A busy summer comes to an end finally but the Topsy turvy journey that it brought with it has made me a specialist at tackling HR interviews with me trying out different kind of answers to the same questions and finally the divine force agreeing with my answer leading to me getting placed. Well, here are some excerpts from the interview processes I faced.

1. Cisco Systems

I was pursuing my Summer Internship at Cisco, Bangalore wherein i was assigned the project of developing a DNS client for their proprietary product. I performed well on the project meeting the expectations of my manager who offered me a job then and there. I thought, ‘YES!’ , no more interviews and crap stuff like that. Then he gets to know that i still have a year of engineering left and then he says you will have to go through the interview process and i can recommend the HR. Then, in the final week of my stay there, i get a call from the HR Space that I’ll have my written test followed by the interviews tomorrow. they split the interns into 2 batches, one at 10 am comprising 8 candidates and another at 11 am comprising 6 candidates.  Thankfully i was in the 2nd batch. The first batch guys come out and an announcement follows saying 2 out of 8 cleared the apti. We guys are like WTF. Then its our turn. The questions were mostly on General Aptitude, 8085, Digital Logic and Operating Systems. I did some 25 correctly and guessed the rest since we had to answer 50 questions in 60 mins. The results come and 5 out of 6 get through.. #FTW.. Then the technical interview followed where he asked questions from all topics related to Computer Science where I did fairly well, which was followed by the manager interview where he judged our understanding of the basics and finally the HR interview which went on for 45 mins since I knew the HR guy really well. They said the results will be out in 2 weeks time and I dunno the equivalent of 2 weeks for them since the results are not yet out.

Package-8.5 lpa ctc (Apparently)

Status- Awaiting Results

2. Oracle Systems

The First Company to visit us on campus was Oracle, which had 2 companies conducting the Online written test viz Oracle Systems and Oracle CGBU. Lot of Hype-Hoopla surrounded the whole process since everyone was giving the online test and this was a new process for all. Next day everyone had gathered at the IEM Auditorium (the only decent audi at RV), wherein they gave a brief description of the company and the job profiles they are offering. Then they started announcing the shortlisted names for the interviews and first came the names of the CGBU guys and I wasn’t one among them. Then they announced the names of the Systems Guys and thankfully I had made the cut. I had my technical interview slot for 4.20pm but they called me in at 6.30pm and the interviewer who was interviewing me was rejecting people within 5 mins of the interview. I prayed and entered the interview room and thankfully I answered almost all the questions she asked me. Then, they called me for the HR interview where the common question I feared surfaced-”Why won’t you join Cisco?”. I answered truthfully saying that Cisco is in a bad condition and I wanted a reliable company. Apparently even Oracle is in a bad condition and I didn’t know that. Then questions about Higher Studies and Stuff and at 9pm they called 17 candidates into a common room and started announcing the names. They selected 10 guys and I didn’t make the cut. I was dejected since I had to go through the process again.

Package- 8.5 lpa (Oracle Systems), 6.5 lpa (Oracle CGBU)

Result- Got out in the HR round

3. Akamai Technologies

I had decided that I would appear only for Companies which would offer more than 6.5 lpa. So, i skipped a few companies like Thought Works. Next in line was Akamai Technologies which dealt with Networking and Data Handling. I knew that this job profile suited me really well. 160 odd guys appeared for the written round among which 16 were shortlisted and were called for interviews. First Round interview was fun with the Interviewer being a chilled out guy and he mainly asked questions related to Data Structures which were fairly simple and straight-forward. Then I was called in for the second round where a young guy was interviewing me. He asked me to code a problem which i had not attempted in the Apti and i coded it easily using Recursion. Then he asked me a dice puzzle which was simple and finally a DataBase query which i knew the logic but not the exact syntax. Then he asked me to wait outside and one person comes and asks me my T-Shirt size which meant that I was Out. They selected 4 guys finally and 1 guy from Computers. Hard Luck.

