Already know Android? The Android Nanodegree can still help! — the Shalini Puri story
In our time at Udacity India, we’re seeing some interesting trends. So many of our Nanodegree students are those who already know a technology. iOS engineers, who take up the iOS Nanodegree. Experienced android engineers taking up the Android Nanodegree. Today’s story is about one, who’s the latter.
Shalini Puri is an Android Application Developer at Nagarro. She is Bachelors in Computer Science with about 5 years in Android application development. Owing to this, she took all of 2.5 months while simultaneously working at a full time job. She also received an offer from Flipkart, as a part of our interview-less hiring initiate!
Journey in Android App Development
Shalini was first introduced to Android back in 2010, when Android app development had started gaining popularity in the industry. Her knowledge of Java allowed her an easy switch to Android development. Initially Shalini learnt Android app development through the official Android documentation and Stackoverflow.
When Shalini was introduced to the Android Nanodegree, she took the free trial for a week. She found great value in the course design and decided to go pursue the Nanodegree. Since she had prior experience in Android, she found the beginning of the course to be fairly simple. But as she progressed in the course, she learnt a lot of new things and found projects’ difficulty level increased.
“When stuck in a problem I tends to use Google and Stackoverflow as the first approach towards the solution. If that doesn’t work, I would consult another developer. And if I still can’t find a solution, I sleep over it,” she laughs.
“Looking at a problem with fresh eyes often helps me debug issues faster. I Design by Priority — I start with the main features first and then gradually start to work on the secondary features.”
On Online vs Offline Education
According to Shalini, from the first online classes in 1989 to the present day, students are finding new life and career education opportunities online more than ever. “Students are embracing this format because of its flexibility, and instructors appreciate the versatility they provide,” she says.
Shalini says “The project/code review is the best thing about the Nanodegree. I learnt many new things from reviewer’s suggestions. Project reviews didn’t just concentrate on functionality but taught her key concepts like app performance and how to design for the future. Career oriented projects specially resume and Linkedin profile reviews helped me a lot in finding a new job. Android interview dry run was very helpful in preparing for an interview”.
Opportunities knock Shalini’s door
“I actually got more than what I expected from this nanodegree. Getting call from Flipkart was a dream come true. I didn’t really believe them until I got the offer letter. Getting an offer letter from a company like Flipkart without giving an interview is an amazing feeling.”, she quotes.
Further, Udacity offered Shalini to work as Android project reviewer, which she currently does part time. This wasn’t end of the success story. Shalini also received an offer from Nagarro with a promotion to her current job role.
Shalini loves to learn new things, that’s why she started to pursue the Android Nanodegree. Currently she is learning HTML game development and after this she is planning to take up the senior web developer Nanodegree.
Check out the Android Developer Nanodegree
