The Interview... "FUN" Huh!!!

Its campus recruitment season at our college and the day before yesterday a highly regarded Indian IT firm (considered No.1 Indian IT firm) was on campus for placements. I applied for the firm just to be on the safer side though I belong to a non- IT branch. The process was a PPT at the beginning, followed by a test and an interview. After the marathon, seemingly never-ending PPT, we finally wrote the test. The results were announced a while later and by God's grace I was among the short-listed ones. Next, the interview, a long wait after which I entered the interview room.

There, sitting was a pretty young woman (late 20's or early 30's), greeted me with a warm smile. The proceedings as below:

Me: Knock, May I come in Ma'am?
She: Yes, come in... Aparna? Have a seat (With a big warm smile)
Me: Yes Ma'am, Thank you Ma'am.
She: Hi, I'm ....... (Sorry! I forgot her name)
Me: Hello Ma'am. (Shook Hands)
She: So, I'll not ask all those usual Q's like why this company? Why should I hire you? Blah.. Blah. These questions yield off hat answers from you guys, which both of us know, is a bluff. What say?
Me: No Ma'am... Def'nly not a bluff (Oh my God! Is this a trap?)
She: Hehe... So what are you good at? Apart from Engg. of course...
Me: Ma'am, I love cooking.
She: Oh! Great... Your Hubby will be lucky...
Me: Hehe... (Ok... ???!!!)
She: So you've tried any recipes recently? Tell me one of them no.... tasty one... so that I can make my Hubby feel lucky.
Me: (What the hell is this? Why did I ever say cooking?) Ma'am, a chat... I call it Chips Masala... will be a nice evening snack... (She smiling.... why was that for? Was she kidding when she asked me to tell a recipe? Should I not have started it? Oh! Man, Grrrrr)
She: Great... Go ahead...
Me: (Seriously??) You take some chips and then..... told her the recipe completely...
She: Sounds Interesting... and tasty too... You know what Aparna... I dont have a brother... or else I'd have proposed him to you.. hehe...
Me: Ma'am.. hehe.. (What was that supposed to mean? Whats going on here man? shit!!!)
She: And yeah! My son is too young... hehe...
Me:Hehe... Ma'am I'm also interested a lot in Music... (WHAT THE HELL??? What was this woman up to? Was she a marriage broker previously? Or is it again a "trap"? I tried to divert her attention from cooking by telling about Music)
She: Hmmm... Do you sing too?
Me: No Ma'am... just a music lover (Thank God! Drifted from cooking)
She: Nice speaking to you Aparna... will call you for more recipes... hehe...
Me: Sure Ma'am... I'd be delighted... (My Foot)
She: Thank you...
Me: Thank you Ma'am (Man, I was expecting the phrase "I was just kidding" for whatever she told before... she did'nt tell that... Huh!)

Thats the interview???!!! What was that? It was so wierd man, I was totally confused. As I came out thousand thoughts raced my mind. Ufff! I then thought, Forget it... Its over anyway.

And then the Grand Finale... Results... I didnt know what to expect for myself... was it right that I told or what? And then, my name was announced and it felt... Good! I after all had been placed. But even today I wonder what that interviewer had in mind. Or was it just another interview? I still dont know. But hey! No probs now... All is well that ends well. Smiles and Cheers!

Stay on... Dont Drift...

Inspired from the article by Dr. P Balram, Director, IISc, Bangalore. A must read for Engineers ...

Its indeed a matter of pride to be an engineer. Irrespective of what people might say that engineering has lost the respect and prestige it used to command, it still remains unconquered. I am sure every engineer, when s/he graduates will be proud that s/he is an engineer and rightly so. The toil of four years would finally pay off when s/he gets a befitting job with a deserving compensation.

But unfortunately, the public has a wrong perception that courses that yield high paying jobs are only the ones worth pursuing. In a poor country like India, such perceptions are totally justified but yet, professional ethics say they are incorrect. Now, even the students have a perception that its engineering which pays them and they need to pursue it by hook or crook. This indeed is a boon to a nation. As in, if there are more people studying technology, they can contribute towards the development of the nation and its technology either directly or indirectly. And if India has to develop, it has to first acquire the technological know how and with that the development would be put on fast track. No country in the world would ever show development without the innovatons and applications of technology, at least in these days.

After engineering, students come to know that there are jobs that pay even higher. They now would like to pursue that. Where do the students go? They drift to professions which absolutely does not require engineering or the technical skills and knowledge they acquired. Engineers due to their superior analytical and quantitative skills, join management courses and get into very high paying jobs. But in the process, its engineering which suffers a great loss. As Dr. Balram says, "If you an engineer have finally become an investment banker in the UK or the US, you are a loss to engineering." Its true that there are a lot of people left behind and they pursue engineering and research. In fact its they who are propelling the countries technology. But a loss is a loss.

