KARACHI:
Rabee Javed is a 17-year old who is making Rs80,000 a month for working at one of the largest tech firms in the country. His intermediate results are not even out yet and the Karachi Public School student is earning more than most people twice his age. This is not all, after he works three years for the company, he will have a fully funded education to any international or local university of his choice.
Rabee is one of the eleven students selected by The Resource Group for their TRG genius programme.
The Pakistani multinational, that sells call centre optimisation software and other back-hand services, has not been able to find human resources smart enough for software coding due to the brain drain and other educational infrastructural quirks.
The few that they do find from the good universities in Pakistan – barely two per class – are not enough. This combined with the high attrition rate at their company, as coders go abroad for higher education two to three years after they join and never come back, presents a shortage of human resource that the company has found a very unique solution for. The solution could revolutionise education and hiring in the country if it does as well as they plan.
The outsourcing giants have developed a business model in which instead of waiting ten years for students to develop, they are going to single out the smartest students in Pakistan right after secondary school and give them an entire education within four months and make those students productive within a year.
This is not just about TRG’s single minded determination to get quality human resources, if the business model works, they could probably export the prodigies to different parts of the world, and also capitalise on it.
“TRG’s genius hunt programme is designed to find the most gifted and talented high school students in the country and then give them concentrated and practical exposure to the sciences, arts and tools required for them to succeed in the most complex commercial challenges. If we succeed, we will change the paradigm of education in Pakistan for those pupils who are the intellectually elite,” said The Resource Group Chairman and CEO Zia Chishti. TRG is taking no chances with these young adults and has prepared an elaborate gauntlet to ensure that they only hire the best of the best. The battery of testing begins with an IQ test, the Mensa. Around 2,000 different students from 11 different colleges in Karachi gave this test.
The Mensa IQ test whittled these 2,000 hopefuls to a mere 30. The thirty students tested their mettle against TRG’s own tests which included tests for pattern recognition, and analytical ability. After these gruelling tests, only 11 students were left standing.
“Around 180 million people live in Pakistan … within such a large, genetic mix there must be 100s, if not 1000s of potential Einstein’s or Abdus Salam’s waiting to be discovered,” said the firm’s Executive Director Rahim Lalani.
This could really set the trend for developing and honing talent in developing countries – with Pakistan leading the charge in making it happen – if the company could nurture this resource.
TRG officials are not going to make the lives of these eleven kids any easier. The company has informed their parents that they are going to be working with these kids to the bone amid exotic working hours. However, with the pay scales being offered, none of the parents had an issue.
Since then, these kids have undergone hefty training sessions by people including chief statistician of the Nielsen company, James Spottiswoode who was also director research at the World Bank.
To improve their language skills, TRG has hired Naz Ahsanuddin, an English instructor who has been teaching at Karachi Grammar School since 1971. These geniuses are also going to be taught by Ivy League grads that fill most of the company’s upper echelons. A fast track training programme will be given to the mighty eleven which will cover the entire A-level further mathematics course in four weeks and another one which will sum up the computer science degree, that is taught to these students in four years, will be covered in four months.
After that, these TRG geniuses will start working on data analysis, artificial intelligence, algorithms and statistics for the company. TRG expects that the first year will be mostly spent during training, the second year will yield some returns while the third year will be serious work and payoffs for the company. The company has committed a million dollars to this project and are expecting to make hefty returns.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2011.
COMMENTS (35)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@S.Khan: I saw your comment and agree. When did you work for him? I did some work in 2006 for his dental company.
John
For detailed information on the Genius Hunt programme, visit the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-trg-tech-Genius-Hunt-Age-17-19-Reward-Rs-80000month-for-3-years/140764662660890?sk=wall
You may have to like the page to gain access, but you will get all the information you want.
It is completely impossible to teach 4 years of computer science in just 4 months. that is basically squeezing everything in one semester. i am myself a student of computer science, and there are many different courses which a student studies, and studies about 20 or so computer science courses which amount to 40 which include the humanities courses as well.
the kids will not know anything in depth. they will not know the logic and the concepts behind the things being taught.
also programming is a skill that must be learned and practiced over time. it just can;t be taught in 4 months and then expect them to be expert programmers. also debugging is an issue which requires alot of time and effort. also building top quality software is of utmost importance which can only be appreciated by those who have an experience in developing software/programs.
this whole report seems fake to me. it is not humanely possible to do what they are trying to do. if true, i pity the kids who have been lured in by the money.
