Frequently asked Technical Questions

Greetings people!
It looks like the onset of Placement Season yet again. With the placement week behind us, we already have a basic idea of the placements scenario of our college. And we are grateful to all the BE's who could take out time and acquaint us with the placement process.

Below is the link for Technical Questions that have been frequently asked in the Technical Interview put by Suraj Brijwani. Kudos to him for doing that!

DOWNLOAD FILE

Do watch out this space for more.

Of Autumnal Dreams.

 “That we don’t remember the beginning or the ending of dreams is our unconscious reminding us that it’s all about the process.”

There’s a brothel in your mind, perhaps there might be a temple, even.

A temple you secretly go to, a haven for your dreams. You either cherish your dream or asphyxiate it. That is to say, you either live or you die.

You dream, with your eyes wide open or otherwise, not that it matters. It is something that keeps you in a state of sanguineness, something to hold on to. It lets you be, in a world of your own.  That latent feeling of happiness or a buzz sort of stays in you even after you are pulled back to this uncannily fictitious world of reality.

What do you do when a realization of sort awaits you, like a person standing outside your door, knocking. You either let it in or you let it go.

And if you let it go, so life would be pleasant without any troublesome shenanigans, with nothing to risk, and everything gained. Almost, everything gained. But, that something will keep you unquenchable for your entire life.

And then there will never be a requiem for that dream, simply because it will destroy you before you have the opportunity to mourn its passing.

It’s not the goal or the desire; it is the journey to your dream that makes all the conflicts – internal or external, worth it.

We at ISTE believe in the power of Imagination, the power of dreams. Come; let’s walk together towards that awaited journey.

The Green Tiger.

From  the  title,  I‘m  sure  that  the  instinctive  reaction  that  most  of  you‘ll  would  have  is  that  this  article  might  just  be  a  metaphor  or  spoof  of  the  Booker  win-ning  ‗The  White  Tiger‘  by  Aravind  Adiga.  However,  what  I‘m  referring  to  here  is  one  of  the  biggest  hurdles  in  India‘s  development-  CORRUPTION.

Corruption  has  spread  its  evil  wings  to  every  strata  of  society-  be  it  at  the  grass  root  level,  or  at  the  Government  level.  By  corruption,  I  mean  political  corrup-tion,  which  is  the  dysfunction  of  a  political  system  or  institution  in  which  govern-ment  officials,  political  officials  or  employees  seek  illegitimate  personal  gain  through  actions  such  as  bribery,  extortion,  etc.

Its  many  ill  effects  in  various  fields  are:

1.  On  politics,  administration  &  institutions:

Corruption  erodes  the  institutional  capacity  of  government  as  procedures  are  disre-garded,  resources  are  siphoned  off,  and  public  offices  are  bought  and  sold.  In  elec-tions,  it  reduces  accountability.  People  lose  their  trust  in  the  ruling  bodies,  which  affects  representation.  Corruption  in  the  judiciary  compromises  the  rule  of  law.

2.  On  Economics:

In  the  private  sector,  corruption  increases  the  cost  of  business  through  the  price  of  illicit  payments  themselves,  the  management  cost  of  negotiating  with  officials,  and  the  risk  of  breached  agreements  or  detection.  Corruption  also  lowers  compliance  with  construction,  environmental,  or  other  regulations,  reduces  the  quality  of  gov-ernment  services  and  infrastructure,  and  increases  budgetary  pressures  on  govern-ment  .

15

3.  On  Environment  &  Society:

More  often  than  not,  a  lot  of  projects  and  factories  are  audited  without  any  Government  objection,  despite  them  having  flouted  several  laws.  On  the  other  hand,  the  one  who  refuses  to  pay  under  the  table  is  unfortunately  the  one  who‘s  at  loss.  Officials  often  steal  state  property.  In  Bihar,  more  than  80%  of  the  subsidized  food  aid  to  poor  is  stolen  by  corrupt  officials.  Simi-larly,  food  aid  is  often  robbed  at  gunpoint  by  governments  and  criminals  and  sold  for  a  profit.

On  health,  public  safety,  education,  trade  unions  etc.:

Bribes  made  by  suppliers  of  safety  equipment,  etc  are  hardly  uncommon.  To-day,  corruption  has  become  widespread  in  the  field  of  education,  where  in,  parents  literally  PURCHASE  seats  for  their  children.  Corruption  can  also  affect  the  various  components  of  sports  activities  (referees,  players,  medical  and  laboratory  staff  involved  in  anti-doping  controls,  members  of  national  sport  federation  and  international  committees  deciding  about  the  allocation  of  contracts  and  competition  places).  Match  fixing  is  yet  another  form  of  cor-ruption.