Package- 7.25 lpa + shares

Result- Got out in the penultimate round

4. Citrix Systems

Had been home for the weekend after Akamai, just to get my mind off it. The next Biggie that arrived was Citrix Systems and it had a lot of hype since it usually took many guys from CS. They had their pre-placement talk which was followed by the written test. The short-list was out and they had called 36 guys for the interview. I had made it into the 36. Then the first round of technical interview which was 2 on 1 where he asked questions from all topics where I aced at some and sucked at the rest. But I did fine. Then the 2nd round of  Technical Interviews which was also 2 on 1 where he asked me what are my interests. I told him I love to solve Sudoku and puzzles. There!.. Now he asked me write a code to solve a 9 cross 9 Sudoku. I was shocked since lot of cases had to be taken care of . I wrote a Pseudo-Code which was fairly straight-forward but the Interviewer was not that impressed but he said its fine. Nonetheless, they called me for the HR interview where I had to describe myself for 2 mins where i went for the conventional answer of listing my strengths and team-player, motivated and stuff. Then, the same question “Why not Cisco?”. I told him that Citrix was my Dream company and i didn’t want anything else. Then the waiting process started and finally the results were declared at 12 am Midnight and they selected 7 guys (5 from CS) and I had not made it. I was broken.

Package-8.8 lpa

Result- Out in the HR Round

5. SanDisk Corp

The next Company visiting us was SanDisk which was visiting a private College for the first time since it used to recruit in less numbers at NITs and IITs only. They had 4 job profiles among which Firmware Development was open to CS guys. The Cutoff was 9.0 CGPA and some 120 guys appeared for the written in FD and they shortlisted 8 guys for the interview. My first round interview went on for 45 mins which mainly dealt with puzzles, projects and data structures. They selected 3 guys for the other profiles and shortlisted 2 guys for the FD profile and called them for Manager and HR interviews at their Campus at C.V. Raman Nagar. I went there the next day and the manager greeted me and called me in for the interview which went on for half an hour or so. There too I was asked the same question- “Why not Cisco?”.. My answer was “I don’t know whether they are recruiting. I’m not sure”. That answer was classic and fair enough and finally they called me for the HR and I was hired..

Package- 7.25 lpa

Result- Hired

So, this was my tryst with the HR interviews at different companies where I learnt some lessons on diplomacy. Raju’s interview in 3 idiots doesn’t work in real life..

Here’s me signing off. Until next time,

VCG.

So, what am i looking forward to this year. Here are some of the most awaited things and also some things that happened and are making news->

1)Formula 1 has become a big bore.

The Red Bull dominance and the sheer pace of the team in Blue has made them unstoppable and to an extent reduced the viewing population of the sport since most of them used to be Ferrari fans.  The prancing horse is old and miserable and the drivers look like second string when compared to RBR drivers. The only true competition Vettel has is from Hamilton who’s driving out of his skin to give him a challenge. Schumi has lost his zeal and he should have atleast given a realistic thought about returning to F1 after the disastrous ’10 season. Vettel is dominant after 4 races winning 3 and 2nd in one. Anybody with me when i say Formula one has become Obsolete??..

2)The Dark defender returns.. Season 6 Dexter..

This season is going to be legendary, but the 5th season was a serious letdown when we start comparing it with the first 4 seasons but it was exhilarating nonetheless. With Lumen leaving Dexter and the kids to be taken care of, will Dexter go on a killing spree again or will we see the last of the dark force in him. Expected to premiere in September ’11 , after the Ice-truck killer, Bay-harbor Butcher, Miguel Prado, Trinity Killer and Jordan Chase, who’s it gonna be this time??..

3) Onions make people cry.. (fact)..

The common man was the worst affected in the exponential price rise of Onions in a matter of a week or so. Onions were sold at 70-80 Rs per kg and the rates increased by 250%. The salads which were given for free in restaurants stopped. VIP tickets were given at the Cricket World Cup to people who had a minimum of 15 kgs onion with them. But now, the prices have dropped and the situation is normal. The onions who got their fair share of limelight are unhappy and want prices to get hiked again..

4) Osama bin Laden killed while watching himself on TV..

Guess what, Osama was hiding in Pakistan inspired by the movie Tere Bin Laden and unfortunately Obama saw it using subtitles and finally carried out Operation Geronimo and finally nabbed the Terrorist in a cold blooded encounter in Obattabad, Pakistan. The Pakistani Government was furious at the Army for not providing effective security to Osama even though the army base was 1.5 km from the hideout. Jesus Christ guarding the gate in the heavens lashed out at the guards for the serious miscommunication that caused Laden to come there. Finally a bit of water pollution took place when he was buried in the sea. RIP Obama..oops..Laden..

