At Google, we have consistently invested in helping the developer and Startup community to get easy access to all the latest technology that is shaping the world today. And in the last few years, we have broadened our efforts in India by going beyond professional developers and Startups to focusing on student community as well.
Last year, we announced a new program to train two million developers in India and we have made steady progress by engaging over half a million students and developers across the country. Today, we are taking a big step forward by partnering with Pluralsight and Udacity for a new scholarship program that will help 130K developers and students across India to gain the skills they need to be successful in the changing technology landscape.
Our goal is to create a pool of highly skilled tech workforce that is readily employable by the Industry and help spur innovation. Under this scholarship program, Google will sponsor 100 thousand scholarships on the Pluralsight learning platform and 30 thousand scholarships on Udacity to help developers gain access to advanced learning curriculum and further their employability in emerging technologies like Mobile and Web development, Machine Learning, AR/VR, Artificial Intelligence, and Cloud Platforms.
For Udacity, Google will also provide 1000 full nanodegree scholarships from the 30,000 scholarships being offered. Interested candidates will also get access to Pluralsights unique adaptive assessment engine, that will help them match their unique learning path based on their skill level and interest.
India has tremendous potential to become a hub of innovation for mobile and cloud technologies. And the key to building innovative solutions and supporting the fast growing startup ecosystem in India, is to invest in skilling India’s large IT workforce and provide the future workforce easy access to world class training, tools and support.
I want to share this story of Jimit.
Jimit’s father is a street mechanic. Growing up, Jimit always assumed he’d follow in his father’s footsteps. But, he always loved to code. After completing his 6-month training to become a mechanic - he asked his father if he could take some time to pursue his real dreams of becoming a developer. His father agreed and from then, each day he went to a part of town where he could access public wifi. He sat on the footpath you see here, where the signal was the strongest, and began taking Android courses through Udacity. After he completed this training, he began applying for jobs as a professional developer and today, Jimit supports his family with the salary he is earning as a developer.
Jimit’s story is just one of many inspiring stories that motivate us to continue pushing towards our goals to train as many developers as possible -- and build the products and platforms that are most useful to all of you.
Posted by William Florance, Developer Products Group and Skilling Lead for India, Google