The  most  glaring  of  all  corruption  related  offences,  however,  is  compromise  in  secu-rity  related  matters.  All  of  us  are  aware  that  no  terrorist  attack  can  succeed  without  an  inside  hand.  Take  for  instance  the  1993  Bombay  bomb  blasts.  The  perpetrators  could  not  have  even  got  the  weapons  through  to  the  Indian  shores  had  they  not  been  assisted  by  the  Naval  commandos  and  small  time  henchmen,  who  for  a  paltry  sum,  risked  a  nation  as  a  whole.  Not  once  did  they  flinch  at  the  thought  of  selling  their  country  for  the  sake  of  money.

Citizens  do  not  report  crimes  to  the  police,  fearing  action  against  them  for  having  charged  powerful/well  to  do  individuals.

Cash  for  vote  is  another  scandal,  which  has  become  quite  prominent  of  late.  Several  politicians,  actors  and  businessmen  bribe  Income  Tax  officials  for  tax  eva-sion.

Contractors  bribe  employees  of  companies  in  order  to  receive  lucrative  con-tracts  without  having  the  merit  to  serve  with  honesty  and  efficiency.

16

It  is  thus  not  wrong  to  say  that  the  system  itself  is  corrupted.

Examples  are  endless  and  occurrences-  infinite!!

So  why  am  I  calling  Corruption,  The  Green  Tiger??

Just  as  a  tiger  waits  to  pounce  on  his  prey,  corruption  is  laying  its  hands  on  everything  that  it  can  possibly  find.  It  is  a  hungry  animal  which  can  attack  anything  it  can  sight,  and  if  not  curbed,  can  lead  to  the  complete  failure  of  democracy.

Corruption  is  worse  than  prostitution.  The  latter  might  endanger  the  morals  of  an  individual;  the  former  invariably  endangers  the  morals  of  the  entire  country.

SAY  NO  TO  CORRUPTION;  SAVE  YOURSELF  FROM  THE  GREEN  TIGER!!

-Kavitha  G  T.e.  etrx

India Inc.

India Inc.

The promenade of sanguineness

Talk about our nation and we find a can of worms; worms of corruption, illiteracy, unemployment, higher prices, weak infrastructure and a bunch of social problems- worries, botheration and glitches everywhere! Moreover, external threats merely ex-tend the list of challenges confronting India (Let‘s not get started on terrorism!). En-ter the various arenas of agriculture, business, technology – the box of worriment keeps expanding in volume, thus making the future, ultra-mosaic! Amidst such sinis-ter clouds, India has a zealous set of young work force and a resourceful population too! With an astute cluster of B-schools like the IIMs, XLRI and MDI, and their B-dexters, our business is surely going to boom! Commingle this ingenious and avid youth class and you find a spark, the one which aims at reinventing models for India, radically! These very ‗business creators‘ not only ascend the country‘s opulence but also place India competitively in the global marketplace. Thanks to such Einsteins, the business design principles in India have undergone a reform- a shape for the good of the common man, and they have been ameliorating day by day. Today, inde-pendent of the special market conditions, India exhibits the Westerners a pivotal source of inspiration; the design principles which everyone should consider…. (At least, once!)

The 10% Rule:

India has been good at revamping constraints into creativity and adroitness. The 10% rule states that the goods and services are delivered to the market at a price which is 10% of the western world‘s average price. This could raise competitiveness to altogether a new level. Take an instance of Seva Foundation‟s Clinton Global Initiative Commitment whose sole vision is to eliminate blindness in spite of the bar-riers of indigence, remoteness and ignorance. The motive is simple: one million more eyes will see again every year by 2015. In the past year alone, it has performed over 500,000 eye surgeries and screened over three million people for eye health. So, it is necessary to lower the costs instead of assuming big budgets so that every common man has access to such awe-inspiring goods and services.

Mass Mobilization:

This principle draws out a model to ‗employ‘ the unemployed rather than ‗pay‘ the unemployed. India has cogently tapped human networks to deliver both, marketing and social services. (A bizarre, yet a blooming combination!) Rings a bell? 9

The Mumbai Dabbawallas! Having delivered over 200,000 lunches to people in offices and schools from their home every day for decades, they have set up a gilt-edged paradigm to this principle. This delivery system is zappy yet simple-

You employ a swarm of scantily literate delivery men to manage deliveries in a cost efficient manner! So, while we can recurrently talk about the perils of nesting a huge population, mass mobilization can be the tour de force behind serving a large consumer base.

