Every time we introduce CodeTrek to students, professors, training placement heads, our friends or anyone for that matter, they at least once do come up with questions like these…

• It is great that you have started an initiative like this, but how are you making money out of it?
• Yes, we will be happy to have a CodeTrek session in our college but before that what are your monetary requirements?
• Okay, CodeTrek is free for students, so the college will be paying for it, right?
• Since you don’t charge for these sessions, I believe it is a one-time thing. So when is the last date for CodeTrek?

No, we are not making money out of CodeTrek. There are no monetary requirements to organize a session on your college. Neither the students nor the colleges pay for it. And CodeTrek is not a one-time thing. It is going to be here and it is always going to be free!

With that established let’s move to the next big question. Why?

As a number of us in ColoredCow share a strong association with hills, we always wanted to contribute back to the place we belonged to. This is one of the major reason we decided to start another office here in Tehri, Uttarakhand.

When students approached us to share their concerns like “we get little exposure in hills, there are no learning opportunities, etc.” we decided to start CodeTrek to help them learn skills that are needed in the industry and which is usually not possible to learn while living in locations like this. The desire to do something was strong because being from hills, we had personally faced issues like these, we know that learning opportunities don’t come easy here. And how much a good guidance and mentorship can help in shaping your future.

As an organization, while interviewing students we have seen the gap that exists between what they have learned over the years and what is needed in the industry. Majority times they are unaware of the current market demand and keep working on obsolete technologies. This lack of awareness gives rise to shocking employability facts like only 7% engineering graduates employable etc.

We saw CodeTrek as an opportunity for bridging this gap. Rather than training a couple of students after hiring them, we decided to skill a larger number of students. With this approach, we are able to create awareness about what industry is looking for and more students are able to acquire these skills. At the end the more employable people in the market, the better the industry does and the better we do as an organization.

To make it possible all the mentors devote some time from their schedule for CodeTrek and do it for free without compromising on their work. We help students in learning new skills, we enhance our knowledge in the process and are able to contribute back to society. So when we are able to get so much from CodeTrek why would we dilute the feeling with monetary requirements.

And that is why CodeTrek is free and will always be free!