5) Team India, Cricket World Cup Champions after 28 years..

Kapil Paaji had an awry smile on his face while India lifted the coveted Cricket World Cup trophy in April. He no longer can be asked by TV news channels as to how it felt when India won it in ’83 and blah blah. Dhoni, cool as ever came up with a masterful knock of 91* and was also aided by the crucial 97 by Gautam Gambhir after Slinga struck twice to remove Sachin and Sehwag early. The media interviewed everybody including the dogs and cats in the cricketers homes and Aaj Tak stopped recruiting its correspondents for a year and swore to keep repeating the World Cup telecast for another year.

Many more updates to come. Feel free to comment if u like the post.

Here’s me signing off. Until next time..

V.C.G.

All said and done, the most awaited movie of the year, Kites is not one for the conservative Indian audiences, who expect a masala flick at the cinema halls.

The Hritik Roshan starrer Kites, has a good 1st half with stylish camera work and a predictable story performed well. It has J(Hritik) whose job is making money by marrying people who are in need of the green card. Hence, unknowingly he lands up marrying the girl of his dreams Natasha(Barbara). But his life takes a turn when he goes chasing his dreams of becoming rich by deciding to marry Gina(Kangana) because Natasha also turns out to be a con marrying Gina’s brother for the money. But as it turns out Gina’s family owns a Casino and her bro and dad kill people whom they don’t trust. Will J stick onto to making money or will he chase the girl of his dreams..

Rating: 2/5

Watch it to catch Hritik after a long time..

Raajneeti:

Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti made waves in theaters all  over India when it released this June, mainly because of the rumours that Katrina Kaif portrays the role of Sonia Gandhi. Well, to be frank, it’s all false, except for the looks one can say.

Coming to the movie, the first half is exceptional as it gives a great build-up with some fantastic acting by Manoj Bajpai, Nana Patekar and Ajay Devgan. It’s about 2 rival brothers in the same political party and their heir having arguments as to who should succeed to lead the party which lead to a lot of killings between the rival gangs. Rightly called the modern Mahabharata, the low point of the movie is where the politicians themselves use guns to clean up the enemies(:P) and the Dialogues lose their value and end up to be funny one-liners. A mom who goes to her son whom she had abandoned when he was a child, but who ends up killing her son, asks him to come home with her and forget all that happened..ROFL.. can u believe she said that.. Jokes apart the movie is one of the best ones that have surfaced this year..

Rating:3.5/5

Watch it coz u ain’t gonna get many better movies this year..

RobinHood:

Well guys don’t expect a Gladiator kinda effect when you go  to watch Robin Hood, money and valuable time go to waste.

The film starring Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett is not a Fairy tale style Robinhood story. It’s the story about the origin of RobinHood or how he came to be known as RH. The film has breath-taking cinematography and eye-catching fight-scenes. But those are only some of the few High points of the movie. The film falters in catching the attention of the audience whatsoever and at one moment i had dozed off in the theatre..zzzzz.. The performances by Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett are indeed good, but the story lacks the required punch as in you always expect when is the film gonna go a level higher.

Rating:2/5

Go for it if you are a lover of the cinematography and you don’t care spending money on films..

Karate Kid:

A remake of the 1984 movie with the same name, Karate Kid enthralls you all the while when you are in the cinema hall.

The Story is about a kid Dre Parker(Jaden Smith) who moves into Beijing from Detroit because his mom gets transferred there. The first thing about getting adjusted to Chinese atmosphere is the language which clearly Dre doesn’t have any idea about. He falls in love with a chinese girl but  then Cheng( her bro), a bully at his school and his  gang warn him to stay away from her. Clearly, Dre is too weak to fight those guys coz they know Kung-Fu and he doesn’t. However, help comes in many forms, and when Dre is rescued from his tormentors by his apartment building’s maintenance man, Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), he may have found a way of defending himself, as Han agrees to teach him the ways of kung fu. The story takes off from there. Great performances from the lead cast Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan.