Technology as infrastructure:

An effective use of technology instead of physical infrastructure can improve the delivery of social and commercial services efficiently and effectively. ITC‘s ‗E-choupal‟ system depicts how efficiently technology can be used to establish a spread-out infrastructure. The E-choupal is designed to tackle the problems faced by Indian agriculture characterized by weak infrastructure and involvement of nu-merous intermediaries. ‗E-choupal‘ services today reach out to over 4 million farm-ers in over 40,000 villages across ten states in India. It solves the problems of infra-structural inadequacies by deploying several innovative solutions like power back-up through solar batteries, upgrading BSNL exchanges with RNS kits, 24 x 7 help-desk, etc. Through internet kiosks, it provides the farmers with information on weather, and access to wider markets. This not only generates economic value but also transmits a flow of links from the business to the social world!

Broader Platforms for collaboration :

It is necessary to pursue more cross institutional collaborations and joint ventures; collaboration is an efficient means of enhancing the delivery of development pro-grammes. The Andhra Pradesh Government has introduced an online citizen ser-vice portal, APOnline Limited, a tie-up with the Tata Consultancy Services Limited. It provides services in the areas of agriculture, health, education, business and gov-ernment services which have helped the government in improving transparency and reducing delivery cycles, thus reducing the cost of compliance with governmental regulations. Such examples shake the roots of the naïve belief that cross institu-tional collaboration is an unwanted means of extending the reach and capacities of any given institution.

Retracing the model:

Sketching new models requires the status information about the current model, the cream activities of the current one and the novel ideas that would match up the old ones. Besides, rethinking on ideas that would bring values and redesigning errors (may be, faults!) in the earlier model, form an unavoidable part. And this is not like making a duck soup!! 10

With a lagging education system on one hand and a whopping emerging man-power on the other, India has completely rethought the ways in which it can re-cruit and train its workforce. These will handout India to capitalize on its re-source and become a major global R&D hub. (By 2020, India will have the larg-est labour surplus in the world—45 million people.)

Imagine an ad interim educational system that considers workers with wobbly educational backgrounds and turn them into R&D specialists- sounds filmy? Well, it isn‘t! The Indian industry has worked out a codified industry-based skill development program draping rigorous training programs. With this resourceful new model, offshore R&D has become a booming business in India, and is ex-pected to grow over 20% a year, to a $21 billion industry in India by 2012. So, now, it need not count on a multitude of PhDs to make way through an educa-tional system to serve the commercial agenda!

The above designs canvas new models of enterprising brushed from the princi-ples of a blossoming business! Such examples are worth challenging the status quo and asking ‗What if?‘ One never knows- more radical possibilities indeed stimulate a nimble reality; these models might give rise to a few aristocratic Mom and Pop and spawn a country full of Biz pundits!!!

Abhishek Manian, TE EXTC

Roma Kalani, TE CMPN

HOW TO BE A RICH PERSON?

HOW TO BE A RICH PERSON?

If anyone asked my brother, when he was small, what he wanted to be when he was big, he would say in clear, unhesitant, fierce and assured tone , ―mujhe ameer banna hai !‖ I want to be rich. The old relatives would then laugh hysteri-cally unaware that my (dare I say it!) intelligent brother chose the easiest profes-sion on earth: to be rich.

Experienced men and wealthy people themselves claim that to be rich one must have qualities of hard work, sincerity, virtue, determination, persistence and blah blah. That‘s good enough as an advice…good enough only as an advice.

I have done a great deal of research observing quite a few wealthy chaps and being a very benevolent person I will tell you the real secrets of becoming rich.

The first secret, the one that can never fail, the easiest, most convenient, abso-lutely full proof plan to richness is inheritance. Be born in a rich family. Simple. When the angel of child-allocation in heaven sits with his notebook and pen in hand, assigning babies to human couples (obviously human! What‘s the use be-ing a rich poodle! All you would get is a fancy hair cut and pink chain. What a waste!) make sure you flatter the angel enough to assign you to a rich man‘s house. If you are a prodigy sweet talker it would be an icing to the cake to be able to convince the child-allocating angel to make you the only child. Then you are all set for life. No need to even read this text. No worries…no issues just get up in the morning spend some money… sleep at night spending more money and keep doing this till you die after which it does not really matter how is left or gone. All you would have to think is how to convince that child-allocating angel again (Ha! Good luck with that now!)

