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Photo: K. Ananthan

Trendsetters T.R. Vijayanand (left) and his team

“Education need not be confined to semesters and exams,” says Vijayanand, who has set up S6teen to offer courses in web designing, but with a difference. There are no prerequisites. “There are no rules, no ID cards, and no enrolment. Anyone (from six to 60 years) can walk in and become a part of the learning process,” he tells you, as he logs on to www.s16edu.com

“The emphasis seems to be on college education without really worrying about what the student can actually learn and apply. We need a change,” he adds. S6teen, he says, has made the beginning in this direction with its innovative education about online space. The first step is helping the students set up a website of their own. “It works at the psychological level too. When you put up your photograph and details on a webpage, you send the link to your friends and family members,” he explains. And, if your concepts on the websites are innovative, enquiries start pouring in.

The success story of S. Prasath, who was into mechanical work, is just an example. “He is now the most sought after web designers even for international clients. We also encourage our employees to turn entrepreneurs, to provide more placements. One of them has set up foxdesign.com, and we outsource our project overflows to him” he adds.

A student of Bharathiar University has set up a website ( www.wireservicecoach.org), a ready reckoner for civil services exams. www.clarifydoubts.com, by a student of Sri Jayendra Saraswathy College of Arts and Science, allows free participation by students and staff from anywhere.

“We launch the website under their domain name. This will give them instant recognition and helps them get placements too,” he adds. Students from other cities also intern at the institute as a part of an in-plant training programme.

The shortage of web designers despite the presence of innumerable web designing institutes, he says, is because most institutes concentrate only on the teaching part. Students are not made aware of how to make money online. Take free Google ads ( www.google.com/adsense). “All you need is a website or a blog to register and Google will run their ads on your page. And, for every click on your webpage, Google pays you,” he explains.

There is Google analytics ( www.googleanalytics.com), which gives a complete analysis of your website, again for free. It’s a competitive analysis of the popularity of your website. The map overlay function even lists out countries of the visitors. Once you have such data, it is easy to initiate business talks with prospective clients.

One of Vijayanand’s students, who is pursuing higher studies in Australia, is also earning part-time in online business, thanks to the popularity of his website www.smarthawkers.com

Learning business nuances to market websites are also vital. For example, Google search. Every corporate company wants their company to be listed on the top 10 Google search.

“As a designer, you should be aware of the option of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) which lists the websites on the top, based on certain keywords,” Vijayanand explains this as he runs a Google search for the website of his client ‘Col’s Calibre, English Training Institute’ which features on the top 10 among 69,000 links for English training in Coimbatore.

Vijayanand’s S6teeen Technologies (P) Limited has a clientele across 12 countries. And, the latest is the website www.missuniversitylondon.com designed for 121 Entertainment Company in London. “Our technology wing is strong and is up-to-date. This gives us a cutting edge,” he adds. There is also logomaze.com, the graphic designing wing. They have also set up a blog which lists the basics of web designing. But, running the show is not a cakewalk. “We have eight computers, and we are managing to break even because of our international clients. We want investors and venture capitalists to take note of our work and help us take this education to more people,” says Vijayanand.

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