i have worked for TRG and no way do they give you 80K per month. Thats what they advertise to lure people in. The grind is they cut your money on QoS which is very abstract at TRG. it depends on the mood of the quality assurance manager at that time to determine if youve been happy enough or alert enough or giving out a positive vibe or not...how do u gauge all that?!!!.... then they retain a 20% of you salary per month for 2 yrs and only if you complete 2 yrs they give that money back to you. but due to the inhuman approach only 0.0001% remain their completing 2 yrs work period. there is no such thing overtime being paid. the money you earn or rather should have earned is automatically donated to some charity that TRG is associated with. its tough to find human resource cause they have used abused and got rid of most of the educated youngsters already!...no way in the world can you squeeze 4 yrs worth of education into 4 weeks or 4 months.... thats just lame!!!
@Omair: It takes 4 years to build the foundation you need to shape up quickly in 4 weeks
if TRG wants to do this, then they do it, but i can not understand the logic of the salary being given to them. on what basis are they giving them Rs80,000 and alot more other benefits, while a topper of computer science from one of the top uni of pakistan joining as a fresh graduate will get not more than Rs40,000. this is complete injustice.
Firstly, very well done and hopefully in a country like Pakistan this should provide benefits to all stakeholders. Secondly, this is called "Apprenticeship". A model which has been existing since almost the concept of organised works. Developed countries like UK are looking to revert back to this as an alternative to university education. I for one believe that kids should not be pushed or trained thoroughly at such development stages in a particular field only. This destroys their creativity (as with most south asians of my generation) of thinking what is beyond and rather makes them slave to a trade. This should be avoided as we want next generations to be masters and versatile. Just my two pence :)
Good graduates pass out in bulk, the real scene behind this story is they eventually fly as TRG asks them to work 12-16 hrs a day which no mature guy would do, so they find other options and fly to other local companies or abroad. Now this trap helps TRG as young kids won't be making a switch this fast as they are getting good enough money from TRG plus it will be tough for these kids to get into top universities easily as they are investing their golden time in serving TRG-SPECIFIC Software Engineering, they should studying what they are suppose to do full time and work part-time if its really necessary.
This is nothing but another marketing ploy. TRG has mislead many people before. They have wasted millions of dollars of investors already. This idea is flawed. My concerns/questions:
The business model does not work unless they plan to turn these kids bonded labor. If TRG could turn out profressionals in 4 weeks then shame on all the prestigiouos local and international schools who take 4 years for a Bachelors degree. There is a lot more to learn than just technical training. It is unfair to deprive these bright and young kids of a normal life including having time to play with other kids their age. I wonder if these kids will have time to read some good literature or some good books that may help them develop into better human beings If TRG believes finding good talent is as simple as conducting IQ tests, then God help them. No wonder the genius plan of buying call centers abroad and making billions did not work.Please stop the drama and get back to building products that deliver value.
Isn't this the company which has numerous regulatory issues with SECP?
MENSA is not an IQ test! It is a worldwide high IQ society having presence in Pakistan with nearly 200 members. MENSA has partnered with TRG to conduct tests in different colleges to identify the students having a high IQ who qualify to be part of this program being offered by TRG. Kindly correct the details in this news item. Thanks . Ali Vaqas Testing Coordinator MENSA Pakistan http://www.mensapk.org/team/
Starting up professional life a little early doesn't mean that someone's life is being spoiled, but it makes an individual a responsible citizen for the society. It is not mandatory to start searching jobs at the age of 23 or 25 (a trend here basically). These brilliant kids would have a clearer picture now what their Goal is, OR they can further decide it later what they would like to achieve in their life.
This courageous initiative will be beneficial for these geniuses and the company both, for me its a win-win situation. I am not surprised to see pessimism as for majority its a habit for not accepting anything good unless it is beneficial for them. One should have a courage to appreciate these initiatives as someone has taken the step for bringing up bright days for the country in education & technology field, though results are awaited but are definite Insha'Allah.
Furthermore, spending 8 or 10 hours for being productive are much better than spending same hours on Facebook. Excellent Initiative Zia Sb & TRG, and keep up the great work.
I am Proud to be a TRGian :).
why dont go all over pakistan dont just stay in karachi there are lot of qadeer khans there and please think about yellow govt school poor kids too. thank you
I like the idea but i am afraid or may be i am wrong but these kids should not me be brought up in one direction like TRG mentioned that they got hired after screening through different IQ tests then to put them in one direction for their owns benefit. It will be waste for a long term. May be they were not realized by the time that what they actually wanted to be in future. May be in future one of them will be a doctor or scientist you never know but now if they are associated with a specific business so early in their career. Just think!!!