If you aren‘t born rich then be sure you are born poor. (Biting the child-allocating angel‘s wings should do the trick). All the rich people of today, were at some juncture poverty stricken, loony chaps with scraps of money in their pockets. Am serious. Really. Look at any millionaire‘s interview. He was born in a financially wobbly household and by the age of 15-16 runs away with a few hundreds to spare. So on an urgent basis, be poor. If you aren‘t, start pretending to be one. Having adequate money now will not make you rich in the future. Be sure to take the train by the time you finish school (we are already late for that now! So hurry…! Kurla station is 10minutes from college)

To be rich embrace the richness, be a part of the culture and imbibe its qualities. The early sleepers and risers can kiss money goodbye. All that funny business of turning down the lights at 10:30pm and hauling yourself out of bed at 6:30 like the lark needs to be stopped right away. Sleep with the owl & rise at a decent 10:00am enjoying the lurid warmth of your cozy blanket. Have you ever heard any rich bees barging their work places before noon? Huh? Tell me! Call at their bally offices and you will be greeted with an absurdly sweet voiced lady, slowly

12

10:00am enjoying the lurid warmth of your cozy blanket. Have you ever heard any rich bees barging their work places before noon? Huh? Tell me! Call at their bally offices and you will be greeted with an absurdly sweet voiced lady, slowly lowering the axe on your plans by callously announcing that Mr. Richie Rich won‘t be checking in before lunch time.

You have to be apt at understanding semi-funny, meagerly-funny, not-at-all-funny and that-was-sad-enough-for-me-to-kill-you-so-help-me-I-will business jokes and laugh at them in a controlled but booming bear-like sound.

At least five cups of expensive coffee must be consumed everyday each- half drunk and half thrown on account of it being nasty.

By law, the phone should never be answered by you and even when received by your absurdly-sweet-voiced lady it must be transferred only at the third attempt of the caller. Exceptions however can be made to this rule (I mean if your mother/spouse/mother-in-law throw you out of the house for making them wait an hour on the phone, then don‘t coming whining to me!)

This is as far as social norms are concerned.

In matters of business too, there are certain things that are worth replicating.

While placing proposals sport the stern no-dilly-dally expression on your face; keeping the statement- „1000 bucks a piece; take it or leave it‟ at the tip of your tongue. It‘s not the sentence really. It‘s how you say it. It must sound like you wouldn‘t give a joker‘s hat for the money even though your insides are screech-ing otherwise because in reality you would probably have to be recruited as a pirate‘s ship sweeper if your client left the ‗take it or leave it‘ deal.

My father is a business man and this has enabled me to catch enough interesting conversations of rich blokes to safely conclude that theses richies care about lit-tle money as much as they do about their big money. A penny saved is a penny earned.

I once witnessed two men sitting in a café, sipping coffee and muttering in hushed voices. (God knows why they have to ‗mutter‘ in public places. It‘s not like a family eating donuts on the next table would take a sprint to their broker, with open mouths & donut still hanging in air, the moment they eavesdrop on your conservation. Tchah! What vanity! But I guess that must be another es-sence to richness or most of them wouldn‘t be croaking like they have almonds stuck in their throats every time they discuss business in cafes. )

First man asked second man: ―How was the meeting with Mahindra?‖

They do this all the time- call people by the name of the company they work in. Absolutely ridiculous, if you ask me. Just imagine how many Microsofts and Walt Disneys there are in this world!

Second man to first man: ―It was alright. I put forth my budget for the proposal- One million. Not a penny more, not a penny less‖

13

See…! They are very sensitive about one penny. Doesn‘t matter where the One million go, the penny is the nub of the situation. So I think it would be prudent potatoes for 50rs a kilo, not a rupee more, not a rupee less‘. Oh and please call me when you do this. I'd like to bear witness to the priceless expression on the vendor‘s face who was most probably about to offer you 30 for a kilo. (Haha…!)

Bankruptcy has to unavoidably occur in your life. Every rich person has gone bankrupt at least once. It would be a good idea not to pay your income taxes compelling a raid whose consequent would be you behind bars. For instant rich-ness do all of it -- swindle other people‘s money, never pay taxes, go bankrupt when asked to pay anything , get yourself into critical criminal offence then pro-long it for years till every other businessman, employee, secretary, driver, sweeper, chai wala, paan wala know that you‘re an absolute goner. After this, make a miraculous entry into the business world exploiting an old wasted invest-ment you once made, as a mistake, but is now the pinnacle of financial earnings. To mask your self-conceived notoriety image engage uselessly in social endeav-ors. Protest against deforestation, even though you dwell on a land which was once abundant with greenery, strive for the uplifting of poor humans, even though you haven‘t paid your domestic servants 10 months worth salaries, sup-port women‘s progress and education, cleanliness drives, garbage collection, cultural encouragement, gift blankets to orphans, kiss babies, feed sick animals so on & so forth. You won‘t really have to do much. Just say that you‘re doing them, get a few fancy photographs taken with a smug smile and the paparazzi will go crazy! (Oh! that rhymes!)

