DISPELLING MYTHS ABOUT SOFTWARE ENGINEERS
38%
Hollywood represents software engineers as night owls
and introverts, but engineers globally report otherwise
66%
Would like to get
up early and finish
work early
34%
Would like to
sleep in and
work late
How technology is bringing
the school to our living rooms
Covid-19 has
turbocharged
efforts to make
remote learning
enjoyable
Habeeba Salim, Swati Rathor
& Aparna Desikan | TNN
C
ovid-19 has prematurely
killed the debate on
whether it’s okay to put
a tablet in your child’s
hand. Teachers and par-
ents are almost unanimous that
o n l i n e l e a r n i n g fo r s ch o o l
students has become part of the
new normal.
Schoolchildren were learning
online even before Covid. “What
has changed is the mindset of scep-
tical parents. They had no choice
but to adapt,” says Prakash Ra-
machandran, chief technology of-
ficer at Byju’s. The edtech platform
has seen a 3x increase in the num-
ber of students since the lockdown.
It added 6 million students in April
alone, and its free platform now has
over 50 million users.
“What would have taken two
years has been made possible in
two months,” says Vamsi Krish-
na, co-founder of Vedantu, an
online tutoring platform that ca-
ters to students from class 1 to 12.
In March, Vedantu had 17 million
students; by the end of April, it
was 33 million.
What came handy to these
companies was their strong foun-
dation in tech and the capability
to innovate at scale. Vedantu,
among the first companies in In-
dia to start live teaching, has a US
patent for its W.A.V.E Live Plat-
form. “It is AI-enabled and uses
deep learning to monitor over 70
parameters of the student-teach-
er interaction to detect any short-
comings in the system,”
Civil engg students
will benefit from
learning IT, AI, IoT
Avik.Das1@timesgroup.com
C
ivil engineering once used to
be amongst the most sought
after fields. Some call it the
mother of engineering, because it
preceded almost all other engineer-
ing disciplines and, in some ways,
helped create them – you need build-
ings for almost anything, you need
good roads for transportation, you
need a launching pad for spacecraft.
Civil engineers build those.
But it lost some sheen with the
emergence of more white collar jobs
in computer science, mechanical
and electrical, says IIT Guwahati
director TG Sitharam, who was pre-
viously with the Indian Institute of
Science (IISc), Bangalore.
Civil engineering applies sci-
ence and mathematics to the de-
sign, construction and mainte-
nance of infrastructure. “Civil
engineering transforms society.
The economic engines of a nation
HEAR THE PROF
are based on it,” Sithraman says.
Newer fields like IT, robotics, AI
and IoT, he says, are built on top of
basic infrastructure, and so civil
has also become an interdiscipli-
nary subject. “Planning and sched-
uling, forecasting project risks,
modularisation and prefabrication,
health monitoring and image rec-
ognition (using drones) are bound
to benefit a lot from AI, IoT and
robotics,” he says. IIT Guwahati
has been encouraging interdiscipli-
nary studies and research for civil
engineering students.
As India builds more infrastruc-
ture, the demand for civil engineers
will grow. It is estimated that the
country needs approximately 4 mil-
lion civil engineers over the next
decade, to deliver the real estate
space and infrastructure it requires.
Unfortunately, less skilled civil
engineers have undermined the
confidence industry has in the pro-
fession. “A lot of civil works, each
worth hundreds of crores of ru-
pees, are taken up by contractors
who are illiterate. When they com-
mit a mistake there is no account-
ability,” Sitharam says.
Better civil engineers, he says,
53%
Would like to work
remotely 100%
of the time
47%
Would like to
come into an
office every day
NEW NORMAL
It doesn’t matter if the number
of students decline after
Covid-19. Many of the new
students have got exposed
to online teaching. Even if
schools get back to
normal functioning,
online mode will be
preferred for tuitions/
coaching
Vamsi Krishna |
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO,
VEDANTU
At present, teachers and institutes
are merely changing their
delivery model, going from
offline to online. We are trying
to create a truly personalised
learning experience for
students, which can help keep
the child engaged
Prakash Ramachandran
| CHIEF TECHNOLOGY
OFFICER, BYJU’S
Schools do not have adequate
infrastructure to conduct live
classes, be it bandwidth or
devices. They are ending up
using conferencing tools. Our
solutions offer a seamless
experience to teachers
and students
Beas Dev Ralhan | CO-FOUNDER
& CEO, NEXT EDUCATION
says Krishna.