Rating: 4/5

A great entertainer. You’ll get your money’s worth..

i don’t have an idea about the difficulty level of this year’s paper and hence i’m not going to comment on anything..

i have heard that the maths and physics papers were a bit lengthy this time..

here are some of the cut-off marks for cet-2008, accordingly u can decide on your probable ranks-

rank 2 in engg scored 295 in pcm and 172 in cet..

rank 52 scored 97% in pcm and 163 in cet..

rank 66 scored 155 in cet and 297 in pcm..

rank 109 scored 148 in cet and 299 in pcm..

rank 275 scored 142 in cet and 294 in pcm..

anyways, all the best for the results..

The story is about 2 twin brothers Charlie and Guddu who get separated after their father’s death and then Charlie lands up as a Match fixer in Horse racing and Guddu works at an NGO..

Fate lands them meeting one another in this twisty turvy ride full of non-stop fun..

The movie has got some spellbounding performances by the lead cast and Amole Gupte who plays Bhope Bhau(Priyanka’s Gunda turned politician brother)..

All in all a very good movie, one you must not miss..

Rating- 4 out of 5..

V.C.G..

The characters are created by Olilvy and Mather (O&M) India team and the they are shot in South Africa in less than 3 months. The entire shoot costed 3 crores. Compare this with what Saif and Kareena charge for appearing in a 10 second commercial. They charge around 6 crores and ripping up Airtel. Vodafone did it in 3 crores (may be a little more) and guess what it has a repeat value and they have 30 ads.

Arbaaz Khan had to do a bit of a task recently. Apparently his dad Salim and stepmother Helen had a bet on whether the new vodafone ads with the eggheads called Zoozoos were animated or real. While Salim believed it was computer graphics or animation, Helen thought otherwise.

Says Arbaaz Khan, “Now since the bet was on and neither would go to sleep unless they knew for sure what the truth really is, they felt the best person to call and find out is me. Honestly, though I had seen the vodofone ads with the eggheads called Zoozoos, I too was convinced they were not real. So according to me Helen aunty had won that bet. But since I was not 100% sure I told dad give me 15 mins, will go on the net and find out. I was amazed to find out that they are infact real people, obviously in the guise of the creation a wingless bird called zoozoo, shocking.”

I was reluctant to call them cartoons because of the cute nature of the characters. I am happy that they have a name now. It is a 30 ad series of which 13 have already been aired. Each ad will be advertising one of the value added service of Vodafone.

The recent ads of Stock Alerts, Filter Unwanted Callers and Cricket Commentary have really raised the bar which is already higher. These ideas really stick and people actually pay attention and might even remember the short codes given after the ad.

“We wanted to create something unique. A character that would always be memorable… somewhat alien and yet, very human,” says Varma, who made the films. “When we started out, the idea was to ensure that no one should be watching cricket. Everyone should be talking about Zoozoo.” 

That they did. I am yet to find a person who did not like or who is not talking about it. Nobody knows what to call them and now we have a name. We love ZooZoos.

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There was absence of rain in Bah’rain’ on sunday but the new team Brawn GP showed no signs of change in their form this season by notching up another win Sakhir.

Three races from four coming from a team that didn’t know its future a few months ago!

For all the money that Honda poured through its two wind tunnels last year, Ross Brawn is present at the right place and time to reap the benefits.

Will this winning spree go on till they win both titles? Won’t the bigger teams catch up? The questions linger…

Starting at P5, Button moved to third at start. After the lightly fueled Toyotas pitted early, the race was firmly in Button’s hands, except for a minor electrical issue that gave him a burn on his left leg.

Having won his first race under the safety car and the second red-flagged, this was a fine win under racing conditions, another not from pole.

Sebastian Vettel too drove a long first stint and battled degrading tyres to bag a second for Red Bull.

The Toyotas started high but finished with Trulli third and Glock seventh behind Kimi. With an improving car and driving prowess to complement it, Lewis Hamilton made an impressive start and finally came in fourth.

Rubens Barrichello didn’t have his best race, had to stop thrice and had to be happy with fifth. While Felipe Massa floundered, the best that Kimi Raikkonen could do was a sixth, the three points saving the Scuderia from having its worst ever run.

