ekbote, chief architect at Persis-
tent Systems.
IGNITE YOUR CAREER
What sets Go apart from other
programming languages are the
threads called Goroutines. A thread
executes a smallest sequence of pro-
grammed instruction. It runs inside
the kernel, a program at the core of
a computer’s operating system (OS)
that facilitates interactions between
hardware and software components.
Often, hardware (processor speed)
limitations stand in the way of run-
ning multiple threads simultane-
ously, which are key to scalability
and concurrency of an application.
Goroutines are a solution to this
problem. The space required to run
a single Java thread in an OS kernel
can actually accommodate a thou-
sand Goroutines, thus ensuring con-
currency (where several computa-
tions are executed concurrently,
during overlapping time periods).
“Concurrency is crucial because mil-
lions of requests are made by users
from front-end to backend. Gorou-
tines also do not wait for one thread
to finish a function, like how it is
with Java threads. They would just
move to the next processing unit,”
says Vivek Desai, senior associate at
59.7%
50.9%
Bachelor’s degree
WHO SHOULD DO WHAT
COURSES FOR STUDENTS
Java Programming
C++ Programing
Front End Development
Introduction to Python
COURSES FOR FRESHERS
AND YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
ML
Front End Web Development
Javascript
Ethereum
Solidify
Python for Data Science
Cloud Foundation
Machine Learning Foundation
dents, has launched a 21-days’
code challenge – referring to the
lockdown period – in languages
including Java, C++, Python,
front-end development and ma-
chine learning. This is a paid
course for a duration of two
months, but if the students com-
plete it in 21 days, they get 50%
cashback.
“We wanted to incentivise cod-
ing among college students who
are uncertain about when the
lockdown and quarantine phase
would end and are looking to up
their coding skills,” says Ankush
Singla, founder, Coding Ninjas.
Publicis Sapient.
Though a systems programming
language in spirit (Go is used to write
the entire container management
and orchestration technologies Dock-
er and Kubernetes), Go is also an
excellent choice in writing microser-
vices. The channel feature, where
data transfer happens between dif-
ferent Goroutines through separate
pipelines, makes Go a favourite pick
to build applications in microser-
vices architecture. “In Golang, chan-
nels and Goroutines help in connect-
ing two microservice applications,
for example, the cart to the pay-
ments,” says Desai.
Uber has built its successful
highest query per second (QPS)
microservice using Go. “In
our main data centre serv-
ing non-China traffic alone,
this service handled a peak
load of 170k QPS with 40 ma-
chines running at 35% CPU
usage on NYE (new year’s eve)
2015. This service has had 99.99%
uptime since inception,” says the
Uber Engineering blog.
Beginners can directly get into
learning to code in Go. “Go is a great
language to jump into even after you
have picked up one or two other lan-
guages like Python or Java,” says
Ankush Singla, co-founder of edtech
platform Coding Ninjas.
Like Python, Go can be
easily learnt by
anyone. Irrespective of
your background, it’s
easy to understand
the code flow of a
program typed in Go
Vivek Desai | SENIOR ASSOCIATE,
PUBLICIS SAPIENT
Go has a different way of
looking at things. It’s
traditionally a systems
programming language, though
you can also write an application
in Go. Many firms are using it to
write their open source software,
and many others are internally
adopting it and are
building their
expertise around it,
but then customers
get to choose
Rahul Ekbote | CHIEF
ARCHITECT, PERSISTENT
SYSTEMS
59.9%
1-49 Employees
50-999 Employees
1,000-9,999 Employees
10,000+ Employees
22.0%
17.2%
Master’s degree or Doctorate degree
Our main aim is to give
the content for
free so that
professionals can
take a deeper
plunge
Mayank Kumar |
CO-FOUNDER,
UPGRAD
It is our belief that
everyone willing to put in
the effort needed to learn
should have access
to the best learning
opportunities
possible regardless
of their economic
situation
Mohan Lakhamraju |
CEO, GREAT LEARNING
Our courses will help
college
students figure
out their career
while they are at
home with time
to spare
Ankush Singla |
FOUNDER, CODING
NINJAS
The company, which also offers
advanced courses to corporates,
has seen its users double in the
last two weeks.