Above all, there is one thing which if not instigated will force your plans to col-lapse faster than the leaning tower titled a wee bit more. It is wit. You should and must be exceedingly, unimaginably, exceptionally, absurdly and awfully witty. Smartness and intellect must be in your blood corpuscles. You have to be intelligent enough to deal with air headed humans, understand & judge them correctly, know their worth, how true or false they are and how much to rely & believe. You must be able to see right through them in the same manner as you must be able to see right through this article!

Good luck!

May the force of Richie Rich be with you!

— Saanjhi L S.E. ETRX

Realizing your Dream.

REALIZING YOUR DREAM

Love for your country can take on many dimensions. For some, it exists at the superficial level, for the sake of identification, for some a fact of life that is passively present, an identity which is present somewhere around, whereas for some, it is a part of who you are, your family, your blood. Whatever level one is on, the fact that you owe your country for whatever you‘ve achieved cannot be denied. In this era of globalization, the concept of nationhood seems to be dwin-dling in stature. But our country still holds a deep significance to our identity, our existence. India, the name itself brings a varied sense of emotions, a feeling of pride, a sense of belonging to something magnificent. So, why not give some-thing back? Why not pay back our dues in whichever way we can to the country that has given us so much?

With this thought in my mind and an already present admiration for the armed forces, I decided to give a shot in choosing defense as a career. Reaching an important juncture in your life, where the path you choose becomes your identity is a particularly difficult time for many. The balancing of the various factors that account for deciding your career path will rival even some of the complexities of nuclear science. On one side, you would have your life-long dream, the most-cherished ambition that you wanted to achieve and on the other side, the lucrative salaries and the ‗safe bet‘ option chosen by all those around you. The urge and temptation for the latter is too big to overshadow the former, at least for the most of us.

And this is exactly where I found myself, having to choose between the two. The initial opposition from parents and others almost bogged me down and I began having second thoughts over my decision to join the armed forces. It is quite a difficult phase to be in and it tests your determination to the hilt. The ini-tial doubts then turn into anxiety over whether I‘m good enough, dedicated enough for the job. Then comes the ‗What if?‘ scenarios where you begin to go into a spiral of negative thoughts. What if I don‘t get it? What if it was not worth it? After a plethora of questioning and cross-questioning, you tend to get stabi-lized in your thoughts and come out either satisfied and aware, in some cases or still, confused and doubtful, as in most cases.

Still, trudging on in spite of all these thoughts, I went on to give and clear the written examination for armed forces (CDSE) and was called by the Air Force selection Board. After a grueling week of tests and activities, it was a pleasant surprise to hear my name being called out in the recommended list.

18

It was a great feeling to move one step closer towards my dream. But, there are more obstacles yet to be crossed, more steps yet to be taken before the final dream gets accomplished. Till that time, one cannot rest but must work on tire-lessly.

I write my experiences because I want everyone to know that your dreams, if not already, are well within your grasp. If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is compromise. The struggle that one undertakes in achieving the dream makes the journey a much more memorable experience. So, when the time comes to make a decision, a decision to pursue your dream or let it slip away for the sake of a safe, bankable option, remember this saying ―Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.‖

―Some choices we live not only once but a thousand times over, remembering them for the rest of our lives.‖

-Suraj nair– B.E. Computers

MS 101

This is a great guide to solve all your problems regarding GRE/MS. It's written by a VESIT/SFE Alumni Kunal Atitkar.

Download pdf here

Hope you've found it useful.

Deep Patel

dmpatel.1988@gmail.com

Placements 101

It  looks  like  placements  is  the  buzzword  in  VESIT  once  again.  It’s  bound  to  be  chaotic,  confusing  and  at  the  end  ...  cathartic.  And  as  a  responsible  senior  who  has  nothing  better  to  do  on  a  boring  weekend  afternoon,  it  is  my  duty  to  help  you  find  some  organisation  amidst  this  disorganisation.  But  before  I  say  the  P  word  once  again  I’d  like  to  clarify  one  thing  –  I’m  no  expert  in  this  erm...  field.  There  are  probably  people  who  are  better  suited  to  give  away  this  gyaan.  But  as  I  said,  it’s  a  weekend  and  there’s  no  good  movie,  so  the  onus  falls  on  me  to  do  what  I’m  doing.  What  I  want  to  say  is  that  you  should  reach  out  to  as  many  people  as  possible  with  your  queries  esp.  the  generic  ones.  A  single  person  might  have  a  prejudice  that  could  lead  you  to  take  a  disastrous  career  decision.

