Blog_Banner_Asset
    Homebreadcumb forward arrow iconBlogbreadcumb forward arrow iconGeneralbreadcumb forward arrow iconBuilding the Largest Online Program Content in India

Building the Largest Online Program Content in India

Last updated:
11th Dec, 2017
Views
Read Time
8 Mins
share image icon
In this article
Chevron in toc
View All
Building the Largest Online Program Content in India

It was a mildly hot Saturday afternoon of late March 2016, when my phone buzzed. It was a LinkedIn notification that Mayank Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO of UpGrad had viewed my profile. Half an hour later the phone buzzed again – Shehzia, the Program Director of the Data Analytics program, UpGrad had viewed my profile. She also left a message that they were looking for someone with a Statistics background for the Program Associate position, for the Data Analytics program. If interested, I was to call her back. After contemplating on the ideal time duration that I should wait before calling her back, I called her after about 40 minutes. The call lasted for about an hour. Next afternoon, I had an even longer call with the Program Manager for the Data Analytics program. On Monday, I received a call from UpGrad HR with a job offer.
Building the Largest Online Program Content in India UpGrad Blog
About a month before this story unfolded, the results of the UPSC Civil Services had been released. It was my third attempt and just as the previous two, I had not made it to the coveted service, yet again. After a serious introspection as to where my career was going, I decided it was time to pull the plug on my IAS dream and get back to where my actual skills and knowledge lay – Statistics and Data Analytics.
Journey from Traditional Corporate Roles to an EdTech Startup: Ritesh Malhotra

However, the road was never going to be smooth. I had lost touch with the subject over the 3 years of prepping for the IAS and the startup boom had completely transformed the career landscape in the Data Analytics field. New tools had emerged and gained traction in the market. So I needed some time to get my ‘mojo’ back and revisit all the old concepts as well as learn new tricks of the trade.
So, when I got this offer from UpGrad, I gladly accepted it. It was tailor made for my situation. I would be revisiting and learning Data Analytics on the job while getting paid for it! I couldn’t ask for a better bargain. So after relocating to Mumbai from Patna on a short notice, I joined UpGrad by early April 2016.
In the beginning, it was an overwhelming experience. And I am not even talking about the humidity level of early April in Mumbai! On just the third day of my joining, I was in a review session with the three co-founders and the media mogul Ronnie Screwvala. In this session, the team was to look at the initial few sessions of the Data Analytics program and provide feedback. In that meeting itself that I realised that this startup was not just another startup and the primary reason was the attention to detail that the top management had for the last mile student experience. Being in the field of online education, where there’s no dearth of free courses on all subjects under the sun, the excellent learner experience was what was going to separate UpGrad from the rest.
The Idea Called UpGrad: Why Education is Serious Business

Another key quality that I noticed in the top management was that they were willing to get their hands dirty with actual content creation work. I have had the opportunity to work with the co-founders on topics ranging from Hypothesis Testing to K Means and Hierarchical Clustering. The CEOs and CTOs of the company did not shy away from doing the grunt work like getting deep into the concepts, writing scripts, creating assessment questions, conceptualising animation and graphics and even answering student queries.
However, it was a tough few initial months at UpGrad. The Data Analytics program was scheduled to launch towards the end of May, but the content of the initial parts was yet to be ready. So it was a tight race against time and it took a substantial number of all-nighters and working weekends to launch the program on time. But, what made these nights and weekends memorable was the collaborative effort put in by different teams at UpGrad. We had the production team working with us on the video components, the Tech team fast-tracked their effort on the Learning Management System. Even the finance team was generous with the reimbursements for our late night pizza parties. Finally, through this combined effort, we managed to launch the program on time.
Building the Largest Online Program Content in India UpGrad Blog
Joining a product team at such an early stage has its own advantages. First, you get the satisfaction of having built something successful right from scratch. Second, you get a 360 – degree view of all the aspects of the products – ranging from sales and marketing to finalising student selection criteria, onboarding industry experts and subject matter experts (SMEs) for the program to assisting in B2B collaborations.
Just as in any other product, what matters at the end is the feedback from our learners. While we received a fair share of brickbats initially from our learners about exceeding the promised learner time required per week, there is nothing more gratifying than the content that you created getting high student rating or the learners appreciating your content on their Whatsapp group (yes, we have sources in that group!).
However, as a team, what we put the premium on is whether the learner is actually gaining from the program and if this is bringing a tangible impact on his career prospects. Thus, instead of high student feedback rating, it’s the news of career transitions of our learners that really gets us partying.
Start-Up Founders Listen Up! Freedom at Work is the Key to Success

The other aspect that we give importance is the perfection in execution. The sheer volume of the content that we churn out on a weekly basis is enormous and we strive to achieve a zero-error count in our content. In fact, there are internal Slack channels where the whole of UpGrad gets notified whenever a learner raises a content-related concern. Well, this ensures two objectives are met – the student’s query gets resolved on a priority basis and if the issue raised is genuine, the content creator becomes extra cautious from the next time onwards. From personal experience, I can tell you that it’s always better to ensure zero-error in your content than to be embarrassed on public Slack channels!

