These IIT-IIM alumni teach tomorrow's techies coding to get them job-ready

Masai School offers an intensive web development programme with over 1,000 hours of hands-on coding and 100 hours of soft-skills training; deferred fee payment option for needy students

There are several studies and reports about the huge gaps in the skill sets of Indian students just out of engineering college. While some surveys say a staggering 94 per cent of fresh engineers are unemployable, a McKinsey study has said that only a quarter of fresh engineering graduates in India are job-ready. Though industry players and the government have taken various initiatives to address the issue, there has been limited progress on this front. 

Bengaluru-based start-up Masai School has come up with a unique model to try and solve the problem in its own way.

Founded by Prateek Shukla, Nrupul Dev, and Yogesh Bhat in June 2019, Masai is a set-up that aims to impart hardcore coding skills to students. "Since organisations today give more priority to skill sets than educational background, Masai School is primarily looking at filling the wide skill gap that exists in the country when it comes to coding," says Shukla, an IIT Kanpur alumnus.

Shukla isn't new to the start-up world. Before launching Masai School, he was co-founder and CEO of home rental start-up Grabhouse, which was acquired by Quikr in an all stock deal in November 2016. After the acquisition, he worked as Quikr's business head for a while before starting Masai. 

He discussed the concept of a coding school with Nrupul Dev, his senior in IIT Kanpur. While both were still brainstorming the idea, they met Yogesh Bhat, an IIM-Bangalore alumnus, in March 2019 through a mutual friend and together the three gave shape to the idea.

"Companies today are seeing the value of skills over degrees. Through Masai School's programmes, we aim to help individuals who don't even have engineering degrees to build dream careers," Shukla said.

Masai School currently offers a 24-week intensive full-stack web development programme, which students have to attend from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week for 24 weeks. "The programme consists of more than 1,000 hours of hands-on coding and 100 hours of soft-skills training that includes problem-solving," says Bhat who also teaches students soft skills to make them job-ready.

The company, which will have its third batch of graduates shortly, also has unique admission procedures. The minimum requirement to enroll for the programme is 12th class. "We want to see the learning attitude of the applicant, not his degrees. Once a person applies for this programme, our team evaluates him on various metrics. It’s not that anyone who can pay the fee can join Masai School," said Shukla.

The school also offers a deferred payment option to students, under which they needn't pay any fee upfront. "After the student gets the job, he/she will pay 15 per cent of his salary for three years, with an upper cap of Rs 3 lakh," Shukla said. "This helps many needy students to fulfil their dreams without fees being a hindrance," he added. The company also provides an option of paying an upfront fees of Rs 2 lakh after he or she is selected for the programme.

"We have tied up with companies like Flipkart, Instamojo, Ola, NoBroker, Sharechat, Cleartax, Urbanclap among others. So far, we have seen very good response for our coders," said Shukla.

After the initial success in Bengaluru, the company has opened a branch in Patna. "We are profitable so far. We have only raised some money from angel investors and are planning to raise funds from venture capital firms in the near future," said Shukla.