2014

I happened to do some clean-up activities of my life and then realised that this blog post had been sitting around in Draft mode for a very long time. I have gone through it once more and at this point, I cannot add anything more. So pressing the publish button was the only way forward.

What an eventful year. That's how everyone would sum up their year I guess. I'd like to just go ahead and put out a few events that I clearly remember about 2014. 

1. I started 2014 at a very low note. My so-called partner decided to call it quits around Sep 2013 and she moved out Jan 2014. So literally a brand new life started this year. There was more freedom and peace of mind. I was definitely happy.

2. I had entered this country as a dependent and I knew that I'd get thrown out if things were going to go the way they were. I wanted to live here and I promised myself that I will get that residency application started. The process began and it went through March all the way till September when I finally got my PR.

3. That epic trip to the USA in March. I spent a lot of time with my sister's kids. My parents were also there. It was one month of bliss. I also managed to meet a few of my engineering batch mates. A memory that would last for decades.

4. My deep dive into Crossfit began this year. I weighed my lowest and I looked sick during the first 3 months of the year. I swore after my US trip that I would focus on adding muscle weight. I trained harder, lifted heavier and went to the box 5-6 days a week for 6 months. I added almost 8kgs. Most of it was muscle. I felt fantastic.

5. Eventually, I reached my Crossfit goal. Well, not completely. At the beginning of the year, my coach asked me to write my goal. At that point I sucked at pull-ups and I did thrusters using just the barbell. I wrote that I would like to not use a resistance band to do pull ups and I would like to get 42.5kg barbell thrusters. Its almost the end of the year. I can easily do 7-10 pull ups at one go, with no requirement for bands. I can thrust 42.5kgs but I am not strong enough to use that in a workout.

6. My job sucked big time. I desperately wanted a change but there were too many things happening in my life that I could not concentrate on my job change. My company had some cash flow issues and was desperately looking to make money through third party contracts. Then came a 6 month contract in June. This was the door to what would become a new career in this country. I am extremely thankful to my boss who decided to put me on this contract. At the end of the contract, I was qualified enough to wade my way through this painful recruitment consultant based market and find myself a brand new opportunity.

7. The only year since 2007 that went by without a lot of frisbee. I played with my club for their open nationals campaign during the first few months of the year. After that I took a break. Over the years, frisbee had contributed to the problems I had with my life. Or you could also say that I used frisbee to hide under those problems that I never wanted to face. Either ways, I wasn't too happy with the outcome. The break only did good to me.

A new life?

Landing in Bombay one day before the immersion of the Ganapthy idol was not a bad idea but the day of the immersion was a big mess. The whole of Bombay felt like that main road in Triplicane.

Thank God, Madras is not this bad. Sunday evening here was a mess. Crackers bursting everywhere, policemen all the place, people dancing, processions and the icing on the cake was the rain. What a horrible evening it was. But I made most of my evening by choosing to do something more useful. I made a rush to FAME Cinemas in Vashi to watch Thala 50 - Mankatha. Ooooohhhhh!!! Whattay movie!!! I was impressed. The only thing that I didnt like about watching the movie or rather I deeply regret is the crowd. No one is shouting or whistling. Such an indecent and obedient audience. Of course they are all Tamilians. Dont know what Bombay has done to these people.

My Amex co-branded card with Kingfisher was so useful at the Chennai airport. I got a Priority Check-in and Priority Boarding allowance for my Gold Status. Also managed to get free lounge access. I helped myself with some really good food while I was there. Finally realizing the true benefit of using my Amex Card.

Bombay never sleeps. Very true, these guys where pulling the carts with the idol of the God all through the night. My guest house overlooks the main road and its probably the route in this locality that has been allocated for the procession. Every half hour I was woken up by drums. What a huge public nuisance!!! I hope I am not in Bombay for the next such procession.

Trains are always a pain here. For the next two weeks, I need to take two trains to work and its quite a bad experience. Its really disgusting to see someone crush your 60 EURO pure leather bag atleast 50 times during that one journey. Also while you are standing there, a few bald headed idiots would wipe their sweaty foreheads on your shirt while they rush to get down at the next station. No amount of cursing is going to help because these guys do this everyday. I was just one of today's victims. So from tomorrow, no bag.

House hunt has started. I looked at a few apartments today. Nothing great but still charging a bomb for the place. Thankfully this is New Bombay and hance its lesser than original Bombay. And on top of that you need to pay the brokerage as well.. which is sometimes 2 months rent. Ridiculous. What more.. if you renew the contract after one year, you need to pay the brokerage again for the next year. This stuff doesnt even happen in the UK!!!

Calling...

One Down and Thanks

The first two days of placements were crazy. I wasn't in a mood to write about what I was going through. I hope you can imagine how tough it would have been for a lot of us here. Even today, when I write this, I am not sure how many offers have been made or how many have accepted offers, but the situation today is a lot better than what it was when the day began yesterday morning. As of today, I believe that almost 250-300 offers have been made. And thats really wonderful considering the fact that this is just the end of day 3 and we have a month to go.

My first day was horrible. My first interviews was with a major bank for an OPS job. After my interview, the guy said that I was over-qualified. I was horrified. I asked him why I was shortlisted and he didn't give me a great answer. Till the end of the day, they did not respond back to any of us who had interviewed that day with them. So, I gave up. They came back today and asked me to interview again and I refused with due respect.

Then another Hyderabad located product company called me. They needed truly technical people and I was trying to tell them that this was a b-school and not a science school. They did not believe me and started asking me questions on systems and architecture. I was totally taken aback. I would have been happy if they had given me an option of not taking an interview with them at all. But they forced me to do a round one with them and then dinged me. I knew that was going to happen. And for all this, they made me wait for more than 3 hours. Sincerely pathetic.

