I am Vineet Raj Kapoor and I used to be the main expert on Shiksha.com for a very long time and they have ranked me #1 and #2 on various occasions. There are several reasons on why I don’t answer any more on Shiksha.com.
I am a veteran of this industry and have worked very hard for the last 20 years keeping my knowledge updated. For this I have done courses from CALARTS, WHARTON, STANFORD and others at my own expense. Especially in the field of Animation, Visual Effects, Game Design, Web Design Guidance besides in other fields of design, art and programming. I have willingly and persistently served the students of India for more than 7-8 years, answering each student amongst 7000+ by burning my own midnight oil for no reward other than a smile on the lips of a successful student. I would state that never have I been paid for any answer of mine, neither by Shiksha.com nor by anyone else. These answers helped remove a lot of myths being propagated in the market for the benefit of some. Sometimes, Shiksha.com would announce Awards, and I have gone to collect them on my own expense – I have never been paid a single paisa by shiksha. Sometimes students find my number and give a missed call, and I have even responded to some of those at my expense. Even students with no balance. On sundays. In middle of meetings and functions. I have given career guidance to all those who seeked. The best career advice possible. What more do you expect of me?
I hope Shiksha would continue to play the fair role students expect from them. Shiksha is a responsibility.
My reason to end my relationship with this platform is about ideology nothing more. There are some other genuine shiksha experts who have discontinued for the same reason. It’s a long list but I have mentioned some below since a lot of students have asked me the reason for this.
- Articles and Content: It is a different focus now from the times i started answering on that platform. Earlier there used to be genuine articles, now there are only paid articles.
- Full of Marketers: Earlier marketers used to be weeded out, now marketers are blatantly using their investment to protect their spamming.
- Answers: Ignorant staff asks me to change my each answer, and they don’t understand that I am not a paid employee. My only purpose is to guide the students well, and as a good teacher I don’t keep changing my answer.
- Digital Marketing Initiative: The current answers expected are one liners, which helps shiksha show numbers, with really delivering content. A great digital marketing initiative, but it has nothing for users. I cannot subscribe to this ideology
- Change in point system: The new system has removed the advantage of giving a good answer. So just post a silly like like “I request @Vineet Raj Kapoor to please answer” and you get the same reward points as the expert.
Yes, while answering I have specifically also given links to institutes being mentored by me, but it was always as per the existing rules and as per my firm beliefs about the greatness of those institutes. The institutes specifically mentioned by me have included:
- IIT Mumbai – a great program in B. Des (great for designers of all kinds)
- IIT Guwahati – a great program in B. Des (especially for those with maths background)
- NID (because it is there and has some good concepts even though there is low updation)
- DSK Supifocom – good program very costly
- Arena Animation, Sec 17, Chandigarh – this was mentored by me for 20 years and has seen highly pioneering ideas being used to teach.
- It was first in India to start the advanced DAE curriculum
- It had international faculty (since 2007 onwards) when no one dared to do so
- It had national workshops when there were none other at institute level in North India
- It has international seminars since 2015 where leading artists from across the world participated from France, UK, Germany, USA, Canada, Argentina and many other countries.
- It has also started International Workshops in 2016
- It was first to import a complete VFX setup from UK in 2013
- It was first to implement peer assessment, way back in 2013-14
- It was first to install and use a 3D Printer way back in 2014
- It was the only animation institute center visited by Vancouver Film School Team in 2015. They also offered huge scholarships to the students at this center.
- It has regularly won a large number of Awards at various inter-Arena competitions
- It has regularly been rated the best in Academics / Audits in North India as well as among the best in India
- It was the first to initiate a mentoring program in 2012 successfully, with every student being placed with top studios of India
- In 2016, Faculty who trained at leading colleges of the world is engaged with the students’ learning cycle.
- No institute in India has risen to this level of work for their students. So there is no contradiction about the fact that not referring this institute would be a disservice to the artists of india.
I thank all those students, whose questions helped me grow all these years. I assure you that I did not stop and have been creating a pool of helpful artists from across the world who are going to guide you through you career.
Even now, if as a student you face any difficulty you can post your queries at www.arenachandigarh.com who have pledged their help to me, and I shall answer your queries there.