Singla says 40% of those who
have taken up the challenge are
corporate professionals. For col-
lege students, these courses will
help them figure out their career
while they are at home with time
to spare. “A first year student can
use this break to kickstart his ca-
reer,” he says.
Simplilearn has .NET, node.js
and Java cer tification pro-
grammes that can be completed
in 21 days. “Coding is a major part
QNU: USING QUANTUM PHYSICS FOR SECURITY
 Sunil Gupta, Srinivasa
Rao Aluri, Dr Anil
Prabhakar, and Mark
Mathias’s QNu Labs is
part of the Nasscom
DeepTech Club
 Founded in 2016 at the
IIT Madras incubator, it is attempt to eavesdrop on these
now a team of 40 quantum keys causes a perturbation
 QNu’s quantum in their quantum state that can be
detected, leading Armos to set off
physics based security
solutions are particularly an alert and give an accurate on-
time report about the location
useful in sectors like
defence, homeland of the intrusion
security, critical public
Srinivasa Rao Aluri | CHAIRMAN, QNU LABS
infrastructure, finance,
and healthcare – Reporting by Swati Bharadwaj
Lesly’s team leverages AI for in-car infotainment
Ardra.Shankar@timesgroup.com
L
esly Peter, 40, considers her-
self a self-made leader, one
who has worked hard to get
where she is today. But if there’s
one thing she’s grateful for, it’s the
constant support she’s received
from her family. “My parents and
my husband always encouraged
me to pursue everything I wanted.
I believe that kind of support sys-
tem is essential for every woman
to realise her dreams,” she says.
As a delivery manager at engi-
neering services firm QuEST
Global’s Thiruvananthapuram
office, she handles software deliv-
ery in the automotive vertical,
managing multiple customer ac-
counts across the US, Europe and
Tech hiring giants like Google, Apple,
and IBM have famously lifted their 4-year
degree requirements. But for hiring
developers without degrees, it’s small
companies that are leading
the charge
25.2%
22.5% 32% of developers at small companies
(1-49 employees) haven’t obtained a
Bachelor’s degree. It’s a stark contrast to
large companies (10,000+ employees);
there, 91% of developers have obtained
a Bachelor’s degree or higher, while only
9% have not
Coding or tool-
based studies on
Python or React make
employees learn quickly
and get started on their
data science journey.
While these courses
have a short retention
span, working on these
short term modules
have to be done within
ten days or else the
impact fades away.
We discourage
employees from taking
up data science or ML
courses during the
lockdown because they
can’t be picked up in
less than a month.
However, we are
encouraging them to
get their hands on
training in Python and
short term
courses
Sriram N |
SENIOR
DIRECTOR OF
ENGINEERING,
FOURKITES
of these software development
programmes, and also full-stack
development,” says Anand Naray-
anan, chief product officer at
Simplilearn.
Great Learning and Upgrad
that specialise in long-term cours-
es and diploma programmes in
d at a s c i e n c e a n d M L h ave
launched short-term courses for
the lockdown period. Great
Learning has courses that involve
300 hours of learning. Top cours-
es include data science, machine
learning and cloud computing. “It
is our belief that everyone willing
to put in the effort needed to learn
Heisenberg’s uncertainty
principle ensures that any
INSPIRATION
Japan. Over the two decades at the
firm, Lesly has not only been a key
contributor in building automo-
tive infotainment delivery capabil-
ity with the help of her team of
technical architects, she has also
helped build a strong partnership
with many of the firm’s clients and
helped them lead their projects.
