Flipkart, India's largest online marketplace has hired three graduates of Udacity India's Android Developer Nanodgree program without any interviews and based solely on their Udacity profiles and Nanodegree projects.

As we reported at the time, Udacity launched local operations in India in partnership with Google and Tata Trusts in September 2015 in order to bring its Nandegree program closer to home for Indian developers.

While it announced that all of its nanodegrees would be available with local support and in local currency - Rs 9,800 per month with 50% back on tuition on graduation - the initial emphasis was on its Android Developer Nanodegree with the availability of 1,000 full scholarships for any student who found having to pay for tuition a barrier to enrollment in this program.

The news that three of this programs first graduates have landed jobs with Flipkart signals the start of an partnership to hire high-performing Udacity Nanodegree graduates without requiring an in-person interview or formal job application.

According to the Udacity press release:

The innovative move, a rethinking of the technology industry’s traditional hiring methods based predominantly on personal interviews and referrals, shortens the hiring process and gives Flipkart an edge in the competitive hunt for talent. The initiative also showcases how forward-thinking companies like Flipkart are increasingly opening opportunities to job candidates who have built expertise through leading online education platforms like Udacity. 

Launched in 2007 Flipkart is India’s largest e-commerce marketplace with over 60% market share in mobile commerce, selling more than 30 million products - books, electronics, clothing etc - to a customer base of 50 million. According to Glassdoor it has more than 10,000 employees and on the basis of 307 employee reviews it has a rating of 3.8 out of 5.

Commenting on the new "interviewless" hiring process, Peeyush Ranjan, Flipkart's Chief Technology Officer said,

“The kind of disruptive work that we do at Flipkart demands a world-class talent pool and we are constantly on the look-out for experts who can solve the problems of Indian consumers. The conventional hiring process often comes down to the performance of the candidate on that specific day, which may not be a true reflection of their skills and temperament. This is where a partner like Udacity comes into the picture. We met them a few months ago with our case and wanted to try out this new space. The shortlisted profiles provided by them and the in-depth data we received were very helpful and allowed us to assess the candidate's competencies in a much better way. We really look forward to this association of tapping in some quality talent from their pool.”

In the United States Udacity recently announced a Nanodegree Plus program with the guarantee of a job within 6 months or your tuition refunded for eligible graduates of the program. However in this case job candidates would go through the normal hiring process - which, as we also reported recently, see The Tech Interview Process Lengthens, is a protracted affair. 

The jobs market is of course a matter of supply and demand and in the case of Android developers there is a big demand. According to Udacity:

India’s mobile economy is rapidly growing with talented developers in short supply. Today, the country has between 50,000 to 70,000 developers and is expected to need 20 million by the year 2020 (Internet & Mobile Association of India).  Android is the fastest growing mobile platform with companies battling to hire talented developers who are up-to-date on the latest Android technology and bring a fresh perspective to the product.

With e-Commerce set to expand over the coming years, as outlined in IoT Poised To Reshape E-Commerce, this demand is set to increase making it increasingly realistic to expect to find not just a job but a rewarding career after completing a training program like Udacity's Android Developer Nanodegree.

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