Thursday, December 15, 2005

Note

Ppl.. u'll note that some posts have gone.. they'll be out for the time being.. seems like there are certain issues that need to be resolved.. u'll get them back again.. but till then, have patience :D

Sarnoff..

.. was the best company to come over to campus till now.. In all means, there is no comparison. Great package (something arnd 6+ for BTech and 7+ for MS), great work and the best part is that it hired 4 people (3 others are on a waiting list). Now u don't really expect such a company to take in so many people especially when it comes over to campus for the first time.. It did rise hopes again for many people..

Congratulations to Manik, Natraj, Vardhman and Ranjeeth.. Guess, m right abt the selections from amongst the MS students. Hope that such companies keep on coming over to campus. Next, people have a lot of hopes from Microsoft IDC. Its probably coming over on 19th of this month.. Some 10 offers are being expected. GOD!! let not the expectations break [-o<

That proves my senses..

.. to be correct.. Senses as in the sixth sense.. It was indicating me about the emerging danger and here it comes..

We had yet another fight within the batch today, 14th Dec'05.. As expected it was in between the 'D' group and the remaining guys .. You guessed it right - D grp is the Delhi group, the Dashing group, the Daring group of our batch. Exceptions (say the lucknow wing, most of the batch toppers and some others) aside, most of the other guys here in OBH are always trying to find an opportunity to act against us. I don't understand what exactly bothers them but elections, politics and complaints are all they know. Instead of concenterating on the more relevant matters (successful placements etc), people are more concerned about how to make others feel low. Wat a fking attitude.

This attitude, these frictions and these intra batch fights fked up Felicity'05 and if the current scenario really continues Placements'06 won't go ne better.. That is not what we want, right? Why not keep the grudges aside for some time? We (the D grp) understand that many people don't like us and vice versa but lets prioritize things and get the main tasks done.

If things still continue, then either there's an absence of logic in ppl or they probably have different priorities in life (successful placements are definitely not the top most). This batch seems to be full of shit at this moment. I can't think of nething better.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

i dont know why..

.. but somehow, i sense danger for myself considering the placements' process and all the panga that's on these days.. Is it that there has to be something against me each year..

1st year - i screwed myself academically
2nd year - i got screwed in ragging case
3rd year - i got screwed in networks case
4th year - I DO NOT WANT TO GET SCREWED :(

God!! save me.. u've been saving me all thru.. why do you make such people.. why do u make khabreez.. why are some ppl so sick.. why the fk man.. why do they love others getting fked.. Know what, if something really happens this time, i'm going to screw ppl.. sounds filmy, but mujhe insaan se haiwaan banne par majboor mat karo bhagwan.. ya to sala there's a problem in me that i'm not really a sensible leader / coordinator / representative or else u're giving me real life experiences to learn from them.. i HOPE that its the second case.. dammit.. i KNOW its the second case.. neways, life goes on and even if things don't go smoothly, i know i'll have alternatives, infact better alternatives.. blessings are all i need..

Monday, December 12, 2005

Courageous step by our batch

Ok!! a short background is that we received a mail from PO telling us abt the new policy of selecting 3 dream companies out of the 9 that are coming over to campus after this weekend .. now everybody went crazy on watching the list of companies.. 3 to 4 of them were stream specific and the rest didn't even make up a total of 20 job offers..

So, full of frustration, most of the guys (arnd 40, i guess) went over to talk to Dr. PJN abt the whole matter.. everyone wanted to talk about the policies and that more companies are needed on the campus but the discussion got real hot with time and went on for more than 2 hours.. And there was nothing that ppl didn't tell him.. From the start of the placement process to the current scenario of continuously changing policies; from false promises to cooked up packages; from a list of long list of companies to a small list of 8 to 9 companies; from being treated like dogs to the high egoistic nature of concerned ppl - every bloody thing was reported.. I must say that this must have been one of the most courageous initiatives of its kind.. no body wud have expected students to report against one of the most important ppl (as the concerned person thinks to be) especially at this period of time when the placements are actually on.

