Category: The Times of India

Subbaraman Balasubramanyan, Sr. Vice President, HCLTech talks to Nimisha Tiwari about India’s potential to build a tech-enabled creator economy where students and academia can play a pivotal role. Subba (as he is popularly known) is armed with 25+ years of global IT business experience and is leading TechBee – HCL’s Early Career Program. Being a proud member of the CEOs Club at HCLTech, his entrepreneurial mindset has been his winning quality as the immediate-past-Chairperson of CII Madurai Zone

Q1: Technology is evidently moving faster and upgrading multiple times in comparison to our Indian Education System. How should students and teachers build NextGen skillsets that remain relevant?

Subbaraman B: Truly, every two to three years, we see technologies evolving. By the time a student completes the academic class, technology that seemed relevant for the industry would have already changed (most likely). At HCLTech, we understand that skills that are being taught or used today may not remain relevant after the next decade or two. For example, Data Analytics or Application Development or Infrastructure Management or be it skills for Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain – whatever is relevant for our business today, at HCLTech, we would want to give skills for these subjects.

As we are in the IT services business, it is the IT environment of the end customer that we end up delivering services. So, the pace at which our customers change technology usage in their IT environment really tends to decide what wat HCLTech need to pay attention to.

 

Times of India-HCLTech Principal Conclave was successfully organized on February 9, 2023 in New Delhi

Q2: What do students want, and what are the teachers teaching today – Is there any syncing really happening?

Subbaraman B: Of late, we are witnessing tremendous interest from the teaching community in India. They indeed wish to upskill themselves so that they can stay relevant and provide the right insights to the students. HCLTech attempts to provide the right bridge by way of Principal Conclaves (The Times of India – HCLTech Principal Conclave was organized in Lucknow on December 7, 2022, and in New Delhi on February 9, 2023). We make efforts to provide a true perspective of where the technology is heading and ways to keep teachers abreast so they can deliver value to their students. Looking at it from the second perspective, we believe that students learning through TechBee 

HCL’s Early Career Program will be the innovators of new technologies of the future. These young minds will create the technology that will be relevant and required for them in the future.

For a child in today’s world, right from their prenatal and neonatal days, they witness technology around them. Thus, they will have much easier adaptation to existing technologies of their times (in the years to come). It will be very natural for them to create technology (in comparison to GenX or Gen Y), which is like a decade from today.

Q3: The theme for Principal Conclave was NextGen Careers. What were your key takeaways?

Subbaraman B: The levels of engagement that I saw in the Principal Conclave in 2023 were higher compared to what I had witnessed in the past. The teachers wished to enhance their own knowledge quotient in order to deliver realistically. One person at the conclave asked me – Can we do an internship for my students? My response was – You, as a principal and your teachers must be the first interns before the students become interns. You need to know where technology is and where the industries are heading. This can be done collectively, and it’s not just up to HCLTech as a singular organization. Many other companies will need to step in for a major change to take place in society for students and teachers to become aware of the most relevant technology. Representatives of CBSE and NCERT – their presence at the Principal Conclave in New Delhi this year, added a lot of value because newer perspectives were brought in. Saying, ‘We will go back and make changes in our academic structure in order to enable programs like TechBee’ – This was a very big takeaway, and I truly liked it.

Q4: What does ‘workforce of the future’ entail?

Subbaraman B: As a society, we need to start orienting people to understand technology right from school days and lay the foundation for it. For instance, when biology is taught, students are taught about molecules and how genome sequencing takes place. We must enhance the knowledge base by showing possible use cases to students. This must get implemented into the framework of multiple State Education Boards and Central Government Boards, where the pedagogy includes some of these effective perspectives. A structural change needs to take place. This is one small way to create a workforce that is ready for the future. Through our TechBee program, we have been finding sparks of excellence across the country, not necessarily from metros alone.

Q5: What are your views on the democratization of education and gender-smart attitude for the future workforce.

Subbaraman B: India is on the right path of transformation. As a nation, we must touch every last person, at the remotest corners of the country through education that is relevant, especially educating a girl child and educating the woman because they are the determinants – this is a very personal view. At the rate at which technology is moving, we need to have enough research parks across the country in order to democratize technology-based education. Women empowerment is very important, and we, being an equal opportunity employer, our work environment offers anyone to find their own unique spark at HCLTech. For our society to progress, we need to develop an ecosystem that will make technological advancements accessible, inclusive and a key driver of change.

For more details on skilling students by HCLTech, log on to: https://www.hcltechbee.com

Nagpur: HCL Technologies is aiming to increase the staff strength at its Mihan SEZ unit by almost 50% in the next two years. The IT giant’s chief of human resources Apparao VV, who was in the city to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the company’s Nagpur office, said the talent pool available in the region “is excellent”.