So  now  that  the  disclaimer  is  done  and  dusted,  let’s  move  on:

1)  Why  so  soon?

Well,  up  until  last  year  this  WAS  the  period  during  which  people  got  placed.  Then  came  recession  and  along  with  it  a  premise  for  NASSCOM  to  pass  the  directive  to  defer  campus  placements  to  JAN  2010.  Whatever  be  the  reason,  the  sooner  you  accept  it,  the  better.

2)  Do  I  qualify?  If  not  I’d  rather  use  my  time  efficiently  by  catching  up  on  some  World  Cup  action!

The  general  criteria  for  companies  vary  and  have  to  be  agreed  upon  by  BOTH  sides  of  the  bargain  i.e.  the  recruiter  and  TPO  cell.  So  it  is  generally  observed  that  after  the  initial  rounds  of  stringent  cut-off  for  eligibility,  the  TPO  relaxes  norms  to  accommodate  more  unplaced  students.  However  there  are  exceptions.  For  example,  companies  like  Deloitte  and  Directi  came  with  a  ‘NO  CRITERIA’  policy.  So  no  matter  what  your  aggregate  is,  you  might  want  to  pay  Mr.  RS  Agarwal  a  visit.

3)  Is  this  the  only  way  I  can  get  placed?

Definitely  not!  There  are  also  other  options  like  walk-in  interviews  or  off-campus  tests.  Alternatively,  you  can  appear  for  standard  aptitude  tests  like  NACTECH  and  apply  to  wide  range  of  companies  like  Patni,  HCL  on  the  basis  of  the  scores.  However  all  this  options  require  you  to  venture  into  the  murky  waters  of  researching  and  searching  where  you  compete  with  a  pool  of  probably  thousands  of  freshers  and  experienced  candidates.  Also  expectations  are  high  in  an  off  campus  interview.  So  don’t  let  this  opportunity  go  by  without  your  best  try.  Luckily,  VESIT  has  the  repute  that  gets  you  the  best  of  companies  to  come  look  for  you  rather  than  the  other  way  round.

4)  What  is  the  process  and  what  the  hell  is  a  stress  interview?

The  process  again  is  pretty  standardised  for  all  companies  with  each  company  adding  a  minor  tweak  or  two.  In  general,  the  process  is  like  this:

Aptitude  test  (Quant,  Verbal,  Data  Interpretation,  Reasoning  and  C/C++  in  some  cases)

Technical  Interview  (Optional)

GD  (Optional)

Presentation  (Optional)

HR  Interview  (notoriously  known  as  the  stress  interview,  though  in  most  cases  its  only  a  myth)

Apart  from  this  there  is  the  pre  placement  presentation  which  is  very  important  to  help  you  make  the  decision  whether  that  particular  company  is  worthy  of  having  you  or  not.

5)Woah!  Long  list!!  How  do  you  prepare  for  it?

Well,  the  entire  process  is  so  designed  to  assess  you  on  your  capabilities  in  a  wide  range  of  skillsets.  Understandably,  resume  building  is  a  process  that  happens  over  a  period  of  time.  So  something  this  versatile  is  difficult  to  be  mastered  in  a  span  of  a  few  days.  Although  planned  preparation  can  do  wonders  to  how  efficiently  and  systematically  you  approach  the  tests  and  interviews.

Aptitude  tests:

I  personally  think  that  for  aptitude  tests  you  should  follow  a  two-fold  approach  .

•  Get  your  basics  right  in  your  weakest  areas

•  Sharpen  your  skills  in  your  strongest  areas

Here  I  list  some  of  the  sources  which  may  help  you  prepare  for  either  scenarios  :

Quant:

Basic:  RS  Agarwal,  TCS  Aptitude  Papers,  Test  funda  concept  books,  IMS  BRM

Advanced:  Arun  Sharma(Only  shortcuts,  don’t  solve  examples),  Test  funda  work  books,  IMS  workbooks

Verbal:

Basic:  TCS  wordlist,  IMS  Verbal  Reasoning  BRM(Highly  recommended)

Advanced:  IMS  workbook,  TIME  Verbal  module  on  correct  usages

DI/LR

Basic:  IMS  BRM  for  DI/  Reasoning  ,  GRE  Data  Interpretation  questions,  TCS  Apti  papers

Advanced:  IMS  BRM  /  workbook

Technical

Certain  subjects  are  very  important  for  the  interview  like  Data  Structures,  DBMS,  OS  and  System  Programming  apart  from  the  programming  languages  of  course.  Revise  important  programs  like  linked  lists,  fibo,  etc.  Also  concepts  such  as  processes  and  threads  in  OS  ,  keys  in  DBMS,  etc.