These were some of the sentences that ppl sed (take all of them on a high tone) -

1) We are being cheated
2) We are being treated like dogs
3) We are scolded for every single thing and our queries have never been answered
4) There is no transparency
5) All the promises are broken at a later stage
6) We dont trust the person
7) All that is informed to the students is cooked up
8) There is no initiative from the concerned person's side
9) We provide with the required contacts but the contacts are never contacted
10) We are looked down upon and the person always tries to make us feel depressed
11) We want somebody else to take the initiative
12) We spend our whole lot of time on tasks that are not our responsibilities
13) THe person doesnt share the vision of IIIT
14) That person just doesn't want to work
15) Its the person's egoistic nature and the personal feelings that are leading us to trouble
16) We are insulted for every single thing that we say
17) We are always made to believe that we made a big mistake by joining IIIT.

.. And lot more.. It was actually seen that students' frustration came out today. There was nothing that hasn't been reported i guess. We and Dr. PJN are probably going to talk to director tomorrow.. who knows, may be this does end up in our favour. Nothing worse can happen neways :D

More updates later :)

Sunday, December 11, 2005

I badly wish ....

... to be great at technical skills at this stage in my life.. Not because its placement time now but because I see great prospects in this area. I never tried to work hard to improve on programming etc stuff but guess, with age, one gets to understand that sometimes one can't really get things without hard work. Put in more hard work, get fruitful results.

Look at this link and u'll too (probably) wish to be great at technical skills: Bill Gates launches talent hunt in India

I don't understand if there's some kind of an aptitude required for being technically competent. But, I would definitely work out on 'improving' what I've got in now. Hope for the best.

Think IBM

Yes, 30 of my batchmates (including me) have already thot and got IBM.. :) IBM came over today to recruit people. And it really filled in for TCS.. Initially TCS was expected to be the mass recruiter but it didn't happen so. Today, IBM gave smiles to nearly 50+ faces. Can you believe this? More than 50% of total strength is now placed - TCS, Adobe, IBM ..

IBM came over to recruit students in 3 different sections - Application Management Services (AMS) or Global Services, IBM Software Labs and Engineering and Technology group (E&T) or the VLSI grp. Everyone did expect it to take some 25 to 30 people but hiring such high strength definitely helped people to be relieved psychologically. ISL took just one from BTech (Ashish Lohia) and one from MTech, E&T took some 5 students (Puneet Maheshwari from BTech and rest from MTech) and finally the mass recruiter of the day, AMS, took some 50 students (29 to 30 BTech and rest MTech). A team of around 20 people was here. They had 8 simulataneous panels for interviews and everything got wrapped up so soon. There were 2 really sweet ladies in the team :)

Some 130 people wrote the examination, 60+9+9 were short listed for all 3 sections and finally most of them made thru. So, that's not really an issue to feel proud of. May be, one got selected cause they had to take masses. But that definitely is a reason to be happy and to boost up oneself to work hard and get recruited in the dream companies that are coming up. Some big names like Microsoft, Yahoo, Synopsis, DeShaw, CA etc are coming up though most of them (given earlier) are now dropped. Anyways, lets hope for the best.

Ya, so this wasy how I experienced the complete process. We had an initial test for everyone. There were 40 questions in total - 25 aptitude and 15 technical. I probably got all the technical questions correct (they were really really easy) but did screw up my aptitude part. Luckily, I got a call for interviews (my guesses must have worked ;)). My tech went really well. It was diverted to whichever direction I wanted it to go. I started off with my project explanations. They asked about the SDLC models, Normalizations, Inheritence and a couple of quesions related to project. They were kind of impressed with the communications skills and though genuinly m not that gr8 technically, surprizingly they found me technically quite competent. It jes went for some 20 minutes I guess. Next was the HR round. I had this for some 1 hour. Ya, it was pretty long. Probably I tend to talk a lot I guess. Especially, when it comes over to convince and impress someone ;) .. He was actually quite impressed with whatever I told him. In the HR round, he did ask me about 2 of my projects. Just the outline. Nothing technical. Middleware catches a lot of attention. So people, if u do mention middleware in your resume, do haev a fair knowledge about it.