Apparao said, “We want to hire another 1,500 people which will take our headcount to 5,000. Having started operations in April 2018, the Mihan unit already accounts for around 1.5% of our total staff.”

He added that almost 80% of those employed here are from Nagpur region. “We are following the concept of back-to-roots and Nagpur is part of that project. The company has reported a trend of experienced technology professionals moving from urban hubs such as Pune and Mumbai back to their cities,” said Apparao.

With educational institutes of national repute now in Nagpur, HCL has access to a great pool of resources. “We have had a good experience with our recruitments here in Nagpur. There is a very talented human resources pool available and we will continue to hire accordingly,” said Apparao.

Over the last one year, the issue of SEZs and tax exemptions has been creating friction. Apparao said, “From September 1, all companies in SEZ will lose their benefits if 100% staff is not working from office. Now this issue is being addressed through our industry body Nasscom, and we hope that the central government will find a resolution to it.” If not, IT companies (located in SEZ) will have no option but to call all employees back to office.

“Currently we are in a hybrid mode of working,” said Apparao.

A media statement from HCL stated that its 140-acre Nagpur campus is a state-of-the-art facility that is platinum certified by Indian Green Building Council and United States Green building council, with the highest rating by both institutions. The company currently serves over 70 global customers across digital foundation, digital enterprise, application services and management, engineering, and research lines of business operating from Nagpur.

TechBee, HCL’s Early Career Program, is a work-integrated higher education program which contributes to the “Skill India” mission of the government. As a part of HCL’s new people strategy for 10+2 students, it offers IT engineering jobs by equipping the students with future-ready skills. The program prepares students technically and professionally for entry-level IT jobs in HCL. Candidates undergo extensive 12 months of training to become software engineers. While working at HCL, students may also enroll in Degree Programs, which is offered by reputed universities like BITS Pilani and SATRA University.

Interested students who wish to enroll for the program undergo an entrance test. The program provides a combination of classroom training and on-the-job training, making them self-reliant at the completion of the program. During the entire period of training, enrolled students are paid a stipend of Rs 10,000 per month.

With the Early Career Training Program, the company would add on to the talent pool to cater to current and potential clients.

So far, over 2000 students have done TECHBEE program and are now working with HCL.

Key highlights:

• JOB FIRST – Job Assurance with HCL, India’s leading IT company
• FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE – Become financially independent since stipend starts from the first month
• HIGHER EDUCATION – Earn a degree from India’s reputed technical institutions like BITS Pilani and SASTRA University
• TECHBEE – HCL’s Early Career Program is clustered into the following sets:

1. Foundation Training Program – Technical foundation training to create a deployment-ready talent pool
2. Technology / Domain Training – Stream-specific training to ensure that all tasks pertaining to the role can be performed
3. Role Specific Training – Hands-on project work to be assigned during the professional practice term

• • The candidates will also learn the fundamentals of Information technology, relevant software tools, processes and life skills during these 12 months of training.
  • Upon successful completion of the training, candidates get to work in prestigious projects at HCL Technologies in areas of Application and Infrastructure Support, Testing and CAD Support.
  • Financial assistance is arranged in a way that there is no financial burden on parents or students. Get 100% program fee waiver (if you score 90% and above in your training) and 50% fee waiver (if you score between 85-90% in your training).

 

 

 

 

 

• • Students from Pan India and who have completed their class XII with Maths in 2019 and 2020 are eligible to apply.
  • Students can visit: https://bit.ly/2Ut0IJk to apply for the HCL SAT entrance exam. Last date of registrations is 30 June 2020.

As a part of HCL’s new people strequipping ategy for Plus II students, the TechBee programme offers IT engineering jobs by the students with future-ready skills. HCL’s this early career programme is a work-integrated higher education programme which contributes to the “Skill India” mission of the government. It prepares students technically and professionally for entry-level IT jobs in HCL where candidates undergo an extensive 12-month training to become software engineers. While working at HCL, students may also enroll in Graduation Degree program offered by reputed universities like BITS Pilani and SASTRA University.

Interested students who wish to enroll for the programme undergo an entrance test.

The programme provides a combination of classroom training and on-the-job training, making them self-reliant at the completion of the programme. During the entire period of training, enrolled students are paid a stipend of Rs 10,000 per month.

HCL started this programme in 2017 with an aim to hire the best talent and enable them to achieve financial independence at the start of their career. So far, over 2000 students have done TechBee programme and are now working with HCL. In these uncertain times, TechBee will enable students to earn a degree from leading universities that HCL has partnered with as part of this programme.