Why we started Fynd Academy? Behind the scenes of our EdTech Venture
Building Fynd Academy: Our first graduate batch and new placement plans
Fynd Academy is an initiative to provide freshly graduated engineers with a practical learning experience and then employing them in Fynd’s core engineering team.
We are building a world-class team and looking to hire 100+ engineers by the end of 2021. So for us, Fynd Academy is an important start to equip the next batch of skilled engineers with the tools & expertise to innovate and execute successfully.
The idea is to train not only engineering freshers but to also extend the opportunity to software professionals who are already in the industry but wish to switch to core development (or testing). We want to teach them relevant skills and place them on the growth track. With Fynd Academy, we offer them a chance to learn, research, create and understand market trends, to bring the best out of them.
Fynd Academy is open to freshers, experienced techies, and to those who want to explore a new stack.
We have carefully selected trainers who have experience in working as a coder and teaching practical coding skills.
Since we want students to understand what we build at Fynd, we offer opportunities for them to interact and learn directly from our engineers. In fact, our engineering team takes great joy in talking about the technologies we use in building our omnichannel platform and modern cognitive products. These guest lectures give students a glimpse of practical learnings and the actual problems faced in day-to-day work. Understanding the work culture of an organization before getting in sounds important, doesn’t it?
First Batch: Fynd Academy, March ‘21
It was Farooq, the cofounder at Fynd and the Architect of Fynd Academy who came up with this idea to give freshers a learning platform that teaches them relevant skills.
The intention was not just to teach them a programming language, but to create a complete program that trains fresh graduates on the stack we use at Fynd. We also wanted to give them a sense of our company’s culture and life at Fynd. So we set up a special team of both technical & non-technical people, to design and set the plan in motion.
To create awareness about the program we reached out to over 100 colleges and did extensive promotions on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media platforms. References from within our company also worked well for us.
We executed the plan in just a few months and started our first batch for full-stack development in March ’21.
A glimpse of Fynd Academy’s core team
Shefali Wagadre — Assistant Manager HR
“I coordinate with students, the trainer, and the engineers, to synchronize the dynamic program in place at the Fynd Academy. My aim is to expose the candidates to the culture of the company and help them understand the realm of opportunities at Fynd.”
Piyush Vishwakarma — Senior Fullstack Engineer
“They call me the ‘technical brains’ of the Academy committee. My role is to convert the ideas into detailed work plans and execute them. Right from designing the course curriculum to planning the final interview process, anything requiring technical assistance is handled by me. Setting up the entrance exam was quite a unique experience for me as I have never been the best at such exams. But that’s what Fynd is good at, throwing challenges and bringing out the best in you.”
Kedar Aitawdekar — Senior Software Engineer
“The idea of Fynd Academy was introduced by Farooq Adam. We started drawing entities, process flows on a clean slate. None of us had prior experience of running an EdTech setup, but we made it happen. But that’s what we do at Fynd. We are ever experimenting, learning, and are an enthusiastic bunch of people who can think and make it happen 🤩”
Prashant Puranik — Tutor of our first batch with 12+ yrs of experience
Prashant ensures that the basics are clear and that the students can perform the tasks on their own. For our first batch, Prashant not only acted as a tutor for the students but went out of his way to build a bond with all the students.
The engineers working at Fynd, also took the time to teach and share personal tips & tricks with our students.
My Experience as Fynd Academy’s First Program Coordinator
Fynd Academy is our first attempt to hire freshers and I can proudly say that it was a success. We were able to absorb 80% of the students from the first batch. Building Fynd Academy was a very rewarding experience. As an HR expert, creating a tech program was a new experience for me, but it was the idea itself that motivated me. We were a team of 5–6 people, Kedar and Piyush, the engineers, I and Nishi from the HR department, and Rinky from the Wordsmiths team worked together to build the academy.
We are not just training students. We are giving them real skills to succeed.
It takes a lot of time and effort to plan such a program. Conducting entrance exams, interviews, finding the best tutor, arranging guest lectures, and bringing everything together takes consistent work, but then as a team, we worked together and were able to build something that we are truly proud of.
Words from our First Graduate Batch - March ’21
Omansh Lavania — “I had an amazing experience at Fynd Academy. The program teaches all of the necessary components to become a full-stack web developer. I have learned JavaScript, Vue, Express, and MongoDB with strong foundations. I have also learned the best coding practices including TDD, version control, and DevOps. The best part is today I am a Junior Engineer at FYND 😀”
Shashikant Kumar — “ I joined Fynd Academy with zero knowledge and had a great learning experience and I am yet to achieve more. In this training period, I learnt each topic from a basic to an advanced level. It also gave me an idea about real-world project folder structure, how to write good programs, and more. Regular assignments and projects have boosted my confidence and knowledge. They have immensely helped me understand concepts deeply. So trust the process! The outcome is definitely worth it, in fact even more than what you imagine!”
And here we are now! We have completed our first batch and are in the process of starting our second batch in August’2021.
New Announcements for Fynd Academy
After the success of our first batch, we added two new courses for backend development.
Full Stack Development
Backend with Node.js (New)
Backend with Python (New)
We have big plans for the future. We were able to offer permanent positions to 80% of our Fynd Academy students. In our upcoming batches, we want to ensure that the remaining 20% also have access to opportunities with other startups.
Why Choose Fynd Academy?
“I hear and I forget
I see and I remember
I do and I understand” ~ Confucius
We offer practical experience. Our program teaches relevant technologies and helps develop skills that are used in creating actual products. The fastest way to learn is with practical exposure and that’s what we do at Fynd Academy.
To know more, please visit the Fynd Academy website.
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