This is a wonderful time to be starting up. You will come across very few people who will give comparisons to all the benefits they get working for big corporates. Its one such time. Hiring will be slightly easier, and retaining them will be even more easier.
Even in the midst of all that, it does seem that a lot of the Startup Companies are hardpressed for resources here in India. Here’s a solution.
A few of us have been talking about putting together a centre that trains people (as blank slated as freshers) on the common technologies that people use while building Web related products – the usual PHP, Python, AJAX, MySQL, etc etc and getting them upto speed on mashups, APIs, documentation, and moving forward. That is the level of skill that most of the startup community folks are looking for it seems. Or am I wrong here?
If I am right, then there is a simple way around it. Every chapter of OCC in the country is doing quite well. I heard from Santhosh that Pune is a 300 people group now (though I do suspect that the turn out ratio would be still less), but who knew Pune had 300 people who would be open to being part of a community right? And the same case has gone on with Bangalore, Kolkatta, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, and even now and then with Mumbai.
Here’s the thought. What if in one of the OCCs a dozen of the startup companies, especially the folks who can code and code really well, commit that they will run a two month training program for people in these languages? It is going to take a bit of time and commitment, but there are a lot of resources already on the web, and with a couple of screencasts, and proper documentation, you could essentially also use it as training material for the next batch of people that you hire in your company later on.
What I am proposing is that a batch of technology entrepreneurs, each taking a week to cover different aspects of the course, could put their hands together to collaboratively solve an issue which is haunting a great many of them.
So if you could fix one of the startups offices as the centre for this activity, Put up a wiki where people can sign up for this course, and these 12 startup entrepreneurs/programmers get a chance to do a round of questioning and if they think that the candidate would be able to perform with some guidance, then the community as a whole comes together to train these few candidates and at the end of it, can assimilate them into the company.
There are a couple of reasons why I think this can be made to work:
1. Most freshers are scared of working for startups. The first question I face all the time is “Will they train us?”
2. People who do undergo any sort of training, usually go for some MS Certification and those courses are expensive. Its not like you can afford to get the developmental licenses anyways, and since they have themselves invested in getting trained, the salary expectations are going to be higher from you.
3. At the moment there are very few people who can talk about these technologies for the mass community to learn from. Perhaps contributing to the general knowledge of the masses to improve their skill level, if reached critical mass, will start churning on its own.
4. More people trained on OpenSource Technologies (that’s really what enables Startups), might also slightly increase the chances of people contributing back to Opensource. *fingers crossed*
5. I also think that most startup founders struggle to explain what they have in their head to others. And teaching concepts to others gets you to that level where tomorrow when you need to grow a community around your product, you can converse in a manner that the people can comprehend.
And of course, none of this has to be done for free. I’d strongly suggest that the teams charge the candidate 3000 – 4000Rs a month for this. That is also additional revenue, so its not technically charity either.
So, there is only one question that lingers. Worth giving it a try? What do you think?
Join the conversation at The Startup Guy, to pitch your thoughts on the matter.
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A thought: If, in this recession, there will be more experienced people looking for jobs, then why bother with freshers? In my first co, we found that hiring people with experience was very very very easy in 2001-02, to the point where we didn’t need to even interview freshers. (Consequently I got a couple people telling us they would pay for our training for six months, after which we could choose to hire. I had a moral objection to that, so we didn’t do it) If you’re looking for people to hit the ground running, who won’t cost that much, very soon you’re not going to have to look.
I don’t think you should be saying “if you have to prepare for a session, god save you”. I’ve trained before, and in areas which I have had more than reasonable knowledge, but when you go into a class, you always prepare. Any unstructured class gives almost no advantage and tends to take a lot of time. (it’s little wonder the startups you notice are taking months to train people, it’s probably because they have no structure – and bringing structure takes preparation time)
Training is a great business. I suggest that instead of doing this as something for the community, just do it as a business. At 4k a month, with two-three batches of 25 each (two or three days a week) – the money is good. Plus, you can then do corp sessions – typical rates range from 5K to 25K a day (and for this you can use the same structure as you did for freshers).
Main issues are things like space, software costs and the like. I once (2003) had a business plan to set up a training infrastructure place and get paid trainers to teach, charging about 30% of billings to infra and marketing costs. The idea was to have it as a partnership model; so similar to how lawyers work – trainers get a chunk of their own billings and a part of net profits of the total profits. I didn’t go ahead primarily because I had other interesting plans. I still like the – because it allows one freedom to do consulting work too, that it is free training (teachers learn a lot, nearly as much as the students, in the process) and that the model helps build individual personalities (rather than a company name).
people with experience can build themselves an income of a couple lakhs a month this way. Don’t know if there’s widespread interest, but if there is, I’m happy to chip in, will write a separate post on it…
Vyaas,
Right now on an average a startup entrepreneur is spending months training a fresher in his office (I sit everyday in the same room as two startups so I can tell you firsthand). Compared to that, a few hours is a blessing. Ask around, you’ll know what I am talking about.
And if you have to “prepare” to do a session. God save you. Get your basics right before starting a “technology” company. 🙂
And Nope, this has nothing to do with noble thought and all. We need people and someone has gotta to do it, or we struggle forever. Quite selfish actually, but also mutually beneficial.
Vijay,
Though its a noble thought, a startup entrepenuer sparing some time every day for 2 months..is very difficult. For 1 hr teaching you need atleast 4 hrs of preparation.
Rgds
Vyaas
Oh, there are such theories as well, is it?
Nah mate, dont have the luxuries of such a life.. 🙂
Some of our own companies in the incubation centre are struggling with the same issue. So wondering what we can do…this seemed like one option out. What do you think?
Now that you’ve got active (like politicians on election eve)with all those empathetic startup talk, shall we call it the promo for Proto next edition… hi…hi… 😉