Automotive infotainment, or
in-vehicle infotainment, is an in-
tegrated system in automobiles
that delivers entertainment and
information content, using audio/
video interfaces, touchscreens
and other devices. In the age of
technology, it has become a way
of giving cars a hint of edge, and
customers a safer, more luxurious
Source: HackerRank 2020 Developer Skills Report
should have access to the best
learning opportunities possible
regardless of their economic
situation,” says Mohan Lakham-
raju, founder and CEO of Great
Learning.
Masai School of Coding, which
is predominantly offline, has just
launched online courses in full-
stack web development, founda-
tion of web development, and
backend development.
upGrad is launching 15 short-
term courses just for the lock-
down period, all free of cost.
These are in Blockchain 101, Java,
JavaScript, Ethereum and data-
science related languages includ-
ing Python. “We want people to
utilise their time at home because
there is no information on wheth-
er the lockdown would extend,”
says Mayank Kumar, co-founder
of upGrad.
Freshers and mid-level profes-
sionals are the target for these
coding courses. While companies
typically count long-term courses
as upskilling/reskilling, these
shorter-term courses could well
be a nudge in that direction. We
are giving the content free in the
hope that those who take them
will take a deeper plunge later,
says Kumar.
Developers and community
hiring platforms are also organis-
ing virtual coding marathon ses-
sions around Covid-19, to keep the
coding spirit running. Skillenza
is among them. Over 6,000 people
are participating in its Covid-19
hackathon to develop an app to
help seamless e-learning, or solu-
tions to 3D-print ventilators, or
build community maps to gauge
the spread of infections and put
a check on them. Subhendu Pani-
grahi, co-founder of Skillenza,
says that with developers having
a little more time, coming up with
solutions to solve Covid issues
would help the country a great
deal. It will also help them build
their coding skills.
HOW THE
PRODUCT WORKS
The flagship product is Armos, an
automated quantum key generation
and distribution system
It works by quantum encoding single
photons of light that are sent through a
dedicated fibre optical channel
Destroys any compromised keys and
generates new ones, thus preventing
attacks even before they begin
Only when the quantum encoded
photons are verified at both ends of
the system are the keys generated
These quantum keys are then used
to encrypt and decrypt data that is
sent on classical channels
Since the keys are unclonable,
the data, even if cloned, remains
unconditionally safe
experience. “Currently, we’re
working on automobile products
and prototypes that leverage the
latest digital trends like artificial
intelligence, big data analytics
and virtualisation to deliver an
efficient and comfortable user
experience for the passengers,”
she says.
Lesly developed an interest in
computers at a young age. “I had
already charted my career path
back in school,” she says. She pur-
sued a diploma in computer sci-
ence from Government Polytech-
nic, Thrissur, in 1999, and joined
QuEST Global as an engineering
trainee soon after. “In about six
years, I moved to the project leader
role, and started handling end-to-
end software delivery and cus-
TECH I’D LIKE TO SEE
Biometrics-based creditworthiness
I n India, where close to 70%
of adults do not have active
credit histories, financial
inclusivity is a huge chal-
lenge. A part of this problem
got alleviated when Digital
Identity started to become a
determinant of an individual’s
creditworthiness. Many who
were unbanked but had
some sort of a digital
footprint were able to
receive loans and be
part of the credit sys-
tem. However, there
are many who are
still not digital, leaving
them devoid of
any kind of
loans
and
Vinod Kumar | CEO & MD, SUBEX
In India, WhatsApp
will be customer
complaint avenue
Akhil.George@timesgroup.com
I n customer engagement, the
world is moving towards mes-
saging, and in India, What-
sApp is the most important
channel through which busi-
nesses will engage with custom-
ers, says KT Prasad, country
sales director at Zendesk India,
a US-based customer relation-
ship management (CRM) soft-
ware provider.
Prasad joined the Indian of-
fice of Zendesk in September
2016 and has been focusing on
helping customers transform
their customer service into
meaningful customer engage-
ment with simple solutions.
