And so the biggest pain in the @$$ is over !! A job !

Twas the 23rd of June 2006. Wipro was coming to college .... this was my first shot at getting a job. And I was hoping I would land it. And since I loooove telling looooong stories, Ill fill you guys on every single detail I can remember.

The past few days had been hectic .. with all the shoe shopping and shirt and tie selection and ironing and what not !! With all that happening I couldnt manage to fit in much time to preparation. But I went with enough confidence in my CAT preparation that I wasnt too tensed about the test. What I was worried about though was my Tech interview if I managed to clear the test.
So I woke up nice and early .. took a nice long shower with warm water and packed my clothes. Now packing the clothes itlsef was a huge pain in the butt. What to wear, how to fold it, how to carry it so that it dosent get crumpled and all kinds of crap like that. So finally I came up with this brilliant (Yea right!! ) plan. I would wear a neat shirt and a pair of trousers so that in case I dont have time to change in between the test and the interview, I could just throw on a tie and go for the interview. And I carried my main attire in a box. My first stop was my friend Nabeil's place. There were like 5 people there already. And so all of us dumped all our stuff there and started pressing our clothes to keep them ready for later. With very little time left for the pre placement talk, we rush to college and it discovered that it hadnt started. So it finally started around half an hour late (Thank god the Wipro guys arrived late!! There was a problem with the projector....not very surprising:D). It was a pretty decent slideshow. I guess the highlight for Vivek, Manu, Abhay and me was when they said that there was a rock band in Wipro. The reaction of the students was priceless!!! They all turned to try and spot anyone of us :). So anyways at the end they showed the salary scheme and it bloody sucked !!! We were going to get only 1.73 lakhs pa compared to 2.04 for the other branches !! Bloody #@$@^@$!!!

So anyways, since we were desperate student in need of jobs, the sa,ary wasnt a huge negative :D. So we all did write the test. The sight of the answer sheet itself was scary !! 15 verbal... ok manageable, 15 quant and LR .. not bad .... HOLY $#!T !!!! @) TECHNICAL QUESTIONS !! SCREWED !!!!! And so it began ... i spent atleast 45 minutes trying to clear the cutoff for the tech section. Fortunately there was no negative marking and so the old tried and tested shortcut method was called into action ... Eenie Meenie Mynie mo .. :D .. and so cleared the test.

So then we went to have lunch... and just as we were about to leave the restaurant ... IT BLOODY RAINS !!!! So we wait a while and finally decide there is no point in waiting and we go back to Nabeil's house drenched. My interview slot was supposed to be at 4. So we spent the time we had "refreshing" our memory of C++ (more like learning for the first time !! ).
And at 3:30 we started our second round of pressing our clothes when Abhi called and yelled at us and said that they were callin us for the interview. So we throw on our clothes and rush to college all tense and worried. But luckily it din't turn out to be a huge issue. I was sent to room number 103. Luckily the guy there was great. The interview seemed more like an HR interview than a tech interview (Thank god !!! ).

He asked me how the computer faculty was and what my attitute towards computers was. And after making up crappy answers to those, he asked the scary question!! "Do you mind if I ask you some basic questions in C Plus Plus? " ...and there I could feel my heart skip a beat. So since I had no other choice I said "ok". Luckily the guy was nice and he said "I dont usually ask very tough questions to Mechanical engineers.. so write a program to give your name as the output. So I wrote this program with whatever I would remember. And luckily for me there was just one small error. And he dint mind that. He then asked me about header files and Library function and I with no hesitation what so ever, no need for a second thought said "I have no idea"!!! And fortunately he said "Ok fine..I'll ask you something from your branch ... Mechanical" ...then he stares at me for a bit and says what has become one of my favourite lines of all time ... "I am not a Mechanical Engineer so even if you tell me a wrong answer I wont understand .. seriosuly." :D ...and so he asks me to descibe my "FAVOURITE motor "!! ... and AC Induction motor being the only motor that I knew anything about .. i explained the working of that. And so I cleared the tech interview. Some people who we all thought would get through were unfortunate not to make it. I got the easy panel. Some unfortunate souls like Vivek, Abhijith and Abhay got the horrible panel . But Abhi and Vivek managed to get through.

Then came the pain in the butt process of filling out this huge form (how I hate forms !! ). And after that came the HR interview ..heres how it went... this is as well as I remember it...
Panel dude: Hi. Hows life?
Me (With stupid expression on face) : Good
Panel dude: Why?
Me: uh ....exams are over and no classes. ..so I'm enjoying life.
Panel dude: (Looking at resume) Oh.. You studied in Dubai ... @@#$@#$@$#@$& (Something in Arabic)
Me (With an expression that spelt F**K) : uhh ... I dont know Arabic sir.. we learnt it just so that we pass the exams :)
Panel dude: You are the first person I've met who was in Dubai and dosent know Arabic
Me (Smilin sheepishly) : Sir.. I was in an Indian school and all my friend were Indians so I dint need to speak in Arabic.
Panel dude: OK
Panel dude: Why did you choose mechanical ??
Me (Gears start churnin in my head) : umm ... I'm a huge F1 fan, and before every race they show how each part of the car works and I found that fascinating and that really attracted me towards Mechanical Engineering.
Panel dude: Then why IT now?
Me: Sir IT is everywhere. For example like I has said about F1, TCS is doing the consultancy for Ferrari.
Panel dude: Then why Wipro?
Me (Thinking ..HAHAHA !! I Had already prepared an answer for that one !! ) Sir... Wipro is one of the leading companies in the IT field. IT had started out as a vegetable oil company and now its a leader in IT. Its not going to be long before it ventures into the Mechanical field and stars dominating there as well. (And ending with a hhuuuuuuge grin).
Panel dude: So you want to get into the Mechanical field.
Me: Right now Sir, I want to get into management and in the PPT it was mentioned there was a management section as well and I would like to get into that.
Panel dude: What are the qualities required for a good manager?
Me: blah blah blah (Dont remember ... made up a lot of stuff and then 2 more when he asked "Is that all?")
Panel dude: Ok ...What extra curricular activities are you involved in?
Me (I mention some along with) : Im a member of the college band.
Panel dude: How members are there in the band?
Me: Sir, we started off with 8 and now we have 4.
Panel dude: What happened to the others?
Me: Sir, they were seniors and they passed out of college.
Panel dude: If you are such a good manager, then why dint you get replacements?
Me: Actually we did sir, initially we had 2 singers and 2 guitarist. We lost our lead singer...
Panel dude (Interrupting) : Lost??
Me: Sir he completed his course and had to leave. We got another singer in his place and now we have a balance again. All the positions are filled.
Panel dude: Ok..Nice to Meet you ....

And I get out and sit and blab with the others till the results were out. One of my friends' mother came. And she was so anxious.
When the results were out I heard I got the job. And so did this person. But unfortunately one of my best friends did not make it. So that kinda dampened the celebrations for the 2 of us. 2 of our best pals dint get selected. But watchin his mother shed tears of joy when her son got selected made it all worthwhile. Afterall, isnt that what its all about? Our parents toil day in day out so that some day they can see us do well. And that day just proved it. And I felt proud of myself for making my parents happy as well. Because I know the sacrifices they've had to make and the hardship they have had to face so that I can lead a good life. Mom, Dad .. I love you guys .... You've made me who I am ... Thanks ... your prayers got me that job ...