From one side, It is good for students to learn so many things in short time without studying the extra stuff they don't have any interest. They would be passionate in this age and can be more innovative.
On other side, it is a destruction for them to be in professional life in so early age and with so much pressure. It surely make them frustrated and fed up with life and work. Company would be doing this only as marketing strategy. Students would not be sure about their career plan and company is forcing them to study maths or programming or IT stuff. Company might get 20% of these as extra ordinary scientists (at least after 3 years) but remaining 80% will not have that bright future which they could have by following normal path. And these may never compete with the people who have got 4 years proper computer science education.
If there could be a different approach to spend this money on bright students, it can be more useful for students and for nation.
I wish this could bring a mindset change in our education system. Best of Luck The RESOURCE Group
@Midas:
This isn't about making a positive difference. It’s about a company seducing underprivileged families for their own benefit. Is anyone at trg thinking about the psychological effects this program will have on these kids? I doubt it...
This is not a genuine effort to 'help' the nation, trg is just embracing age old Pakistani tradition of using people who don't know their rights.
Karachi Public School and TRG. Damn i am a proud fella :D
"entire A-level further mathematics course in four weeks"... "sum up the computer science degree, that is taught to these students in four years, will be covered in four months"
The Biggest Joke of all ... ROFL!!
Why can't TRG hunt these genius kids, send them abroad for higher education and make a bond with them to come back and serve trg for some time period? This is a much better model.
@Tracy: agreed! they are basically taking the juice out of them or atleast goin to. where there's a fortune.. there's a price! I dont knw if i should say Lucky They! or Poor Them!
These kids are being made to do the wrong things at the wrong age. They will miss out on enjoying university life at the right age and no compensation is good enough for it.
What's the problem with the haters here?
In a country where hundreds of people lose lives every month, bourgeoisie politicians carry $14000 handbags and every other person never misses an opportunity to cheat and manipulate. Today someone is trying to make a difference in a positive way but no like always we have to criticise, demotivate and discourage!
People really need to learn to appreciate genuine efforts made by others. Goodluck to the team at TRG in running this project!
Very cool!
May be u can shorten the training period in software sector or other fields but to be a doctor or an engineer, u still need proper education
I agree with tracy 100%.... TRG takes you waking hours away and give you nothing but a big fat cheque,that too after 10 days into the new month, and that also stops getting bigger after couple of years so these kids better get their act straight pick a place where they can enjoy their genius too... And FYI 11 were offered 7 joined and X have quit already rest on the way...
This effort is highly appreciable. Hats off to TRG tech.
Lets just hope they don't 1) push 'em to hard 2) make them mindless mechanics. We need innovators, which is only a careful/patient process.
TRG has its unique ideas of getting the best people and then getting the best out of them. Have had been associated with the organization earlier on, the parents of the kids should be proud to have their kids in this esteemed organization and Cheers for the company to exceute such a brilliant idea! it could be expected out of you only! All the best guys!
The kids are being exploited in the lure of money. Seriously the company itself has said that they will make the kids undergo serious grind once they are through with the training. For 16- or 17-year olds, they should not be working 10-12 hours a day. And is it even legal to employ under-18s on a full-time basis? The parents may have agreed to a compromise owing to their own poor financial circumstances. The expectations will be enormous and the kids might struggle to put up with it. What will the company do then? And what will the kids do should the company feel the need to pull its plug on the campaign?
I have had the honor to work for Zia's company, he is one of the greatest personalities for the contemporary Pakistan - with the main focus on social change. I have yet to meet someone else with such a detailed insight on everything he is into. Not to mention his respect for Urdu and Pakistan. I remember once he walked to us and said, "Cisco ka muqaami daftar kahaan hai?", considering that he moved to US at the age of 15, this is outstanding that he retains his culture and the love for his motherland*
Wish these young lads assist him in his vision.
Mashallah a very good step indeed.
May ALLAH (SWT) bless those who came up with this unique idea of tapping young Pakistani talent. I wish, Pakistani Gov't. should have taken such initiative.
I have been following entrepreneur Mr Zia Chishti since his invisalign venture and have seen TRG grow over the years. You are a Hero, Hats off to you Sir!
why waste 4 years in a university, when you can do that in 4 weeks at TRG