No takers for IT centres in Hyd

Time was when the ‘coaching centre street’ in Ameerpet was bustling with activity. Hundreds of students used to come here to sharpen their skills in various software coaching centres which had turned out to be recruiting agencies for IT firms too.
But with the down-turn the street looks deserted with several coaching centres either shutting shop or sticking to evening classes alone. The recession and freeze on recruitments by IT firms have hit them hard.
“Since the Lehman Brothers collapse last year, the IT industry in India has also taken a hit,” says Pradeep Kumar of the Live Tech coaching institute in Ameerpet’s Aditya Enclave. “Earlier, students were being lapped up by software companies even before they completed their courses. But they are now struggling to find jobs.”
With the number of students fast dwindling, the institutes have limited their coaching sessions. They have also drastically slashed their course fee in a bid to attract students.
“There is little else we can do to combat these bad times,” says A. Jayshree of the Rushi Institute. “There have been very few enrollments this year and there are hardly any freshers are joining software courses.”
The institutes are also experimenting with new courses since students are now moving towards banking jobs. “Nearly 40 per cent of the people who approach us these days want coaching in software programmes like Tally, Focus and Wings which are traditionally banking software,” says Pradeep.
While Java, Net and Oracle were displayed prominently on billboards earlier, it’s is now Tally and Wings that are being advertised heavily by coaching institutes.
Hardware courses too are gaining popularity. “A large number of students are approaching us for training in courses such as embedded systems and VLSI,” says Riya, administrative manager at Vector-Embedded institute.
“We are focusing on improving our skills so we can look for alternative jobs, till the economy improves,” says A. Shrikant, who completed his B. Tech in 2007 and is yet to land a job. Pavan Kumar, who did his B. Tech in Electronics, says students are left with no choice. “We cannot just sit idle because IT companies are not hiring,” he says. “We need to do something for a living.”