FunctionUp integrates ChatGPT in all courses to prepare students for the future jobs

Hiring sentiment in the technology industry remains subdued as technology giants across the world undertake mass layoffs. With the advent of ChatGPT kind of generative AI tools, a lot of disruption is likely on the cards. Against this backdrop, skilling in emerging tech remains a priority. FunctionUp, a placement bootcamp focused backend engineering learning platform, allows professionals from any background to learn backend engineering, coding, programming languages within a short span of time. Its training modules are useful for students, professionals and senior management personnel. In a conversation with the Bizz Buzz, Bharat Gupta, CEO and Co-founder of FunctionUp said the company is integrating ChatGPT-related learnings in all its courses. Gupta, who had previously worked with consumer internet companies like Paytm, Urban Ladder, also said that with the advent of emerging technologies, many job roles are vanishing, while several new ones are getting generated. The Y-Combinator-backed company is currently collaborating with several engineering colleges to impart training from an early phase of career. The company, which is actively engaged with 750-800 companies, also has overseas expansion plans in coming years. On the overall hiring trend, Gupta said that despite low hiring, demand for certain skillsets continues

How is the overall demand environment as of now? All IT services companies have slowed down on hiring. Have you been impacted due to this phenomenon? Can you also give an overview of FunctionUp’s operations?

With technology giants doing the layoffs, it has certainly affected the overall market. However, companies are still hiring despite the layoffs. The current event is the outcome of global economic factors. What we also see is there is demand for right talent. That demand is still there. At FunctionUp, we are discussing with our partners and trying to gauge the kind of talent they require. Based on their demand, we run training cohorts. These cohorts range from 30 day to one year depending on the course. Usually, courses related to sales are shorter in duration as compared to data analytics courses. We train students, experienced people and senior management people.

The requirement, though reduced, looks very similar. Previously, if companies were hiring for five positions, they are now hiring for three. But, the drastic change is on the quantity. It is rather on the quality. The kind of they want to hire, and the skills they want to hire are very different. If they used to do three interview rounds, now they are doing five or six layer evaluation. The screening has become more difficult. Companies are very particular about skillsets, communication ability and other related aspects. There are a few job roles, where we have seen reduced openings like frontend developers, and data analysts. Because a lot of technology upgradation has happened. ChatGPT, AI and data science kind of things have come up. Moreover, market is a little subdued. So, these two events are playing out. It is an interesting time for the industry, where a lot of jobs are going out of picture, while many new jobs are getting created. While a typical data analyst job is seeing less openings, but a lot of data science jobs like product analysts, data engineer and related roles have seen a surge. Backend, data science, and sales are the fields in which we have seen a rise. That’s why, we have launched many cohorts around these skills.

Is generative AI being integrated with all your technology courses?

We have already included generative AI in all our courses. For instance, data science is getting leveraged across all sectors. So, we have couple of leaders who help us in the data science space. All our courses including business development have data science aspects. We are working with many multinational firms in imparting data science skills to their employees.

How does the operating model of FunctionUp work? Can you give some sense of your collaboration with different stakeholders? Also, please give us some idea about the number of programmes you run.

So, we are directly in touch with the companies. There is a partnership team which is trying to get connection with these companies. This gives us a sense what is required in the industry as we get a lot of feedback from companies. Therefore, our courses are very much linked to the market requirements. We are actively collaborating with 750-800 companies with whom we are in constant touch. We are running courses for working professionals, both short-term and long-term in nature. We are also launching many smaller duration courses for upskilling existing employees of companies.

Currently, we have four courses. One is our flagship product which is a backend technology programme that became a full stack development programme. Second one is in the area of sales and business development. Third one is data science programme, which is a one year programme. Under this programme, learners get a lot of project related work. Last one is a customised programme we provide to the companies for their employees. For instance, if a company is looking for training their senior management people, we provide that kind of customised courses. We are training many senior people in the areas of communication. Under these programmes, we add 250-300 learners to the pool every month. On monthly basis, we engage with around 500 people. We have touched 3,500-4000 companies and collaborated with 750-800 companies closely.

Which are the geographies, you currently operate in? Do you have any plans to launch operations abroad?

We are in India but we have plans to go to foreign markets. If you see the uniqueness of our data science programme, we try to place our students in the US and European markets. As we are Y-combinator backed, we interact with a lot of companies in the US on frequent basis. They have shown interest in hiring the people trained with us. Going ahead, we are preparing for those kind of job opportunities in the US and Europe market.

FunctionUp has a model of training students first and collect the training fees after their placements. Are you continuing with that model?

We all came from engineering backgrounds. The kind of skilling that should happen in colleges is not happening. When we graduated, the cost was manageable but not much. Parents are putting their hard-earned money to impart education. That was the motivation for which we began with that model. We are currently running that programme in a small way. We have sort of holding it back for now as the hiring sentiment is not that high.

Where do you see FunctionUp in the next two-three years? Can you give a glimpse of your future plans?

The future plan is to grow in our current field. At the same time, we want to contribute to the grassroot level. We want to start working with very early stage of students. That is the reason that we have partnered with a lot of colleges and offered many courses.