Cultivating an engineering mindset with employee education

Most projects today no longer consist of a series of simple tasks to be completed. They now often involve complex, related activities that are designed to impact multiple areas of a business and support future innovation. Undertaking and completing projects requires a creative approach unrestricted by convention. Virtusa encourages every employee, or “Virtusan,” to embrace the logic, curiosity, and creativity that come from thinking like an engineer.

No matter their role, every Virtusan takes part in the Virtusa Thrive Academy to learn valuable skills through rich, personalized learning journeys. Each employee comes away with a vast knowledge base that supports them in using the latest technology, including the suite of Adobe products, to build solutions that solve client challenges.

To provide the best customer experience and find solutions to increasingly complex business challenges, Virtusans all start their journey in the academy by learning the same foundational knowledge. Educators first identify each employee’s proficiency in primary and secondary skills. They then create pathways to build upon these existing skillsets to get everyone to the same level. This approach creates “T-shaped” resources for Virtusa, where every employee has a foundational level of proficiency across all skillsets (the horizontal part of the “T”), along with deeper expertise in specific skillsets (the vertical part of the “T”).

The program takes learning one step further. While every employee learns deep industry knowledge and soft skills for day-to-day success, educators then tailor the curriculum with learning paths based on clusters within the Adobe product suite. The default learning path aligns with Adobe’s skill clusters to promote technical proficiency and compliance. Deployment-focused paths center on ensuring project viability in real-world settings. And finally, more forward-looking paths use industry trends to better prepare employees for future roles.

Underpinning the entire learning journey is the development of an engineering mindset — a natural sense of curiosity and logic coupled with a healthy dose of creativity. This mindset, combined with the extensive skillset developed in the academy, empowers every employee to better facilitate and lead client engagements.

Regardless of where Virtusans are in their career, each employee has a clear path forward for professional growth. The Virtusa Thrive Academy offers several courses that support multiple learning styles, from tailored learning capsules, lab sessions, and interview preparation to blended learning sessions, hackathons, and communication skills development.

One such learning path includes a customized curriculum developed for college students in their final semester of engineering to get a head start on their Adobe learning journey. In another path, employees moving laterally within the company undergo a rigorous training curriculum to ensure their skills are a match for customer needs and that they work from a strong technical foundation. Additionally, Virtusans can pursue valuable Adobe certifications and enroll in leadership-focused programs to continually build knowledge and further their career.

Virtusa’s focus on continuous learning and promoting an engineering mindset aligns well with its enthusiasm for bleeding-edge technology. The Adobe partner currently uses artificial intelligence (AI) to augment its training curriculum and proactively address changing technologies and client requirements. By offering training on topics including the cloud, data, AI, machine learning, augmented reality, blockchain, and more, Virtusans are better equipped to develop groundbreaking solutions.

The Virtusa Thrive Academy is a resounding success, increasing full-stack trained resources by 20%, improving the talent quotient (percent of higher-performing employees) by 20%, and expanding T-shaped resources by 75%. Through the rigorous, comprehensive, and supportive learning environment, Virtusans can fulfill their potential and positively impact the company and its clients.