Ignite: democratising software engineering at TCS

Ignite began as an innovative learning program started by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in 2007, under the close mentorship of the then CEO Mr. S Ramadorai, to include science graduates into the mainstream Information Technology (IT) roles. These roles were otherwise traditionally exclusively earmarked for engineering graduates. Designing a suitable program for this cohort was a challenge since the cohort was traditionally under-represented in IT companies and came with a minimal formal intellectual apparatus in software engineering. This includes women, first-generation graduates and students from low-income brackets who did not get an opportunity to pursue an engineering education. Over the years, we have been able to identify talent from this cohort through a democratic hiring process. We have designed a world class, training program for a thousand graduates who get selected and trained each year for IT roles. The program is high-tech and high touch; designed to support and catalyse several opportunities and modes of learning. This includes hands-on tools for practice, gamification via competitive programming, peer-to-peer learning, ambient learning from the design of the space and an incubator model of learning, to name a few. We have continuously and deliberately sought to refine our processes, curricula and pedagogy for this cohort through experimentation. Along the way, we have designed a learning organization (Senge in 126–138, 1990) [1] that continuously evolves with time. In this paper, we share a replicable system of identifying and training this under-represented and under-served talent; and set them on a path of becoming world class professionals. We share some of our most effective pedagogical practices along with qualitative outcomes that were learnt over a 15-year long period and with over 12,400 + science graduates who have passed through our program.