Aug 18 2015 : The Economic Times (Bangalore)
Startups Tap IIT Students for Freelance Jobs
Rica Bhattacharyya & Anumeha Chaturvedi
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Mumbai New Delhi
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Akash Gaurav, third-year undergradu ate student at IIT Bombay, earns `50,000-70,000 a month by developing software for startups and devoting not more than three hours of spare time a day. Agniva Si, third-year metallurgy student at IIT Roorkee, manages to make `50,000 a month by graph ic designing and sketching for startups.With the rise of startups in India leading to a burgeoning volume of work, an increasing number of startups like Bewakoof.com, Venturesity, Jabong, TouchKraft, VanityCube are employing IIT students, mostly from the second and third year. The projects include app development, analytics and machine learning, modelling, graphic and visual design, growth hacking and content marketing work as they can be assigned and monitored remotely .
“Companies gain by getting solutions while the students gain by getting exposure of two to four months,“ said Ashu Malhotra, head, human resources at Jabong.
Around mid-July, IIT Bombay launched a cell for freelancers and co-founders for any startup looking for talent in mobile app, coding, designing, etc. In less than a month, the institute has received interest from more than 200 startups looking for talent to work with them on projects.Some of them include VanityCube, MobieFit, Flyrobe, TouchKraft, and Innovision. So far, the institute has connected about 150 students to startups. And 70% of the students are joining as freelancers as the main incentive is that they will be cofounders. TouchKraft made one of the highest offers so far of `1.50 lakh for freelance software development talent, said Gaurav , web manager of the cell.
It is a win-win for students and startups. Startups have to pay several times more to hire a professional with five to six years' experience. Early sta g e star tups, particularly , find students easier to afford. On their part, students can ear n between ` 30,000 and ` 1 lakh a month.
Also, startups find talent in their 20s to be more tech savvy, an essential. “The best talent is always in their 20s when it comes to technology and designing. With age most people are not able to evolve,“ says Prabhkiran Singh, co-founder, Bewakoof.com.
He said his reason for working with people from college is to also stay connected to know what skills people have on campus.
“There has been a rise in companies giving short-term projects to IIT students...The primary reason is that students are picking up these new and hot skills for free by learning from online courses and making them usefulup to the mark,“ said Subhendu Panigrahi, IIT Kharagpur alumnus and co-founder, Venturesity . He has given students projects primarily in two areas -product development and growth hacking, with salaries ranging from ` 15,000 to `50,000 per month.
Students are also open to spending their free time in a more constructive way and earn some cash while studying. Most of them picking up such work aspire to start their own venture. These engagements help them get to know the founders and learn the nuances of running a startup. Most of the work is either preceded or succeeded by a two-to-three-month internship, leading to more engagement. Zomato organises Trial Week to handpick top talent for its technology team. The recruits spend a week at the company , working with the tech team on live projects.
“We sift through the hundreds of applications for the programme and shortlist a handful of candidates to come and spend an all-expenses-paid week with our tech team at our headquarters in Gurgaon,“ said Deepinder Goyal, founder & CEO, Zomato. Projects typically include tools used in daily operations, or features that will be included in their product. “People are welcome to apply even if they have a few years of code under their belt. All we expect from candidates is a serious passion for code, and a desire to get things done,“ he added.
For some of the students it is more of a passion and helps them test their acumen. “I would like to take design as a profession at a later stage and these projects give me good exposure,“ said Si of IIT Roorkee.
“Companies gain by getting solutions while the students gain by getting exposure of two to four months,“ said Ashu Malhotra, head, human resources at Jabong.
Around mid-July, IIT Bombay launched a cell for freelancers and co-founders for any startup looking for talent in mobile app, coding, designing, etc. In less than a month, the institute has received interest from more than 200 startups looking for talent to work with them on projects.Some of them include VanityCube, MobieFit, Flyrobe, TouchKraft, and Innovision. So far, the institute has connected about 150 students to startups. And 70% of the students are joining as freelancers as the main incentive is that they will be cofounders. TouchKraft made one of the highest offers so far of `1.50 lakh for freelance software development talent, said Gaurav , web manager of the cell.
It is a win-win for students and startups. Startups have to pay several times more to hire a professional with five to six years' experience. Early sta g e star tups, particularly , find students easier to afford. On their part, students can ear n between ` 30,000 and ` 1 lakh a month.
Also, startups find talent in their 20s to be more tech savvy, an essential. “The best talent is always in their 20s when it comes to technology and designing. With age most people are not able to evolve,“ says Prabhkiran Singh, co-founder, Bewakoof.com.
He said his reason for working with people from college is to also stay connected to know what skills people have on campus.
“There has been a rise in companies giving short-term projects to IIT students...The primary reason is that students are picking up these new and hot skills for free by learning from online courses and making them usefulup to the mark,“ said Subhendu Panigrahi, IIT Kharagpur alumnus and co-founder, Venturesity . He has given students projects primarily in two areas -product development and growth hacking, with salaries ranging from ` 15,000 to `50,000 per month.
Students are also open to spending their free time in a more constructive way and earn some cash while studying. Most of them picking up such work aspire to start their own venture. These engagements help them get to know the founders and learn the nuances of running a startup. Most of the work is either preceded or succeeded by a two-to-three-month internship, leading to more engagement. Zomato organises Trial Week to handpick top talent for its technology team. The recruits spend a week at the company , working with the tech team on live projects.
“We sift through the hundreds of applications for the programme and shortlist a handful of candidates to come and spend an all-expenses-paid week with our tech team at our headquarters in Gurgaon,“ said Deepinder Goyal, founder & CEO, Zomato. Projects typically include tools used in daily operations, or features that will be included in their product. “People are welcome to apply even if they have a few years of code under their belt. All we expect from candidates is a serious passion for code, and a desire to get things done,“ he added.
For some of the students it is more of a passion and helps them test their acumen. “I would like to take design as a profession at a later stage and these projects give me good exposure,“ said Si of IIT Roorkee.
