Why India's New IT Grads are Ready: Education Revealed
Analyze why India’s new graduates have the coding skills of Japan’s mid-career professionals. We explain unique educational systems, practices, and selection processes, offering hiring insights for Japanese companies to understand.
Contents
Overwhelming odds create 'selected intellect'
When discussing the high quality of India's engineering students, we cannot avoid the "filtering function" before university admission. India produces about 1.5 million engineering graduates annually, but the entry competition rate for IIT (Indian Institute of Technology), at the pinnacle, is less than 1%.
The harshness of JEE (Joint Entrance Examination)
Unlike university entrance exams in Japan, JEE, the entrance exam for IIT and NIT (National Institute of Technology), demands extremely high logical thinking and mathematical skills. It's no exaggeration to say that clearing this exam guarantees the fundamental skills in algorithm construction necessary for programming. Hiring students from Tier1 universities means acquiring the "natural intelligence" that has passed through this rigorous selection process.
A curriculum structure that emphasizes 'implementation' rather than 'research'
In contrast to Japan's science university education which places emphasis on an academic approach with "laboratory placement" and "graduation thesis," India's engineering education is focused on thorough "engineering (implementation)."
Coding education from the first year
In many technical universities, regardless of major, C++ or Python are compulsory subjects. Furthermore, Computer Science students master data structures and algorithms (DSA) by the end of the second year, and routinely improve their ranks on coding platforms such as LeetCode and HackerRank.
Difference in evaluation criteria
In grade evaluation (GPA), not only written exams but also whether "actually functional code was written" and "projects were completed" hold considerable weight. Therefore, students spend time creating portfolios on GitHub rather than just memorizing theories.
6-month mandatory internship system
The greatest feature of engineering education in India is that many universities allow or require students to spend their entire final year (especially the 8th semester) as an internship at a company.
Not "work experience," but "practical work"
Unlike Japan's few days internships, India's internships are generally full-time work, five days a week. Students are assigned to a company's development team and given actual product development tasks. As a result, by the time they graduate from university, they already have "more than six months of practical experience."
Competition to secure PPO (Pre-Placement Offer)
For students, internships are a direct path to employment. If their performance is high, they will receive a job offer (PPO) before graduating, so they aim to produce results with enthusiasm equal to or greater than that of employees. This system accelerates the immediate effectiveness of new graduates.
Speed of keeping up with the latest technology and curriculum revision
India's IT educational institutions, especially private universities and top-tier Tier 2 colleges, frequently update their curriculum to align with industry trends.
Close ties with the industry
It is not uncommon for alumni from companies like Google, Microsoft, or Infosys to join the curriculum planning committees. For example, subjects like AI/ML (machine learning), blockchain, and cloud computing (AWS/Azure) are quickly incorporated as official subjects in response to increasing demand.
Comparison with Japan
In contrast, while it often takes years for universities in Japan to change their curricula, India has the speed to reflect "the technology stack currently used in Silicon Valley" in the next semester's lectures. As a result, it's common to find that even fresh graduates have an understanding of basic concepts of Docker and Kubernetes.
English information-gathering skills, access to 'primary information.'
India's advanced math and science education is conducted entirely in English. This is a decisive factor directly linked to improvement of technical expertise.
Speed of reading technical documents
The official documents for new programming languages and frameworks are released in English first. Indian students read them proficiently, without translation, while Japanese speakers wait for translations, enabling students to acquire skills ahead.
Participating in the global community
Being able to participate in discussions on Stack Overflow and GitHub Issues directly in English leads to overwhelmingly fast troubleshooting solutions. This high "self-solving capability" connects to autonomous skills that do not burden senior engineers in practical work.
Hackathon culture as off-campus learning
Besides university classes, participation in hackathons has become a student's status. Hackathons like Smart India Hackathon are held on a national scale, with hundreds of thousands of students participating.
Prototyping ability in a short period
In hackathons, in a limited time of 24-48 hours, everything from idea generation to implementation and demo is done. This develops the mindset most sought after in the business world, not only to write clean code but also to "create a working product within the deadline."
Summary
There are reasons why new graduate IT personnel in India are immediately effective, beyond just the large population or individual qualities. The entire ecosystem of the structural education system, including "selective admission criteria," "curriculum focused on implementation," "practical experience through long-term internships," and "access to the latest technology in English," produces high-quality engineers. They surpass the framework of being mere new graduates and possess a technical background comparable to young and mid-level Japanese engineers.
However, not all Indian students are at this level. The difference in capability based on university ranks from Tier1 to Tier3, and the ability to discern individual tendencies (whether they are research-oriented or product-focused), holds the key to successful recruitment.
Strengths and Proposals of Phinx At Phinx, a specialized team well-versed in local Indian circumstances targets a student base that becomes the "true immediate asset" aligned with your company's tech stack and culture. Beyond simple matching, we conduct rigorous screening based on the curriculum content from the university of origin and internship achievements to prevent mismatches after joining. When considering recruitment of Indian science and engineering personnel, please consult Phinx. We offer recruitment strategies based on reliable data and track records.
Stay up-to-date