Force India had a far better race this time with Fisichella and Sutil finishing P15 and P16. They can take solace in the fact that they finished higher than both big budget BMWs.

The aero upgrades seemed to have somewhat worked for them and they battled well in the mid-field.

Despite the searing late-April temperatures, 19 cars finished; the one that didn’t was Nakajima, whose Williams gave up on lap 49 with an oil pressure issue.

Three wins and a podium give a Button a lead with 31 points. Barrichello and Vettel follow with 19 and 18; both Toyota drivers are into double digits. Champs Lewis, Alonso and Kimi are languishing with just 9, 5 and 3. Big names Kubica and Massa are yet to score.

For the teams, Brawn has the early lead reaching 50 from just four races with Red Bull at 27.5 Toyota a point further behind. Dear Ferrari is down at ninth, and Force India is still at zero!

After the four eventful flyaway races that have toppled the Formula 1 pecking order, the teams now move to the more traditional European races.

With teams playing catch-up after the double-decker diffuser ruling last week, the Spanish race two weeks hence should reflect the true pace of most cars.

While the old warhorses aim to regain lost glory, Brawn and Red Bull should now think of saving theirs. So long until Spain!

1. Jenson Button – 31
2. Rubens Barrichello – 19
3. Sebastian Vettel – 18
4. Jarno Trulli – 14.5
5. Timo Glock – 12
6. Mark Webber – 9.5
7. Lewis Hamilton – 9
8. Fernando Alonso – 5
9. Nick Heidfeld – 4
10. Heikki Kovalainen – 4
11. Nico Rosberg – 3.5
12. Sébastien Buemi – 3
13. Kimi Räikkönen – 3
14. Sébastien Bourdais – 1
15. Adrian Sutil – 0
16. Felipe Massa – 0
17. Giancarlo Fisichella – 0
18. Kazuki Nakajima – 0
19. Nelson Piquet – 0
20. Robert Kubica – 0

1. Brawn – 50
2. Red Bull – 27.5
3. Toyota – 26.5
4. McLaren – 13
5. Renault – 5
6. BMW Sauber – 4
7. Toro Rosso – 4
8. Williams – 3.5
9. Ferrari – 3
10. Force India – 0

Here are some of the predictions from India Today:

Statewise predictions: 

Uttar Pradesh

• Mayawati will gain significant strength in Uttar Pradesh
• No Congress, SP tie-up and both to face political losses
• Ajit Singh will help NDA marginally
• BSP will win 30 seats, 11 more seats than what it won in 2004 polls 
• SP will win 29 seats
• SP tally will come down by 6
• BJP+  will win 14 seats
• Gains of 4 seats for BJP, RLD
• Congress tally to go down by 2 seats

Punjab 

• SAD+BJP still strong in the state
• BJP+SAD will win 10 seats
• Congress to gain 1 seat (Congress won 2 seats in 2004)

Haryana

• In 2004 Congress had won 9 seats, BJP1 seat
• In 2009 Congress will win 8 seats, BJP will bag 2 seat and others would fail to get any seat
• BJP-INLD alliance will not work in the state
• Dissidents not impacting Congress
• Smaller players get votes but no seats

Tamil Nadu

• Cong-DMK alliance to win 18 seats
• BJP will win no seats
• Others may gain in 21 seats
• 51.9 per cent vote share for others
• AIADMK+ to win 21 seats this election and will make a comeback
• In 2004, DMK had bagged 16 seats, Congress 10, PMK 5, MDMK 4, AIADMK 0

Delhi

• Delhi’s position to remain unchanged from 2004 tally
• Congress command 55 per cent vote share
• Congress will win 6 seats and BJP will win 1 seat

 Andhra Pradesh

• In 2004 Congress won 34 seats, TRS 5 seats, BJP+ 5 seats
• In 2009 Congress to win 21 seats, BJP will get no seat, and others would get 18 seats
• TDP and TRS has 10 seats in AP
• Congress will lose 13 seats this year, whereas BJP will lose 5 seats and it will be a gain of 18 seats for others
• Congress tally down by 8