For  other  subjects  you  can  just  brush  up  whatever  you  had  studied  from  reference  books  or  class  notes.  Don’t  try  to  go  into  a  lot  of  detail.  If  you  didn’t  like  the  subject  in  the  first  place,  chances  a  dim  that  you’d  like  it  now.

Interview:

Loads  of  material  exists  on  how  to  prepare  for  an  interview.  Just  keep  it  simple  ,  be  polite  ,  diplomatic  yet  honest  and  you  should  see  yourself  through.  Just  remember  they  want  you  as  much  as  you  want  them.

6)All  right!  That’s  it?  Isn’t  there  something  called  the  resume?

Yeah,  the  resume!  Again,  there  is  lots  of  stuff  on  the  resume  on  the  internet.  I  would  like  to  add  a  few  more  pointers  to  it  though.

a)  Keep  it  short,  very  short  and  precise.  Definitely  not  more  than  2  pages

b)  They  hardly  glance  twice  at  your  resume.  So  highlight  the  things  you  want  them  to  see  and  discuss  in  the  interview.

c)  Know  what  you’ve  put  because  only  that  gets  discussed  in  the  interview.

d)  If  your  achievements  don’t  amount  to  much  space  ,  so  be  it!  Don’t  add  irrelevant  matter  just  for  the  sake  of  it

e)  Prepare  a  rough  draft  with  all  that  comes  to  your  mind,  then  ask  yourself  ‘Which  of  these  can  I  talk  about  the  best’.  Keep  those  things  only!

f)  Prepare  separate  resumes  for  separate  companies.  Gauge  the  need  of  the  company  and  what  you  want  to  portray  yourself  as  to  them.

All  this  gyaan  is  no  ultimate  gospel  of  course.  Please  consult  as  many  knowledgeable  seniors  as  you  can.  Make  a  decision  for  yourself.  Don’t  get  intimidated  by  opinions  or  reputations.  Think  straight,  think  right.  Wish  you  all  a  great  placement  season  J

Deep  Patel

dmpatel.1988@gmail.com

THe VESIT societies saga

Hi  guys,  there  is  this  post  a  senior  wrote  a  few  years  ago  on  an  orkut  community  about  life  of  society  council  members  in  VESIT.  It  was  way  back  when  VESIT  had  7  societies  but  the  essence  still  holds.  It  was  retrieved  from  a  blog  by  some  Vaibhav  Kamat.  It  goes  like  this  :

10:30  AM  on  the  VESIT  4th  flour

At  10:30  the  bell  rings,  its  break  time  .But  no  break  for  SCR(society  council  members)
Students  looking  so  pathetic  in  the  lecture  ,  suddenly  are  the  men  of  action.
Some  run,  some  jog  and  slowly  the  random  mob  seems  to  forming  n-sized  groups  .  while  few
still  like  to  run  dodging  the  fellows  .  In  the  pretty  confined  space  of  the  corridor  SCRs  manage  space  ,  after  all  managing  is  their  job.  Discussions  are  in  the  air  and  the  sound  waves  superimpose  and  distort.
Many  time  their  are  announcements  and  the  SCRs  force  their  way  in  a  class  ,  sometimes  the  students/SCR  ratio  is  embarrassing  ,  but  adjustments  are  made  persuading  the  outsiders.The  groups  move  from  one  class  to  another  and  the  PROs  repeat  the  same  stuff.Yeah  SCRs  are  excellent  time  managers  too!
At  the  peak  time,  people  density  is  at  its  best.  Many  SCRs  excellent  dodging
skills  rescue  them.  As  they  say  "when  going  gets  tough  tough  gets  going".
Finally  the  ending  bell  rings  ,  SCRs  realize  theres  end  to  everything.  groups  slowly  disperse  and  the  men  of  action  are  again  the  dull  guys  in  the  classroom  along  with  others...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Very  well  put,  Vaibhav.  Its  strange  how  being  in  the  thick  of  things  kind  of  rouses  certain  people's  energies  and  channelizes  them...  Perhaps  it's  the  sense  of  'doing  something'  in  this  monotonous  engineering  life  or  maybe  as  Dale  Carneige  wrote,  people  just  want  to  'feel'  important.  Whatever  it  might  be,  this  is  the  thing  that  makes  VESIT  what  it  is  for  me  and  I'm  sure  many  share  the  thought.  And  no  amount  of  cribbing  on  my  part  about  non-funtional  printers,  slow-internet  connections,  lousy  staff  ,pain-in-the-ass  faculty  can  take  away  the  fact  that  many  remain  and  many  will  be  indebted  to  VESIT  for  giving  them  this  pleasure  to  discover  heroes  within  themselves.

