Ex-Google employees set up virtual school to prep students for tech world

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To help aspiring techies tide over the economic and job crisis brought about by the coronavirus outbreak, former Google top executives have launched Xoogler School to teach students or fresh graduates soft skills to navigate the rapidly changing world of technology.

A community of former senior executives at the tech giant, Xoogler.co will tap into its 9,000-strong member base for online workshops, classes, and sessions. The classes will be open to students across the world and will be largely free of cost except certain one-on-one or masterclass sessions.

“We are trying to use this vast network of ex-Google executives to help students across the globe in these tough times. The programme will be live-streamed where students can dial in and we will also record them for future references,” Ankit Jain, who is a partner at Xoogler.co and is heading the initiative, told Moneycontrol over the phone from California.

Also read: Exclusive: Xoogler makes its first investment in India, helps Rupifi close its pre-seed round

Jain, a Delhi-born technology graduate, was with Google from 2011-14 and then went on to work with multiple tech startups in Silicon Valley.

Jain believes the sessions can inspire engineers from India to do what he did in the 10 years in the US.

With remote work gaining ground, many aspiring engineers can prepare themselves for large American companies even from India.

“We have lined up some 150 speakers volunteering for these sessions already. Since the entire programme is online, we can line up anywhere between a few hundred to a few thousand students for these sessions,” he said.

Christopher Fong, who launched the Xoogler initiative after spending eight years with the company, said they would assess the applications and then selected candidates would be brought in.

Once in, these students would learn about placement opportunities, the future of work in the Valley and challenges posed by the coronavirus.

“We are looking to impart presentation skills to aspiring students on various topics like product management, marketing, sales, design and so many other subjects. Overall, the aim is to bridge the gap between college curriculum and industry requirements,” Jain said.

With Xoogler invested in 30 early-stage startups worldwide, promising students can get connected with these companies after finishing the course, Fong said.