Amid Tech Layoffs, Ronnie Screwvala's UpGrad Reports Uptick In Upskilling

Ronnie Screwvala-led edtech unicorn upGrad is witnessing an uptick in the number of working professionals upskilling themselves amid massive layoffs in the tech sector.

In the past two years, working professionals' intent towards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses has increased by 54 per cent at upGrad, thereby also highlighting the job market trends. upGrad said that placements grew over 190 per cent since last financial year.

“Jobs that are being (cut) are mainly the roles where the skill levels are much lower. Some of them include manual testing, quality analysts, and project management,” said Mayank Kumar, managing director and co-founder of upGrad. “Jobs that are not being impacted relate to areas, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital skills.”

He said due to global macroeconomic uncertainty, increments may get impacted, but professionals with higher skills are in a better position to retain their jobs than the people who have not upskilled themselves.

upGrad works with over 400 global companies to upskill their talent. The firm said it has closed off its year with total placements crossing the 22,000-mark for first-time jobbers and working professionals.

The company said salaries of recently closed placements range from a low of Rs 6 lakh per annum to Rs 25 lakh per annum with the top end securing as high as Rs 2.5 crore per annum.

“We are growing at 100 per cent year on year,” said Kumar. “In fact, what is more, interesting is that despite the job losses, average salaries have gone up for people who are getting the right skills.