The third one was one of the largest conglomerates in India. I wonder why they got a day one slot here. They should be on day 3 or maybe even day 10. They'd advertised for almost 10 jobs and shortlisted only 20 people. and finally, they made only 5 offers. not even one per listing. in their IT division, they had like 4 jobs and they made only one offer. my interview with them lasted for 15 minutes. After questioning me for a while, the guy asks - "so, you are a statistician by profession?". I was amazed. It was just 5 minutes back, the same guy had asked me about my engineering degree. He didn't even know whom he was interviewing. He had my resume pinned up with someone else's expression of interest! Thats the height of comedy of errors during the placement season.

With all that fun happening, I entered day two. I had two interviews scheduled - both IT. I am not going to explain what happened. There wasn't much of a drama here. Things just got terribly delayed and I got an offer with an IT firm in Chennai. Just what I wanted - the company, location and the package. I got it all. Today, I pulled out of three interviews I had. I just have one more to wait for, which would take a few days.

Coming to the thanks bit - I sincerely felt that I haven't thanked all of you who have been reading my blog since whenever. So this is to all my dear friends living in - India, Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam, UAE, The entire EU, Britain, USA, Chile, Argentina, Canada and the rest of the world. Thank you guys for being a great support. The journey till today in this place has been just great. Another month and half to go by and I hope to write more.

I still have more to write about what the others have been upto. There have been some funny incidents and some angry ones too. Well, ones that made me angry I meant. We'll talk about those people maybe tomorrow.

Whose job is it anyway

Everyday we attend PPTs. And this goes on - as I said before. There is not end to it. Previously, people were very scared about the 25 jobs going down one by one for every mandatory PPT not attended, but now they are not bothered. Shorlists rejects are so common for a lot of people that they are happy with even 20. So the next step is to bunk some of the PPTs without a slight consideration of other consequences such as - what if the company doesnt come to campus next year? Why should I be bothered as long as I get a ob and get out from here. Its not my problem.

My aim is to get a job and go Onsite to US or Europe. I just cant believe that some people who belong to the 250 odd IT community on campus are so friggin finicky about going to the US and Europe. The only question they ask to the recruiters is - Are there oppurtunities in the US? How long will you take to send us there? And they come to every IT company's PPT and ask the same question. It was so funny today when one asked - will we be posted directly to the US? I was like - gimme a break. you are not a GC Holder to fly you to Georgia from Gachibowli!! The great american job dream has still not left the indian management grad's mind. And its so happened that news of such a dream has also reached the ears of the exchange students from the US. But for a bunch of people who are so bent upon catching the earliest flight, a good number of us want to stay in india.

and there are people like me. my criteria for a job is like - chennai. if not, then hyderabad. definitely not delhi and bombay. what about bangalore - i'd rather live in hosur. next criteria is IT Services firms, which is a lot in number and then focus on the Banking vertical which is also quite predominant. But, when all these conditions join together, it reduces the job postings on the career website by like 70%, which is very good. I dont need to spend an awful lot of time writing EoIs and resume.

coming back to the ppts - in the one during the weekend, i found someone asking questions and then indirectly trying to sell his business plan. if it was a one-t-one conversation, then i wouldnt have had any problem. but then, this was in front of a 70 strong audience.

then there are doctors and chartered accountants who have applied to jobs in the IT Practice of a company - they say that they have the IT experience of using a laptop and logging service complaints to the helpdesk. in that case, i'd say - I consume Crocin almost every month and I can understand the drug's effects pretty well. Can I apply to GlaxoSmithKline in their Drug Marketing Group. I also interact with Doctors on a regular basis (whenever I fall sick!!!), so I think I qualify for HealthCare Consulting as well. Hmm, all this is just a beginning. I think there is lots more to come by.

Dont apply and you'll still get an interview call

The 6th term has started with a bang. I have one class on the Monday series and three on the Tuesday series. The three classes are back to back - with just a 15 minute break between every class. So much to read for every class, its just a killer. And today was the trial - I mean the first day with three classes in a row. Right from the first class, I started falling asleep. I couldnt stay awake. I dont know whether its my fault or the Prof's. Aint it important for every Prof to keep his students interested? you may call it a flawed argument. i can accept that too. it also important for every student to stay awake and not depend on the prof to keep a tab over him. but you know, it cant be helped. im sure that once the assignments start flowing in, the class will be the single most preferred location to have a nap.

International job short lists are coming out almost every week. Surprisingly, there are people who get short lists for the wrong jobs (apply for one and get called for the other). To add more fuel to the fire, there are people who are getting short listed without even applying for any job advertised by the company. The ignorant few spend hours over the job postings trying to find out which one fits their experience and interest, then spend few more hours writing an Expression of Interest for that particular job they narrowed down to. Then they customize their resume so that it sounds a bit relevant.

After they do all they can do best to get that short-list, they get called for a role for which they did not have any interest. Here, its the interest of the company that they found the applicant suitable for a role. So, where is the respect for my choice? Am I not being treated like a fool.

The next big joke is about people who get short-listed when they didnt even think about applying for a company. The company has access to the resume handbook of all the students. Fair enough, I dont say that you are not allowed to look at the handbook. But why shortlist people who didnt even apply for the job?? As a matter of fact, its very clear that if a person did not apply for a job posting, it means that he did not like the job. Thats it. Whats the purpose of farting(read writing) an Expression of Interest and a resume, if all you wanted to do was use the handbook?

Well, thats the state of affairs these days and its like this with just one company every week on campus. I am just imagining what kind of a screw-up this whole process will be during the placement week in february, when more than 15 companies come every day.

Given all this, I still havent lost hope. I will get some job. After all, the ultimate goal is to make sure that students get some job. Its not important that they get the job they like. Aint it?