As a matter of fact, you need not necessarily stay in India even after you choose to continue in engineering. That would however be an ideal case, development in technology world-wide definitely affects India's progress. And almost three quarters of the NRIs return back home at some point in their lives. Its great if you choose to stay back in India. It again does not necessarily mean you need to work for central or government's research institutes like ISRO, DRDO, NIAS, etc. But if you do, that will be great.

People complain that it took over 20 years for India to make LCA fly. They say India worked over 3 decades for an indigenised Tank, and many more things. Why dont we join those research organisations and propell the progress of such projects? Its very easy to sit in a corner of the room and pass comments. India provides equal opportunities for all. Why not utilise it instead of wasting our time in just commenting about it?

Dr. Kalam once said, "India's best brains are doing second class jobs which pay high. They are either into management or into second class of technology development. Most of the brilliant Indians are thus employed abroad. The top brains of those countries are employed in top technology development. If only those brilliant Indians would have been here, India might have been a different country today."

Every intelligent brain of India wants to go marketting a product or managing human resources. People, please realise that there has to be a product in the first place to be marketted and that product would be impossible without research and development.

I do not mean to say that managing people and resources is not important. Its very important. But, managing can be done by other professionals as well. You dont need to be an engineer for that. In the sense, if you drift from your mainstream engineering to other professions, you are not only a loss to engineering but you also snatched an opporunity from that person who was really interested in pursuing engineering, because, may be, you filled in his engineering seat.

So it kind of makes sense for we engineers to stay on and pursue in own field and do justice to it. Dr. Balram says, "Research and teaching are not highly paid. People get into them only if they like to. May be then the fault lies in not communicating how satisfying a career in pure research and/or academia can be. That means, we have not done a good job of it. If we had more happy professors, may be the neighbours would decide that their children would be professors!" And hence, a career in engineering has much much more to offer than just its face value.

If you now think, I'm giving a horrible sermon, yeah! May be I am. But also, I'm speaking my heart out. So, please Stay on... Dont Drift...

Need Proof? Read On...

Often we get depressed for silly reasons, small criticisms etc. I feel if you believe in yourself, you can achieve what you want no matter who critisizes you or belittles you. Its just that you should have that grit, perseverance and killer instinct. This is not just another excerpt from a sermon. Its totally true. Need Proof? Read on...

Officials rejected a candidate for news broadcaster's postsince his voice was not fit for it. He was told that with his obnoxiously long name, he would never become famous.

Today we know him as Amitabh Bachchan.

In 1962, four young nervous musicians played their first record audition for the executives of Decca Recording Company. The executives were not impressed. While turning down this group of musicians, one executive said, "We dont like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out."

The group was called Beatles.

In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modelling Agency told modelling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, "You'd better learn secretarial work or else get married."

She went on and became Marilyn Monroe.

In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of Grand Ole Opry, fired a singer after one performance. He told him, "You ain't goin anywhere son. You ought to go to drivn' a truck."

He was Elvis Presley.

A small boy - fifth among seven siblings of a poor father, was selling newspapers in a small vilage to earn his living. He was not exceptionally smart at school but was fascinated by religion and rockets. The first rocket he built crashed. A missile that he built crashed multiple times and he was made a butt of ridicule.

He is the person to have scripted Missile Odyssey of India single-handedly. He is Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring off the hook with calls from potential backers. After making a demonstration call, President Rutherford Hayes said, "Thats an amazing invention, but who would ever want to see one of them?"

When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2000 experments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. He said, "I did not fail once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000-step process."

In the 1940s, another young inventor named Chester Carlson took his idea to 20 corporations, including some of the biggest in the country.

They all turned him down. In 1947, after 7 long year of rejections, he finally got a tiny company in Rochester, NY, the Haloid Company, to purchase the rights to his invention- an electrostatic paper-copying process.

Haloid became Xerox Corporation.

A little girl- the 20th of 22 children, was born prematurely and her survival was doubtful. When she was 4 years old, she contracted double pneumonia and scarlet fever, which left her with a paralyzed left leg.

At the age of 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependant on and began to walk without it. By 13, she had developed a rhythmic walk which doctors said was a miracle. That same year she decided to become a runner. She entered a race and came in last.

Everyone told her to quit, but she kept on running. One day, she actually won a race. And then another. From then on she won every race she entered. Eventually this little girl - Wilma Rudolph went on to win three olympic gold medals.

A school teacher scolded a boy for not paying attention to his mathematics and for not being able to solve simple problems. She told him that you would not become anything in life.

The boy was Albert Einstein.

So, believe in yourself and work hard. You'll definitely achieve it.