“One of the findings from
our recent customer trends re-
port released earlier this year
found that customers want to
engage with businesses like
they do with f amily and
friends,” says Prasad. “This
conversation may be over mul-
tiple interactions over multiple
THE GURU
platforms, like phone call, e-
mail, WhatsApp chat, chatbot,
Twitter, etc, but these multiple
interactions should be part of a
single thread. And more impor-
tantly, in the India context,
since customers engage with
family and friends on What-
sApp, the tonality is very differ- firms engage with customers
ent – customers aren’t as ag-
gressive or angry on platforms
like WhatsApp, which are used
frequently for personal commu-
nication.”
Prasad says the ubiquitous
customer-complaint number
printed on a packet of cookies,
for example, will soon be re-
placed by a WhatsApp number.
“We have seen this trend happen-
ing very clearly,” he says.
Employee eng a g e-
ment is another area
in which CRM com-
panies can make an
impact, says Prasad.
“Employees are very
important custodians
for businesses, which
is why even HR teams
of companies are using
our platform to commu-
nicate with employ-
ees more effectively
via WhatsApp.” KT PRASAD
tomer communications,” she says.
The transition to manager role
came naturally to Lesly. “As chal-
lenging as it was, it was an inter-
esting role that required me to
completely move to the manage-
ment side. But at the same time,
I’ve had to keep abreast of all
technological developments in the
industry,” she says.
That’s also her advice for as-
piring techies. “In this day and
age, it’s important to continue
learning and exploring new
trends. There’s definitely no
dearth of resources available for
the current generation,” she says.
As one of the few women tech
leaders in the industry, Lesly says
that women should realise their
potential and have the confidence
credits.
What would be great to see
is a system that determines
creditworthiness based on
multiple offline behavioural
aspects, links it to biom-
etric identity databases like
the Aadhaar, and enables
frictionless borrowing for
anyone in the country from
anywhere. The ideal
end state would be
where any citizen of
the country can walk
into any bank and
obtain a loan within
minutes, without hav-
ing to submit any docu-
ments – just based
on biometric
identification.
ZENDESK HAS $7.5B
MARKET CAP
Zendesk, founded in 2007,
ended fiscal 2020 with revenue
of $816 million; market cap
stands at $7.5 billion
Has around 3,500
employees in 18 countries
Has over 2,600 customers in
India including Zomato, Ola, ITC
Foods, Airbnb, Vodafone and
Shaadi.com
Another crucial finding
from the trends report was that
half of all customers will
switch to a competitor firm af-
ter just one bad experience, and
80% will leave after multiple
bad experiences. The research
also reveals that service is a
primary driver of customer
loyalty, second only to price.
“Zendesk was formed after its
three founders realised that cus-
tomer engagement tools were
built for businesses, not for cus-
tomers. Meaning they were
clunky and not user-friendly. The
world is moving very rapidly
towards a customer-first journey
where the leadership team, the
sales team, service teams, etc,
will look at the customer as the
centre of everything they do.
Today, Zendesk is close to a bil-
lion dollar firm because we help
more effectively.”
Prasad also warns against
over-reliance on chatbots to
engage with customers. “Be-
fore using chatbots, a company
should ask itself if a chatbot is
going to create friction instead
of facilitating a smoother con-
versation. For example, a per-
son who recently lost their
credit card wouldn’t want to
chat with an emotionless bot at
that moment. Also, bots
should always have the
ability to transfer con-
sumer queries which it
can’t answer to a human
being in the backend. In
India, there seems to be
a rush to implement
bots without consider-
ing whether it will
provide a bet-
ter experi-
ence to the
customer.”
to take up challenges and new
roles. A lot of times, family still
holds the upper hand in the career
decisions of women. “Try to make
them understand and approve of
your choices, as their support is
paramount,” she says.
Women should realise their
potential and have the
confidence to take up
challenges and new
roles. Try to make
families understand
and approve of your
choices, as their
support is paramount
Lesly Peter |
DELIVERY
MANAGER, QUEST
GLOBAL