Our main product is an online course for learning Core Java. It has become very popular with more than 2 million people around the world trying it out. Tens of thousands of graduates of our course are already working as programmers. 

Last year we launched a new CodeGym University project to train Full Stack Java developers from zero to Java Junior Developer level. It is successfully taking place in several countries, and now we are organising this project in India. And now - a little more about it.

How it started

10 years ago, we launched the Core Java online course. At that time, there were very few such solutions: focused not on theory, but on practice, with automated verification of tasks and tips for bug fixing. 

Previously, we studied the market, and decided to focus specifically on teaching the Java language. It was and remains one of the most popular programming languages, specialists are in demand in many countries and in most areas of application.

During this time, more than 2 million students worldwide have tried our course, and over 30,000 people from 40+ countries have successfully completed the course. The vast majority, 95% of our graduates have already found jobs. Employers include companies such as Ubisoft, Citrix, Intuit, VMware, Microsoft, Oracle, Google, EPAM, Luxoft, Wells Fargo, SoftServe, GlobalLogic, Ciklum, Wargaming, Infosys, TATA, etc.

We are currently a global company headquartered in the US, headquartered in Europe and now we have a team in India.

Next step: CodeGym University

We are constantly developing and improving our CodeGym online course. It is designed in such a way that you can practice at any time, independently and as quickly as you like. We had constant feedback from our students and from them we learned a lot of useful information for our new project, CodeGym University.

In particular, that self-study, with all its advantages, is not suitable for everyone. A lot of people said that they really like our online course, but there are a lack of deadlines, mentors, and teamwork. 

Moreover, our course fully covers only Core Java, but over the past 10 years, the requirements for Java first job applicants have grown. Now it often includes practical knowledge of Spring and Hibernate, working with databases, the ability to work with new Java features and much more. Some of such topics are extremely difficult to learn on your own, and at this stage, the role of a mentor and teamwork is even more important. Therefore, we decided to create CodeGym University, a project that combines the strengths of CodeGym and group learning with mentors. This is a hands-on course that lasts 12 months, during which time students get the opportunity to learn Java programming from scratch to a Junior developer's level. 

What’s now? Indian market  

We have now decided to enter the Indian market with the Java University project.

The Indian IT market is very promising. By 2025, this segment will reach $5bn, i.e., half of the Indian EdTech industry at that time. In addition, in India, as well as throughout the world, the Java language is traditionally popular. According to Naukri.com alone, you can find from 75,000 to 100,000 published vacancies. Junior Java developers in India earn between four lakhs and six lakhs. Senior Java developers in India earn 15-25 lakhs. And it's not the limit at all.

The Indian economy is growing rapidly and the proportion of the young population is quite high (people aged 15 to 29 were 27.2% in 2021). There are more than 658 million Internet users in India, which explains the high demand for online education and the explosive growth of IT companies.

Moreover, India is the world leader in IT outsourcing and the demand for programmers continues to grow here. For example, 14,000 new startups were launched in India in 2021.

Although we had a lot of experience, India seemed like a big challenge. First of all there is a serious cultural gap between Ukraine and India. Second, the conditions our employees have to work this year. Our main office is located in Ukraine, and after the outbreak of the war, some of the employees fled the country, and some moved to other regions of Ukraine.

Research and preparation 

Before entering the market, we decided to carefully study it. To begin with, we studied the research of the Indian EdTech market, its potential and our future competitors. We also held meetings with market experts and interviewed Indian clients of our flagship product, the online self-paced Java course. It was not easy to do this: in our country there are constant air raid alerts, shelling, interruptions in electricity and the Internet.

Nevertheless, our team managed and this stage gave us a lot of valuable ideas. In particular, the most important thing for Indian students was to get not just knowledge of Java, but to get a job. Therefore, most students were dissatisfied with the existing short courses, after which it was unrealistic to find a job.

We also came to another conclusion: we can really give what the target audience needs. According to our surveys, 95% of our graduates find their first job within three months of completing their course. We were confident that in 12 months we could train Java developers who would immediately receive job offers.

So, we realised that if we offer potential students a job guarantee, they will gladly choose us and started CodeGym University India. 

Ready, steady, go! 

However, not everything was perfect. Let's say we had a sales department, but it used to work in a completely different way than in India, closer to Western countries. For example, our salespeople can immediately get down to business, discuss the offer and quickly close the deal. India has taken a different approach. There, even business-related people prefer to establish personal communication, get to know each other, talk about life. Only then can you start discussing your proposal. The most important thing is trust. The competence of specialists from other countries is questionable by locals. And our team was only superficially familiar with Indian culture. These factors hindered efficient operation and we decided to hire a local team.

We now have four sales managers in India, several career consultants and Java mentors.

Our mentors are professional Java developers working for companies such as SalesForce, Walmart Tech, and Microsoft. We, in turn, showed them our teaching methods, and now they combine their understanding of the local culture with the techniques of CodeGym.

Currently, we are holding free webinars and test lectures, checking how everything works and trying to improve. Participants ask us questions, we learn statistics and analyse audience interest. The next group of CodeGym University India starts in January 2023. We hope that all its participants will reach the end of their studies, and then they will definitely become programmers.

How CodeGym Java University works?

CodeGym Java University is a 12-month tutored course that combines all the benefits of our online course (gamification, lots of practice, automatic checks on completed assignments, etc.) with a traditional teaching approach (live lectures and mentors).

Classes are held in small groups in English. The lessons are live online sessions in Zoom with experienced teachers who also are practicing Java developers. As part of these classes, teachers explain new theoretical topics to students, analyse homework assignments, and answer questions.

This course is for

• Beginners or people with zero knowledge of programming
• Industry switchers who work in IT but want to start a career as a Java Developer
• Java specialists who want to improve their skills or review the material 
• Innovators who want to dive into the programming sphere and get some new knowledge