When the lockdown brought
an influx of students onto their
platform, Byju’s went for more
cloud, accelerated the rollout of
the live classroom that was in
beta phase, and introduced sched-
uled classes as a tool. “Scheduled
classes are more than a time slot.
They help students to set some
pace and discipline, and prepare
them for the classes,” says Ra-
machandran. Students now
HOW TO UPSKILL
To become more
employable, civil
engineers should develop
mathematical, written, oral
communication, problem-
solving, organisation and
decision-making skills. They
should develop their work in
the laboratories; concentrate
more on new techniques in
surveying, understand local
geology, and behaviour of new
materials including the ground
(specialise in geotechnical
engineering). Civil engineers in
the aerospace industry for
designing jetliners, space
stations and defence-related
projects with ISRO, DRDO, etc,
will have stable jobs. Some can
also be found in the
automotive industry. Our
students are good in analytical
work, doing simulations
and modelling
will emerge if they are trained bet-
ter in colleges, and are paid well in
their jobs. While the IITs’ civil en-
gineering students tend to get well-
paid jobs, those in lower rung insti-
tutes often struggle.
Civil engineers, Sitharam says,
should be professionally certified
to practice the trade. The Engi-
neers’ Bill, meant to regulate the
profession like doctors and char-
tered accountants, has been pend-
ing in Parliament for long. Civil
engineers, he says, should undergo
training for six months be-
fore they graduate.
“In terms of cur-
riculum we are
f i n e, bu t t h e
practice culture
needs to be
brought to the
academic
programme,”
Sitharam
says.
TG Sitharam, director, IIT Guwahati;
on deputation from IISc, Bangalore
The top three kinds of music they
like to listen to while working
Electronic/Dance
Rock
Classical
Source: Hired’s 2020 State of Software Engineers
It’s difficult to put in online the same number
of hours you would do in a physical
classroom. Low bandwidth is a big problem;
sometimes you get SOS calls from students who
want you to wait until they rejoin the session.
Classroom management is also tough, especially for
teachers of primary and middle schools
Merin Rose Paul | COMMERCE TEACHER,
OASIS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
Zoho Classes was launched to replace
the need for educators to deploy
multiple, disintegrated apps including
video conferencing tools that were
originally meant for business users and
are, in some cases, unsecure to use. Zoho
Classes is quite secure and students can
only join a group after an invitation is sent
directly from their school
Praval Singh | VP, ZOHO CORPORATION
spend an average of 100 minutes
daily with Byju’s.
A big challenge in India is the
50-odd school boards catering to
varying linguistic groups. Bright
Tutee is trying to deal with that
by developing video and audio
content for them in the respective
regional languages. “We even pro-
vide content in SD cards and USB
drives for children who do not
have internet access, or have poor
connectivity,” says Anant Goyal,
OUR FUTURE HAS CHANGED, TECH WILL PLAY A HUGE ROLE
Nivruti Rai at her home office
Pratik Modi has got 9 promotions in 10 years
Swati.Bharadwaj@timesgroup.com
B
eing a topper was something
of a necessity during child-
hood, but getting to the top
has now become a habit for
35-year-old Pratik Modi, who to-
day leads a team of over 1,100
technologists across Ahmedabad,
Gurugram and Hyderabad for US
financial information and analyt-
ics company S&P Global.
“I come from a middle-class
family, so throughout childhood I
had to try and make it to the top
three to qualify for scholarships.
When you are in that kind of en-
vironment you learn to become
competitive. I learnt pretty early
in life how to manage with limited
TOP PICKS FOR FUELLING THEIR WORK
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OneDrive, so they found the tran-
sition to online classrooms easier.
“After a few demo classes, we
were all set to onboard MS
Teams,” she says.
Zoho Classes and Next Educa-
tion are presenting themselves as
alternatives to Microsoft, with
all-in-one tools. Praval Singh, VP
in cloud company Zoho, says
teachers can use a single inter-
face to upload courses, broadcast
live classes, share assignments
under set deadlines, and collect
responses. “Students can even
view videos based on their con-
venience, and connect with teach-
ers directly,” he says.
