For those dreaming of a career in the IT sector, the excitement of a job offer often comes with the need to hone their skills. Surely many of them enter the office floor with the hunger to improve, but companies that hire them are left with the arduous task of transforming the raw potential into a realistic talent.

That would mean providing a right balance between work and training and building an infrastructure that yields results. Given the volatilities of the industry today, companies find it hard to do this all by themselves.
The good news for them is that they can find help. Organisations like QAI (India), who have been in the business of  process consultancy, with experience in introducing operational excellence in IT and BPO companies, are now donning the role of trainers. And the advantage they have, it seems, is their experience and track record in training.

Navyug Mohnot, CEO of QAI, confirms this by saying that training has been in the company's DNA: "As consultants, our job has been to introduce improvements around software processes -be it project management, software development or testing. This of course can't be done without imparting training to those who are part of the process."

"We've trained around 70,000 high-end IT professionals from some of the premier IT companies in things like project management, software processes and testing etc. Now, we've gathered all the courseware used in the training and have created an online, on-demand e-learning platform under the brand name Edista Learning (edistalearning.com)," he adds further.

The courseware QAI has been accumulating throughout their consultancy has grown both in size and variety. It now boasts of 400 hours of material in 40 different subjects that include software quality management, designing etc. Though students may have an idea of these subjects, the courseware is said to enhance their understanding of the specific aspects of software processes and related quality standards.

"These are skills that are lacking in those who come straight from training institutes, where they generally learn technologies and programming. Our courseware follows the finishing-school-style and imparts precise and specific skill sets that enable them to excel at work," Mr Mohnot explains.

The increasing appetite for manpower in IT industry means Edista has a lot of takers for their courseware, both corporate and individuals. While the corporate can buy site licenses and get the relevant courseware transferred to their servers, individuals can access them by entering through their payment gateway. "Since our courseware is easy-to-access and easy-to-learn, students will not have much problem. Once they finish the course, we send them the certificates for course completion," Mr Mohnot says.

The delivery system for learning may have advanced with the availability of video conferencing and the possibility of personal interaction with instructors, but Edista could see the inherent limitations in instructor-driven model of learning - as the instructor can only reach out to fewer students. For this reason, it has resorted to blended-learning approach, which is to allow corporate employees to learn through e-learning and supplement that with contact hours with an instructor. As for QAI, their consultants, who have years of experience in IT processes, double up as instructors. 

Mr Mohnot however points out that the approach may differ depending on the subject. "For certain highly advanced topics, you need contact hours and the assistance from an instructor," he says. "But for certain basic level courses, distance learning model works perfectly."

He quickly snuffs out any remaining doubts about the efficacy of the courseware by mentioning that they are prepared in partnership with Dr Roger S Pressman, author of the best-selling textbook, 'Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach' (which, according to Wikipedia, is in its sixth edition and has been translated into eight languages).

"Not only because we've asked Mr Pressman to review the courseware and ascertain its value and efficacy, but also because of the fact that we are not a software-training factory and draw our strength from 10 years of process consultancy would speak for its workability," Mr Mohnot says.

Though Edista has opened the payment gates just a couple of months ago, the courseware had been distributed to IT companies and its workability thoroughly tested. This, Mr Mohnot hopes, would convince many individual IT professionals looking for training.