25th Anniversary of Srikanth Technologies

On 25th anniversary of Srikanth Technologies, I look back at the whole journey with a lot of accomplishment and pride.

I never thought I would run it so long. But enjoyed the whole journey. Well not every day was awesome. There were some tough days. But overall, it has been a wonderful and fulfilling journey.

Big thanks to all those who helped in small or big ways to run the show for so long with the same principles that I started.

Humble Beginning

Since I became a freelancer on 28th Feb, 1998, I conducted courses in various places, including my home.

Then finally I took courage to take a place of my own and rented a single room (classroom) that can accommodate some 25 to 40 people. The rent for that classroom was 2500/-.

Coming from a family with no business experience whatsoever and no asset to fall back, it was not easy for me to start something on my own.

I bought 25 chairs for students, one whiteboard and a table for demonstration system. I still use those 25 chairs and that demonstration table though it underwent many minor modifications.

I started on 24th Oct, 1998. First batch was Visual Basic with 25 students (with just same number of chairs).

Yes. It was not by any means any institute kind of setup at that time and I didn't even have any name for that.

I had no phone at office because in 1998 even getting a landline was a big deal with only BSNL providing those services.

I was living with my parents and my home phone was used for enquiries. My wife, Padmaja, handled those enquiries when I was not at home (Praneeth was just months baby and needed all her attention) and my father would go to my classroom and sit there to provide information to students who would come to enquire by somehow finding that small classroom at the back of the building at Srinagar, Dwarkanagar.

As students found it difficult to locate my place, I had to give a name and came up with – Srikanth Technologies. Put a glow sign board and made locating my place a little easier.

As we couldn't accommodate students in that small classroom, we had to break a wall and extend classroom to a capacity of 100 people. It was simple non-ac classroom with two monitors for display.

Later in 2004, we moved to new premises (our current premises) with better infrastructure like Projector and AC classroom, which can accommodate 100.

Puja at the beginning

Classroom at Old Premises

Classroom at New Premises

Ups and Downs

I have seen boom and bust of IT Industry. No one escapes the market trends. But in good times and bad times we did the same. I have been punctual, sincere and strict in good times and bad times. My approach has been the same whether I had 100 students or 10 students.

I always respected students who trusted in me. I always try to meet my own standards. No, I am not in the business of pleasing people. I am in the business of being professional and delivering at the best of my abilities.

I never compromised on quality, never indulged in any gimmicks to get more students, never had any business plans. Never had any business targets. Always loved to share my knowledge. It has been word of mouth for me. Students brought students.

I never compare my course fees and syllabuses with any other institute anywhere. With my experience and knowledge that I gained from books and other experts (like authors) in the industry, I design the syllabus and set a fee, which I feel is justified. I honestly have no clue what others are doing. I just mind my own business.

What we have taught

As I love to learn different languages and technologies, I spread my net very wide. Here are the technologies/products/languages I have taught so far in Srikanth Technologies.

Some of these are no longer offered by me because they are either not relevant in today's market or I am no longer interested in those topics.

C	C++	Unix	Oracle Database	Oracle DBA
Java	Java EE (Servlets, JSP and EJB)	Struts1	Struts2	JSF
XML and WAP	Hibernate	Spring	Android Programming	SQLite
ASP (Classic ASP)	Visual basic 6.0	Microsoft.NET	C#	Visual Basic.Net
ASP.NET	ASP.NET MVC	Entity Framework	.NET Core	PHP
MS SQL Server	HTML	CSS	JavaScript	jQuery
TypeScript	AngularJS and Angular	React	Node.js	Express.js
Python	Django	Data Science	AWS	MySQL

Online Classes

In 2016, some of my students suggested I start online classes so that they can continue to learn even if they are not in Vizag. Though Internet was not that great, I did start online sessions with Skype and eventually moved to GoToMeeting software for all my online sessions.

During COVID, the conversion to complete online was seamless as I was very much used to that platform for last 3 years. I even conducted some corporate trainings completely online.

I see around 50% of the students are now-a-days online in general. However, based on timings of the batch it could vary. In some cases, I offer only online mode, but mostly my courses are hybrid (classroom and online).

Students

There has been a huge decline in the commitment of students towards learning. In the past I have seen many were so keen on learning. I see a huge decline in that attitude. We have more resources to learn and grow, but many misuse resources and learn very little.

Many just come out of colleges with no skills of any relevance or value to industry. Many just do not want to learn anything to build their careers. I see a lot of them drifted and distracted.

Learning demands a lot of discipline. That seems to be the need of the hour for many. Some join courses, but lack regularity and punctuality.

Having written all that, I must mention that there are still a few very disciplined students, who are eager to learn. I respect them a lot. They motivate me to work harder and give more.

I have come across some highly respectable students and I am in touch with many of them. There cannot be a Teacher's Day without a mail from those students, including students from batches in late 90s.

Corporate Training

I had the privilege to be associated with good number of corporates in Vizag and also some outside. My association with Vizag Steel has always been a memorable one.

I do not approach corporates as my schedule on daily basis is keeping me busy. But whenever they approach me and trust me, I love to go to their premises and deliver.

Of late I have been a regular trainer for ImagInnovate, training their freshers. It has been great association with them.

You find all my corporate clientele here.

Share your experience

As we have reached a milestone, I request students to write to me about their experience with Srikanth Technologies. I would like to know what role it played in your life and what feelings you hold for it.

Please write to contact@srikanthtechnologies.com. I am eager to read your opinions.

I look forward to continuing the journey with the same integrity and passion.

Srikanth Pragada,
Founder, Srikanth Technologies