Questions we get asked directly

Centizen Academy trains engineers who can build, verify, and operate AI-augmented production systems, not just prompt an AI to generate code. It is a 32-week, in-person program in Tirunelveli: 24 weeks of core training and 8 weeks of supervised residency. It has 25 seats and starts January 2027.

It means building software with AI tools in your daily workflow and still owning what ships. AI helps write, test and review the code. You check it, secure it, deploy it and keep it running. Our checkpoints test exactly that.

Not exactly. Centizen Academy is designed as an engineering-focused apprenticeship and residency program. The emphasis is not simply on completing classes, but on demonstrating practical software engineering skills through projects, reviews, assessments and supervised engineering work.

Centizen already builds real software for real clients. During the residency phase, you work inside that, not on a made-up project built just for training.

Degree holders, Diploma holders, freshers, and experienced professionals who want to shift to an IT job and become AI-ready.

No. No degree automatically qualifies or disqualifies anyone. Readiness is checked through the entry assessment.

The program has 25 seats.

Most applicants can review, correct, and retry. The standard itself does not get lowered.

No. It is a full-time, in-person commitment, so it is not built around holding a job at the same time.

Yes. The program is built around using AI well, not avoiding it. But you have to be able to explain and defend anything you submit. Blindly accepting AI output is penalised.

Yes, on purpose. Debugging and recovering from mistakes is part of how engineering judgment develops. You are not thrown out for struggling, but the standard is not lowered either.

9:00 AM to 6:00 PM. A detailed day-by-day schedule will be shared with applicants.

The fee is Rs 1,50,000 (inclusive of GST) for the full 32-week program.

No, the fee is non-refundable.

Details regarding payment in instalments will be updated shortly.

Centizen Academy will provide guidance and assistance to students relocating to Tirunelveli. Students will be responsible for their accommodation and related living expenses. Details of recommended accommodation options will be shared with selected students.

Students can avail of the company transport from the bus stand and other key areas.

No. The residency is a supervised learning and engineering experience, not unpaid employment. Students are assigned work appropriate to their demonstrated skill level, receive mentoring and code reviews, and are evaluated on their engineering development.

No. Graduation needs a Capstone Defense pass and a residency supervisor sign-off. Attendance alone does not count. However, a student who follows our schedule, abides by the program guidelines and puts in the required effort is well placed to meet the standard.

No. Qualified graduates may be considered for roles at Centizen, ZenBasket, Zenyo, or partner employers, and the Academy supports introductions, but hiring still depends on employer decisions and your own performance.

Because we have no graduate outcomes to report yet, and we will not quote a number we cannot back up. Instead of a percentage, you leave with a deployed project, a real Git history, and a residency record an employer can independently check for themselves.

No. The program is not government accredited. Credibility rests on Centizen's own name and the verifiable evidence each graduate leaves with, not a third-party accrediting body.

The program gives you a complete engineering foundation in 32 weeks: Java and Spring Boot backend, React and TypeScript frontend, AI-native engineering, AWS cloud and DevOps, a capstone and a supervised residency. You leave with a deployed project, a real Git history and a residency record an employer can check.

Graduates can apply for software engineering roles, and for AI-focused roles such as AI Engineer, Applied AI Engineer, Generative AI Engineer and Forward Deployed Engineer. Which roles fit depends on your performance, the projects you build and employer decisions. There is no job guarantee.

A Forward Deployed Engineer needs strong full-stack engineering, deployment skills, clear communication with customers, and the ability to apply AI to a real problem. Centizen Academy covers these through its backend, frontend, AI-native engineering, cloud and DevOps phases, and a residency inside a real software company.

An AI Engineer builds software features powered by language models. A Forward Deployed Engineer works with customers to fit a product or AI system to their real problem and gets it running. Both start from the same base: solid software engineering, which is where this program begins.

Start with software engineering fundamentals, then learn to build with AI and verify what it produces, then practise on real projects. This program follows that order: core engineering first, AI-native engineering next, then a residency. It is built for degree holders, diploma holders, freshers and professionals who want to move into AI-ready IT roles.

The foundation is software engineering, not only AI tools. That means version control, a programming language, databases, APIs, testing, deployment, and the judgment to check AI output. Centizen Academy teaches these first and uses AI throughout.

Nobody can predict this exactly. Our view is that AI is taking over more routine coding, so engineers matter most when they can design systems, verify AI output, deploy safely and explain their decisions. That is what the program trains.

Not on its own. The program covers LLM foundations and AI-native engineering, not deep model training. Machine Learning Engineer roles usually need more study in statistics and machine learning, and the engineering foundation here is a sound starting point for that.

ZenoVus Tech Park is a modern tech complex with security and 24x7 surveillance.

Full time, in person, at ZenoVus Tech Park in Tirunelveli.

Yes, if you are not already local. The program depends on being physically present for the full 32 weeks.