Udacity Nanodegrees & Udacity Propel — here’s what you need to know
Udacity is known for offering world-class e-learning courses on cutting edge technologies. Curated and taught by education experts, the course requires you to complete a number of industry relevant projects that can lead to a great portfolio showcasing the skills that you learn. Students get access to the discussion forums where they can interact and learn along with their peers. But wait, all these are available for free! So what do you get if you pay?
With Udacity’s paid courses — Nanodegree programs, you get one-on-one coaching, extra-curricular projects, personalized project reviews and a wealth of support from fellow students and alumni on Slack. The programs also include career guidance — resume review, tips on acing interviews and provide you with an opportunity to land your dream job via Udacity Propel.
Udacity Propel is the flagship career fair held for the Nanodegree graduates. It’s the Udacity’s initiative to help connect it’s students to the #JobsOfTomorrow. It is held at least once every quarter. There have been around 6 Propel events in 2017 & 2018 — mostly held in Bangalore and in Gurgaon.
Okay, so why am I telling you all this? 👀
I am currently enrolled in the Android Basics Nanodegree course under the Google India Challenge Scholarship program. It was through this program that I got an opportunity to volunteer for a recent Propel event. I am writing to share my experience regarding the same.
The event was held in Bangalore on June 16th. Praveen Kumar, Vikalp Bhardwaj, Neha Bhansal and Sukriti Sharma from Udacity were the main organisers at the event. There were 16 of us who had volunteered to help.
Over 14 hiring partners participated in the event — hiring for a wide range of skills — Front End, Full Stack, Android, iOS, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and many others. A few of them were also offering internships for the final year undergraduate students. More than 180 Nanodegree graduates registered for the event and over 320 interviews were conducted in total. HCL, Zestmoney, Rapido, PathPartner, Sun Mobility, Marax AI, Dishq, KPIT were some of the companies that participated this time.
The hiring process
The event started at around 9:30am, with students registering for the skills they want to apply.
Post registration, the students were made to wait in the common hall while the companies went over their profiles and shortlisted the preferred candidates.
Shortlisted students were then called for interviews. It’s possible that you are shortlisted by more than one company. There were a lot of students who were giving interviews back-to-back all day. So many opportunities all at one place, all in a single day. Sounds exciting, right ? 😄
So if you think about it, chances of getting an offer are pretty high — but then, it’s all in your hands. No one can guarantee you a job — you need to make the best of the opportunities in front of you and give your best to get that dream job of yours! My hope is that this article has given you some insight on Udacity’s Nanodegrees and the Propel event.
Oh and before I conclude, one of the main highlights of the event were yummy snacks and pizzas — for everyone! 🍕 There were lots of them! 😋
Alright! So volunteering for the Propel was a great experience for me. Met some amazing people, made some new friends. Got to see what the industry demands are and learn about the hiring processes for the new-age tech companies.
Thanks to Udacity for giving me this opportunity and many thanks to Praveen, Vikalp, Neha and Sukriti and all my fellow volunteers for your guidance and support! I am happy to have been part of such a great event. Looking forward to the next one!