We have now launched the 5th batch for the newly termed ‘Data Science program’ and this has become the largest online program in India. So, what did I gain from this program? Well, as I mentioned before, I wanted a role where I could learn on the job and at UpGrad, I never stopped learning. I always get to learn about new topics, new tools, work on new programs, work and network with top industry SMEs, and get paid for all of it!
Want to be part of a similar journey, one that is exciting and challenging at the same time?
Feel free to apply for roles in the content team by sending your CVs to onkar.shaligram@upgrad.com or hema.negi@upgrad.com

Profile

Reetesh Chandra

Blog Author
Reetesh is Project Manager of Data Sciences Program at UpGrad. He manages end-to-end student experience of the Data Sciences program.
Get Free Consultation

Select Coursecaret down icon
Selectcaret down icon
By clicking 'Submit' you Agree to  
UpGrad's Terms & Conditions

Our Popular MBA Course

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1What exactly is data analytics?

Data analytics is the ability to get things done to discover trends and draw conclusions about the data contained within them. It is increasingly being performed with the assistance of specialised systems and software. Data analytics techniques and processes are performed by machines through computer instructions into mechanical processes and methodologies that work over original information for human consumption. Data analytics is a powerful accessory by which a company can improve its overall performance. They employ a range of tools and techniques to assist organisations in making decisions and succeeding.

2Are online programs worth it?

According to the report, 86% of online students said the value of their degree was equal to or greater than the cost of pursuing it. 85% of those who have taken both on-campus and online courses believe that online courses are just as good as or better than on-campus classes. Online programs give students the freedom to learn at their own pace, with the added benefit of being able to create a schedule that matches everyone's schedule. As a result, choosing an online program platform provides for a better work-study balance, so there's no need to sacrifice anything.

3What are the four different kinds of data analytics?

Descriptive, descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics are the four types of data analytics. The descriptive analytics help to provide you with the answer that what happened? Customers prefer this type of analytics because it provides reporting and analysis based on past events. Diagnostic analytics addresses the critical inquiry of why an incidence or anomaly occurred within your data, rather than focusing on the “what”. Predictive analytics is a type of advanced analytics that uses machine learning to predict what is likely to occur based on historical data. Prescriptive analytics is synonymous with true guided analytics. It refers to the true orientation in which it guides you to take a specific action.

Explore Free Courses

Suggested Blogs

Top 7 Jobs in Demand in 2024 [And How to Prepare Yourself?]
899523
Thanks to demographic changes and technological advancements, the job landscape has shifted considerably across the globe. In the coming years, new jo
Read More

by upGrad

05 Mar 2024

Top 10 Highest Paying IT Certifications in India in 2024 [Astonishing]
78694
Summary: In this article, you will learn about the top 10 highest-paying IT certifications in India. Take a glimpse below. Business Intelligence (B
Read More

by Rahul Karthikeyan

05 Mar 2024

Salary for M.Sc IT Graduates: Highest Paying Job Roles for M.Sc IT [2023]
900729
Are you an MSc IT student wondering what career you should pursue? Then you’ve come to the right place. This article will help you figure out yo
Read More

by Sriram

04 Mar 2024

Career Options in Commerce With Maths: 6 Top Courses To Select in 2024
68981
Are you commerce with maths student wondering what career you should choose? Then you’ve come to the right place. This article will discuss the
Read More

by Sriram

04 Mar 2024

15 Most Popular Sales Interview Questions & Answers [For Freshers 2024]
104245
Most sales interviews start with a question about you and end with one about the company. While it is not possible to predict every question in a sale
Read More

by Kamal Jacob

04 Mar 2024

Top 15 Highest Paying Jobs in Computer Science in India [2024]
924426
Computer Science is a fast-evolving domain that is now an integral part of our modern world. In fact, Computer Science and computing/software technolo
Read More

by Rohan Vats

04 Mar 2024

Tower of Hanoi Algorithm Using Recursion: Definition, Use-cases, Advantages
5073
Are you searching for the Tower of Hanoi problem’s solution in simpler way on the whole internet? Well, you came to the right place. In this blo
Read More

by venkatesh Rajanala

04 Mar 2024

Top 50 Linux Interview Questions & Answers for Freshers & Experienced
5053
Linux Interview Questions & Answers for Freshers & Experienced Basic Linux Interview Questions for Freshers {25 Question}  What is Linux? D
Read More

by Harish K

03 Mar 2024

Strassen’s Matrix Multiplication Algorithm Explained
5163
Imagine multiplying large matrices together by hand—it’s tedious and time-consuming, right? Well, that’s where Strassen’s Matrix Mul
Read More

by Harish K

01 Mar 2024

Schedule 1:1 free counsellingTalk to Career Expert
icon
footer sticky close icon