Weird Tech!!

The  latest  innovations  in  the  fields  of  science  and  technology  has  led  to  the  development  of  a  number  of  mind-boggling  gadgets  and  gizmos.  While  some  are  designed  to  make  life  easy,  others  seem  to  cater  to  the  fancy  of  the  rich  and  the  famous.  Apart  from  these,  there  exist  a  set  of  other  gadgets  which  seem  to  be  nothing  more  than  the  whim  of  their  creators.  Sure  every  child’s  dream  of  getting  a  James  Bond  thing  will  be  soon  a  reality.  Heres  taking  a  sneak-peek!

Ever  wondered  how  weird  it  might  look  to  have  ur  slippers  glowing?Illuminated  Car  Slippers  are  actually  cosy  car  shaped  shoes  that  let  you  move  in  the  dark  comfortably.  Fitted  with  bright  LED  lights,  these  extra  ordinary  slippers  can  light  up  the  floor  up  to  a  distance  of  30  feet.  Surely  a  handy  innovation  to  find  your  way  in  the  dark!

CUT  COPY  AND  PASTE-On  the  computer  it’s  so  freakingly  easy  but  what  if  u  are  nasty  in  cutting  things  just  like  me?  Designed  primarily  to  assist  people  who  find  it  difficult  in  cutting  a  paper  along  a  straight  line.  The  laser  scissors  can  help  you  to  get  the  perfect  cut.  Just  aim  the  pin  point  laser,  follow  the  line,  and  you  will  never  mess  up  with  the  perfect  cutting.  Made  of  stainless  steel,  these  scissor  blades  have  a  micro  serrated  edge  and  provide  a  commendable  finish  to  cut  edges  .P.s-don’t  aim  it  anywhere  else!!

Now  here’s  a  byte  that’s  sweet  to  the  eyes  but  not  to  the  tongue.  The  Chocolate  Portable  HDD  looks  like  a  chocolate  bar  but  that’s  where  the  similarities  end.  Each  piece  of  this  high-tech  chocolate  is  actually  a  modular  flash  drive.  The  central  hub  comprises  of  a  touchscreen  that  helps  you  to  view  and  organize  your  collective  files.

Plunger  Helmet  is  a  device  that  is  designed  to  protect  you  not  while  driving  but  while  napping.  If  you  have  a  habit  of  falling  asleep  on  the  train,  you  might  easily  get  one  to  keep  you  steady.  The  plunger  helmet  looks  like  the  typical  helmet  that  construction  workers  use,  but  has  a  plunger  attached  to  its  back  which  keeps  your  head  in  place.  The  device  is  actually  more  helpful  for  your  seat  mates  rather  than  yourself  as  it  prevents  you  from  swaying  side  to  side.  Even  if  you  don’t  need  one  yourself,  you  might  keep  one  in  stock  for  use  on  a  drowsy  seat  mate.

it’s  the  gizmo  eat-attack  for  all  those  tummy-chubby  people!!A  transparent  toaster  enables  you  to  keep  a  watch  on  your  toast  even  while  you  are  rushing  around  to  get  things  done.  Armed  with  a  transparent  heating  glass  technology  which  allows  one  to  see  the  bread  while  toasting,  this  novel  innovation  has  been  designed  to  assist  millions  of  hapless  eaters.

Another  useful  invention  for  people  running  forever  short  on  time.  The  Electric  Shoe  Polisher  Buffer  Machine  offers  a  new  and  easy  way  to  have  shiny  looking  shoes  all  day  long  without  bothering  to  use  manual  labour.  This  funky  gadget  can  polish  and  shine  your  shoes  and  boots,  allowing  you  to  keep  your  hands  clean  and  save  precious  time

Finally  a  way  out  to  hit  your  friend  with  a  snowball  before  he  finds  time  to  turn  his  back  and  run  away.  The  Sno-Baller  can  churn  out  large  numbers  of  snowballs  in  seconds,  even  as  your  gloves  stay  drier  and  hands  warmer.  What’s  more,  you  can  fire  away  continually  without  ever  being  afraid  of  running  out  of  stock!  This  device  is  a  must  for  family  and  neighborhood  snowball  fights!

With  newer  items  adding  on  to  the  roster  every  passing  day,  the  list  of  weird  gadgets  and  gizmos  are  growing  continually.