Companies are also trying to
deal with the tricky issue of con-
ducting examinations online. A
solution from mUni Campus has
been adopted by Mumbai-based
National Institute of Industrial
Engineering (NITIE). Students
access the questions on a mobile
device. Once a student logs in, the
device screen is automatically
locked so that it can’t be used for
anything else. The front camera
takes pictures of the student at
random intervals. Examination
authorities monitor these images
live to ensure there is no malprac-
tice. “Answers are written on
sheets of paper, which are photo-
graphed and uploaded once the
students complete the exam,”
says Bhupesh Daheria, founder
of mUni Campus.
All these tech advances not-
withstanding, K Laxminarayana,
founder of Bright Tutee. Their professor at the University of
p l at fo r m i s b e i n g u s e d by Hyderabad, worries that the Cov-
the Rajasthan and Haryana id situation will increase the in-
state boards. equality between public and pri-
Schools are experimenting vate schools. “In many govern-
with a variety of tech – MS ment schools, there aren’t enough
Teams, Goo gle Classrooms, classrooms. Teachers have not
Zoom, and even WhatsApp – for been recruited for years. Even the
live classes. Merin Rose Paul, a students are poor and they nei-
plus-two level commerce teacher ther have devices at home nor can
at Oasis International School, afford data. So, how can online
says they were already doing les- education be a solution for all
son planning using Microsoft students!” he asks.
Nivruti Rai, head of Intel India and VP of
Intel’s global data platforms group, says
working from home has become a new
paradigm and it will stay
BREAKS ARE SO IMPORTANT
When you step out, walk into your cafeteria,
strike up a water-cooler conversation, it
refreshes you. Till this long work-from-home,
I didn’t realise how much these actually reboot
my mind. So, from home, I’m taking extra effort
to talk to people. We get together as small
groups and play antakshari, we talk to our
employees’ families, their children
It’s like virtual entertainment. I sing. We often
improvise antashari – we might ask someone to
recite a poem, dance, do a standup comedy
Once we all brought coffee and it was like
sitting in a Chai Point and chatting. Many
employee groups are doing such things
I even write poems; it just helps me. I’m
doing home chores, clean the house, dust
my cupboard
I ENJOY THE FAMILY TIME
My son works for Goldman Sachs, my husband
has his own solar company. We have three
rooms, each one of us is locked in our rooms.
But the fact that I can open the door, peek in
and see my son makes me feel very happy. I’m
cooking a lot. My husband said the recipes are
all very different suddenly
I HAVE WORK TO DO
I’m absolutely looking forward to getting back
to office. Our future has changed, technology
will play a very big role in it, and I have to do
that work for the country
INSPIRATION admission in 2002 in BE comput-
ers at Vishwakarma Government
resources and still drive excel- Engineering College at Gandhi-
lence,” says Modi. It’s really paid nagar, Gujarat. In 2006, despite
off. He got nine promotions in 10 topping college, he joined a start-
years, and now heads technology up instead of an MNC, like most
at S&P Global India. of his friends. Two years later, the
Becoming a techie was not startup was acquired by US-based
what Pratik had dreamt of during Comcast, and Pratik moved to
his school days in Gujarat. He Bengaluru with SAP Labs.
wanted to be a doctor, like his el- “At SAP Labs, I did a lot of
der brother. transformation work but I want-
But fate had something else ed to join a company where I
in store. “Just 15 days before my could contribute more. My roots
12th board exams, dad suffered a were in Ahmedabad, so I came
heart attack. I couldn’t focus on back and joined SNL Financial
studies and scored only 88%,” he in 2010,” he says.
recollects. In 2015, SNL Financial was
Unable to afford a seat in a self- acquired by S&P Global, where
financed medical college, he took he has since had an amazing ca-
TECH I’D LIKE TO SEE
5G’s a mind-boggling opportunity
L ightning speeds, incredible
connectivity and limitless
possibilities – I see 5G technol-
ogy fundamentally transform-
ing the way we work, live
and communicate. In a 5G
world, virtual will be the new
reality where we can visualise
home decor or try-on a new
clothing line through an
augmented reality (AR)
experience even dur-
ing a lockdown, or test
drive a car through
virtual reality (VR).
With social distancing,
who’s to say a team
outing can’t be
held safely
and virtually
on a beach,
Nikhil Rungta | COUNTRY MANAGER, INDIA, VERIZON MEDIA
YouTube is Indian
coders’ favourite
upskilling medium
Aparna.Desikan@timesgroup.com
V
ishweshh R, senior devel-
oper at leasing software
company Odessa in Ben-
galuru, upskills with the help
of YouTube videos. He has
found the platform useful in
improving his knowledge of .
