IMAD: The web development MOOC you are looking for

Hello World!

Have you ever wanted to learn web development from scratch? If yes, then I am sure you would agree with me that there are loads of resources for learning about web development like tutorials, blog posts, videos, online courses and what not. They are only increasing everyday. There are tons of tutorials which just makes you go through a few steps (without caring to explain a single thing) and Voila! You learnt a new technology. But things aren’t that simple (well at least for me as I like to know how things actually work. So those quick tutorials leave a lot of questions). Learning syntax and understanding the underlying concepts both are different things. But yes, there are awesome resources available too but you need to be good at finding them :)

So I was like this and learning things from different resources haphazardly. I will not say that this is bad but the process is surely time consuming. Last year, I came to know about IMAD(that trailer was really nice :D) but ignored as I was busy with academics. But then again this year, I found IMAD listed on NPTEL and decided to try it out. Introduction to Modern Application Development or IMAD is a online course offered by IIT Madras and Hasura. It is India’s largest MOOC. The course is available on NPTEL platform and upon completion one can opt for an exam to avail a certificate by IIT Madras. Also did I tell you the top students can get a internship too?

The 8 week course began from July, 2016. I have to say this is the most complete course for web development if you are a beginner (or you want to connect the dots like me :P). Tanmai sir’s ability to explain difficult topics in simple words is the main highlight of this course. It covers topics like Databases, API handling, Templating, Security, Mobile development (Android and iOS). I really liked the following modules:

• Introduction to security for web apps (week 4)
• Backend architectures (week 8)
• Advanced databases (week 6)

We had the awesome discourse discussion forum with everyone contributing by asking and answering each other’s doubts. I too contributed my bit (see here) In the process I found a few videos from Computerphile very helpful understanding the concepts.

Although I could not attend the NPTEL examination but I gave another exam conducted by Hasura. Luckily I scored well and was among the top 5% in the course (150,000+ students registered for the course). I got selected for the Hasura Product Development Fellowship which will be the internship I was talking about earlier. It is a program where fellows will build a complete product from scratch. Fellows will be gaining experience in technical writing, product development, debugging and collaboration. I have really enjoyed this course and looking forward to learn more through HPDF.

Finally thanks to all the mentors and my classmates for making great learning process. Also thanks to Hasura and IITM for creating the awesome MOOC. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to learn application development. Thanks for reading :)