Karnataka

• In 2004 Congress had won 8 seats, BJP 18 and JD(S) 2 seats
• In 2009 Congress will win in 6 seats, BJP will win 18 seats and others will get 4 seats
• This would mean a loss of 2 seats for congress and a gain of 2 seats for others
• BJP will hold its ground firm
• Opinion poll predicts that Congress will fail to recover from the Assembly rout

Kerala

• In 2004 LDF had won 18 seats and UDF had won 2 seats. No seats won by Congress and BJP
• In 2009 Congress will get 12 seats, BJP will win none and others will get 8 seats.
• It will be a gain of 12 seats for Cong and aloss of 12 seats for others
• LDF will get 8 seats
• UDF will get 12 seats
• LDF set for an upset in the state

 Cut-off marks for admission into the country’s premier engineering institution – the Indian Institute of Technology – is likely to be higher this year as the 2009 edition of the highly competitive IIT Joint Entrance Examination, which is the gateway for admission into the elite institutions, was comparatively easy.

    On Easter Sunday when nearly 4 lakh students took the IIT JEE, the initial anxiety gave way to smiles on the faces of many students as both the morning and afternoon session papers were not extremely difficult to crack.

    “The paper was certainly easier compared to the question paper of last year,” said mny. 

    “In JEE 2008, the students had to answer assertion and reasoning based questions which was quite a challenge. However, this year the papers were simple compared to last year, although students did find the Mathematics paper difficult,” echoed experts. The ‘Matrix Matching’ section in the question paper did not have any negative marks and subjective questions made a comeback.

    In JEE 2009 there was a qualitative shift in the kind of questions asked. They do not require a lot of rigorous problem-solving, but rather a fairly good understanding of the concepts and the ability to comprehend and analyse. Therefore, an average student has chances to score almost equally in all three sections – Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.

    Cut-off mark figures for the previous year available with this paper revealed that in 2008, the individual subject cut-off mark for general category students was ‘zero’ for Physics, 3 for Chemistry and 5 for Mathematics. These individual subject cutoffs were determined on the basis that top 80% candidates qualify in each subject.

Cutoffs expected are:

 Expected marks                                               Expected Rank

• 350                                                                               below 100
• 349-300                                                                     100-500
• 299-280                                                                      500-1000
• 279-265                                                                      1001-1500
• 264-250                                                                        1501-2000
• 249-235                                                                        2001-3000
• 234-210                                                                        3001-4000
• 209-200                                                                      4001-5000
• 201-190                                                                        5001-6000
• 189-180                                                                        6001-7000
• 179-175                                                                        7001-8000

For Answer keys and solutions visit:

http://fiitjee.com/

http://www.bansaliitjee.com/

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Brawn GP  teammates Jenson Button and Ruebens Barrichello had qualified 1st and 2nd on Saturday and were clearly much quicker than the rest of the cars. Also Williams and Toyota were quite quick.

Race:

The Race start was a perfect one for the 2 ferraris who started from the 6th and 7th spots and they climbed to the 3rd and 5th spot. But they had not made the right choice of tyres and were running on slicks while the rest of the pack, except Hamilton were all running on hard compound tyres which favoured them and they easily caught up with these two. Massa’s ferrari crashed out after an engine failure and Raikonnen finished 15th.

The carnage at the start was mirrored at the end when Vettel and BMW’s Polish driver Robert Kubica, dicing for second place, threw caution to the wind and crashed into each other just three laps from the finish as Kubica tried to get past on the outside. Both cars were out of the race, allowing Barrichello to move into second spot to complete the Brawn quinella.

The McLaren world champion Lewis Hamilton, so imperious when clearing out to a maiden Australian victory last year, was, for most of this Grand Prix, never in the frame. Yet when the dust settled, the 24-year-old Briton, who had driven a gritty race in very different circumstances, found himself in fourth position, just behind the Toyota of Jarno Trulli. That didn’t last long, as Hamilton was promoted when Trulli was demoted for overtaking while the safety car was on the track.

But:

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has been disqualified from last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix after a second stewards’ investigation on Thursday decided both he and his team had provided ‘misleading’ evidence during a hearing held after the Melbourne race.

Hamilton crossed the finish line in Australia in fourth, but was subsequently promoted to third after Toyota’s Jarno Trulli was handed a 25-second time penalty for passing his McLaren under the safety car during the race’s closing…

Hence the results are: