TCS Youth Employment Program: Journey of a Student to a Trainer

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Highlights

TCS’ Youth Employment Program is a skills development program for youth from marginalized families that imparts technical knowledge and business communication skills.
Rakshith, a student who underwent the program was able to chart his journey from the Nadahalli village to the TCS office in Bengaluru where he now supports a leading BFS account.
TCS’ CSR efforts have also provided Rakshith a platform to help others like him; he now volunteers to conduct aptitude sessions for students across 14 colleges.

Insights in this article

Testimonies of success

Rakshith's family's only source of sustenance till two years ago was their paddy field. Two years after Rakshith’s employment with TCS, his family now owns a coffee estate near their village.

Rain or sunshine, parents, Shankar D H and Shashikala once toiled in the paddy farms to make ends meet. The priority on their minds was educating their son, Rakshith, and ensuring equal opportunity for both the siblings.

Located in Nadahalli village in the South Indian state of Karnataka, Rakshith’s household now carries tell-tale signs that his income after becoming an engineer has made a difference in their quality of life. The first testimony of change was a brand new, high-end television set, and more gadgets followed. Rakshith is also his sister's caretaker and funds her college education.

How the journey began

He began his journey at the state-run Sri Morarji Desai School, where his knack for complex calculations and equations was evident. Since machines and tools always fascinated him, his next port of call was again a state-run institution, Government Engineering College of Kushalnagar, from where he obtained his Mechanical Engineering degree in 2018.

During the last three semesters of his graduate program, he joined the TCS Youth Employment Program for rural undergraduates in engineering colleges. He describes his association with the program as "a remarkable transformation journey". For him, it made up for the skills he could not develop in school.

Making a difference

At the conclusion of the program, he wrote in his feedback: "I can proudly say that this employability program for skill development of the youth improved my basics and created a stronger foundation for the technical domain, as well as for business communication.

"To achieve goals in life, it is necessary to have positive thinking and ability to manage time effectively. I also acquired knowledge of these aspects while attending the sessions. Each session taught me new concepts through various real-life examples and activities... the interactive teaching methods, techniques and practical sessions were a whole new experience.

"The program gave me much-needed Industry exposure and put me on the right path to achieve the goal of getting placed in a renowned organization. It groomed me professionally and made me more confident in communicative skills. This program is a must for rural students, who are aspiring to achieve their goals with limited available resources."

Once a student, now a trainer

Rakshith was drafted from his campus in 2018 to join TCS in Bengaluru. He is currently working there as an Assistant System Engineer and supports a leading BFS Account. Within a year of joining TCS, Rakshith was awarded the Best CSR volunteer of 2019 and even bagged the CSR Champion Award For 2020. His new interests are Python programming and learning more about trading tools.

He came in the fold of Youth Employment Program to hone his skills to become employable; but left with a passion to render selfless services to society.

Toying with machines and tools since his days in school, Rakshith always nurtured the dream of becoming a design engineer. However, changing the preference to the IT sector was his heart's calling after he experienced the spirit of volunteering, devotion, and sacrifice of the trainers. At the end of the training, he was determined to join TCS to access the organization's platform to give back to society.

It was straight into CSR activities from the time Rakshith donned the TCS identity card’s lanyard. Rakshith, outside his working hours, now conducts an average of 8-10 aptitude sessions every quarter with at least 40-60 students attending each session across 14 colleges. His passion may be ignited by TCS but it is his dedication that has made his inspiring journey possible.