So, what next. I was almsot confident of getting thru especially with the feedback from the coordinators that they're looking out to select atleast 50 people. IBM is a big brand in itself and I am happy to have been selected for the same. Dad told me this - "beta, do not look down upon the company because its got a low packaeg. But do look up for getting better opportunities. So, be happy. You've got a great name attached with you now and work hard for future companies." Guess, family seems to have in more confidence in their child once he/she is selected for a company. Atleast they now know that am capable of something ;)

So, I hope that the best opportunities knock at my door and I do grab them all. And I wish that I do not really get too much lenient towards the placement preparation now. There's lot more that one needs to achieve. GOD bless.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Placements - getting off the track

What the fk is on neways.. i dont understand.. i expected placement process to get better with time but on the contrary its getting horrible.. It all started with TCS when ppl went over to its PPT expecting a package of 2.5 .. infact it turned out to be just 2.14.. ppl started walking out of the room immediately.. list of companies went down with time.. the avg package of 4.5+ as expected by ppl (infact, as was shown to ppl) came down to arnd 4 or something..

neways, so next came Adobe.. when, it was expected to take arnd 4 to 5 ppl, it took just 2.. now probably Adobe didn't require more than that.. but why didnt they? because probably they already recruited ppl from NSIT and other colleges.. It took more than arnd 5 ppl from NSIT.. is our batch not intelligent enough or is it abt the brand name..

then it was abt google and nvidia.. Nvidia's package, as informed earlier, was arnd 7+ lacs.. ppl were happy.. vision ppl were excited abt it.. and now, it comes out to be 3.9 lacs for BTechs and some 4.5 i guess for the MTechs.. disheartening for ppl is all i can say.. then today, google's package came down to some 7+ from the hiked up 8.4 (as informed earlier).. is it lack of information or overshowing and exaggerating things?? I don't really know..

Now, the most recent news.. its kind of secretly been let out but i'll let u ppl know.. CA's package was announced to be 4.75.. it was told that matters have been sorted out and there's no differentiation between IIT and IIIT on the basis of package.. but today, many of us got to know that it is not the case.. package wud only be arnd 3.5 or so.. and the earlier news was all fake.. this recent news is kind of confirmed cause it is from a reliable source..

So bsically everything's getting screwed up right in the first week.. i don't really expect nething now and m going to sit in every damn company that comes over to campus.. need to secure one job in ne case.. u never know, what bad is going to turn out next.

It doesn't really matter in the end..

The only thing that matters is being a winner.. Losers are never treated well by the ppl around and why the hell shud they be neways.. They had an opportunity to prove themselves, but they couldn't.

Winners always attract others towards themselves. They are always the source of respect by the society. Rather, I would say that winners grab the power to rule and command over other ppl. A mediocre person may be equally good, may be equally hard working but he wudn't really ever be the center of attraction.

But, DO NOT ever get satisfied by nething less than the absolute win. I read this somewhere that ppl generally get settled and satisfied by relative wins, relative happiness, relative gains and relative victories. Set your standards before you start playing. Achieve those standards and consider yourself the winner. And if those standards are not achieved, do not feel contented. Because that wasn't what YOU expected out of yourself.

Because in the end, it wudn't matter if you are a winner - be it relative or absolute. You need to be an absolute winner in your own way. Being victorious in such absolute sense is pleasant in its own way.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Adobe's Interviews and Rastogi's party

Had fun tonite at Our Place. Food there is just great. Its excellent ambience and that feeling of relaxation just can't be expressed. You need to visit the place to look at it yourself. Btw, try going on weekends. THey have this special gazal programme organized for the ppl.

Oh!! I forgot to tell you the reason for all this fun that we had. Today, Adobe conducted its interviews and surprizingly they selected just 2 people. Though good to see Rastogi (one of our D-grp members) being selected, it was bad to see Lohia being rejected. Khair, life goes on. He'll get something much better than this. For Rastogi, this was a great victory. Adobe was the first dream company to come over to campus and he was the only person to get selected from B Tech. So, this dinner was his way of celeberation with D grp. Great, I must say..

Some questions from Adobe's Interview

1) Reverse a link list recursively
2) Check if a string is palindrome given an extra information that the string is made up of only 0's and 1's
3) How will you find if 2 rectangles intersect
4) Remove duplicates from a string
5) There's a clock at the base of the mountain and there's another on its crest. The upper clock is out of order. You need to go on a horse to set that clock right. You do not know how much time it takes to go from the base to the top.
6) Convert strings in the following fashion: "I am AK84" to "AK84 am I".

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Stars of Day 1

People short listed for Adobe's interview

1. Akshay Singh (B. Tech)
2. Aravind Krishna (B. Tech)
3. Ashish Lohia (B. Tech)
4. Ganesh P.K (M. Tech)
5. Manikandan (B. Tech)
6. Mayur Hemani (M. Tech)
7. Nidhi Gandhi (M. Tech)
8. Ranganath (B. Tech)
9. Sagar Rastogi (B. Tech)
10. Sudhanshu Garg (B. Tech)

People from B. Tech who got selected in TCS

1. Paluri Balamanohar
2. Bala Nagi Reddy Mudiam
3. C. Navya Latha Reddy
4. Visram R
5. Keerthi Kiran V J
6. Sumeet Joon
7. Simeen Mirza
8. Ravi Shankar
9. J Nataraj
10. Saumya Johri
11. Saurabh Kumar Pandey
12. Shivam Vasisht
13. Ch. Meher Kalyan Chakravarthy
14. Kurra Ranjitha
15. K.Sumanth
16. Ch kalyan vasanth
17. Shantalu Srivatsava
18. Satvik Upadhyaya

End of Day 1

With TCS conducting exam yesterday, it wasnt really the first day of placements, but still I consider it to be the first for me. FYI, I didn't sit for TCS. I had plans to give its written exam but then dad suggested me to take risk and sit for a bigger company in the normal companies' section. May be I'll try for IBM/Deloitte. Heard that there's some good work being done at Deloitte.

Adobe had a beautiful written test. Though long, I consider it to be one of the best selection procedures in written. They tested out the student perfectly. And best minds did get selected. I mean all 10 of them who got thru written are toppers in some sense or the other. They had 4 written tests in all. First was a simple quantative and aptitute test for 15 minutes with 15 questions. Ppl were tested out for mainly the speed. Second section consisted more of questions that required ppl to analyze data and answer. Those kind where A occurs before B, B before D, so what is the order etc. It went for about half an hour. Third section had questions where ppl had to write algorithms for programming questions. Most of them had been seen earlier. That was the longest part, for abt an hour. Fourth section was about writing a couple of procedures in C language. Just a question or 2 that needed some real thinking. This went for 45 minutes.

All the questions were really easy and anybody with a fair preparation could do all of them perfectly. All they check for is fundamentals and how comfortable you are with managing your time to write perfect codes within a limited time frame. The only key to success is that you need to write each and every code that you come across on a sheet of paper when you prepare for the recruitment exams. I messed up about 3 to 4 questions in each of the last 2 sections. And thereafter I knew that getting selected is next to impossible. All the ppl who got selected must have scored full marks in the last 2 sections. Neways, that was an eye opening exam. Guess, there's a long way to go with the preparation. It isnt that great yet. Need a more planned preparation from now on.

TCS as I heard, conducted a very very difficult written test. They had very difficult english words in their vocabulary section. There were some 3 to 4 puzzle questions, where ppl had to analyze a lot of data, make tables and answer a couple of questions based on that. That was the deciding factor, as ppl say. Neone who solved atleast one of those 4 questions, got thru. Out of some 80 ppl who wrote test, 38 got thru the written exam. They had interviews today morning. 23 made thru the finals and are members of the TCS committee, as I wud say. But, that's not where these ppl wish to land up. Ppl in IIIT have high aims and why shudnt one think big. Every single person has the ability to land up at a much better place that TCS. The work and the on sight trips that TCS promises sound great. But, pay is just not enough. 14 k in hand per month is definitely bad. So, all I would say is - congratulations to all those who got selected in this. You really have something within to have got selected in the first company coming up on the campus. But there's still a lot of hard work required.

From our D group, Shivam and Joon gave the TCS interviews and both of them got selected.. :) Lohia got thru the Adobe written exam and its next to impossible for him not to get thru the interviews. Excellent fundamentals, good communication skills, has the ability to lead.. He has nearly everything that Adobe might wish to see in its employees.

Well, that was just about everyone else. Time for me to start off with a planned preparation. Considering the time that I've invested in preparation, it just doesn't seem to be upto the mark. Infact, there's a whole lot of things that are still to be done. There is a whole lot of refinement required. May be, this was a great Adobe experience. Hope for the best in future.