Net. YouTube is surprisingly
the leading platform that devel-
opers use to upskill, say a sur-
vey conducted by community
hiring platform HackerEarth
among 16,000 developers in
India, and which was shared
exclusively with Times Techies.
About 53% of those surveyed
also spend time on online coding
platforms to upskill. “There are
plenty of skill gaining courses on
YouTube. Some are free and some
you need to pay for. I just surf to
discover new stuff and stick to
DEVELOPER TRENDS
whatever seems interesting,”
says Vishweshh.
Some of the skilling compa-
nies have free videos on You-
Tube. Programming with Mosh
is a popular channel with devel-
opers. Tips and tutorials are
also given in channels like
Google Developers.
As high as 32% of the soft-
ware developers say that Go is
the programming language they
are most keen to learn next.
Times Techies reported recently
that Google’s Go is rapidly be-
coming popular around the world
for its simplicity and versatility.
After Go, it’s Python, Kotlin and
JavaScript that developers are
most keen to learn, says the
HackerEarth survey. Developers
are currently the most skilled in
SQL, Java, HTML and Python.
Among coders’ areas of inter-
est, data science reigns supreme,
with 61% preferring that. About
35% are interested in IoT and
26% in cybersecurity.
Developers in India also pre-
fer to have their heads immersed
in their work, rather than attend
meetings. The survey finds that
reer run, from individual con-
tributor to the top technology
leadership position in India in
just three years.
At S&P Global, Modi has been
building next-gen technology
platforms. He ramped up his team
from just 25 to
1,100 after tak-
ing over as tech
head in 2018.
As a leader, you’re always watched by your
team, stakeholders and customers. So,
it’s important to demonstrate behaviour which
inspires, to build relationships based on trust, and
allow people to experiment, fail fast and fail safe.
Pratik Modi | HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY, S&P GLOBAL INDIA
once faster network speeds
and lower latency blur the line
between the virtual and
real world.
With 5G, the potential to
rethink how we apply cutting-
edge tech – from AI to IoT
and extended reality – is truly
mind-boggling. Especially
when it comes to solving for
today’s challenges. From
remote healthcare to
immersive education
and smart energy solu-
tions, with 5G we will
be able to unlock new
opportunities with
far-reaching
impact, when
and where it
matters most.
CAREER PATH CRUCIAL
Preferred form of
assessment: Take-home tests,
followed by onsite interviews
Pet peeve: lack of feedback
post interview
Least happy working at
enterprise organisations and
growth-stage startups
Esops and Glassdoor reviews
don’t matter to most
developers, career path and
compensation do
70% of them believe their produc-
tivity improves when they attend
fewer meetings. “If meetings can
be replaced by an email, why hold
it in the first place,” asks Vish-
weshh. Pradeep Kumar, an Oracle
developer, says that management
calls describing various company
processes tire him out. D Prabha-
kar, a mid-level Python developer,
finds the daily huddle meetings
pressurising and would rather
work quietly.
Developer happiness is not
proportional to work hours. Of
all the developers surveyed, 70%
who weren’t happy with their
current jobs worked for 40 to 50
hours a week. But only 3% of
developers who spend more than
60 hours at work are unhappy
with their job. For some, however,
it is milestone-driven. “Regard-
less of 10 hours or 35, completing
the task in hand makes me feel
productive,” says Pradeep.
About 5% say they do not take
any breaks at all. “Usually, they
keep us occupied at work and
don’t give us any free time,” says
Prabhakar.
The survey was taken to bring
out what the community needs
and for organisations to take
note. “While the demand for de-
veloper talent continues to rise,
there is too often misalignment
between the needs and expecta-
tions of companies and develop-
ers in hiring, career, and overall
happiness,” says Sachin Gupta,
CEO of HackerEarth.
Developers unwind by
playing indoor games
like foosball, and
watching movies and
sitcoms. Big Bang
Theory, Friends, and
Game of Thrones are
among favourites
As tech head he has defined
strategies, architecture and tech-
nology roadmap for multiple prod-
ucts. India now powers 90% of the
product portfolio for S&P Global.
“I achieved all this by con-
stantly learning new skills, deliv-
ering on commitments, being
customer obsessed and inspiring
everyone around me to go above
and beyond,” he says.