JAB(....just another breakfast)

it was d 2nd time i had an opportunity to 've a conversation with the CEO of sasken.d first interaction was during freshers' induction programme.unlike dat meeting where i was 1 among 60 heads,dis time sitting in a group of 13 members took me a bit closer to him.when i entered d discussion room at 9.20 am, i got a bit ecstatic-nervous after tracing my name plate facing rajiv's.he joined us exactly @9.30,with a great sense of time.the meeting started with brief introductions from all gathered members regarding their experience with sasken n kinda of work they are involved in.he asked myriad questions to some seniors related to their field of work in dis company.then he initiated d discussion with a slight warmup,about T20 worldcup triumphant young indian cricket team,how they completed that odd journey with fully-planned strategies n showed leadership in workplace.he pointed us,"a lot can be learnt from these games.i want you guys to change the complete structure of dis company.its totally in your hand."
then he focused basically on high attrition rate of sasken putting incompetent managers as the sole reason behind it.Urged the managers to be utmost sincere and straight forward to their team guys and not play games. He brought in the concept of one to one interaction of managers with each team member at least twice every month.He also clearly told us that we have to project ourselves to customers as people giving the full solution to rather than in small bits & pieces.He stressed on the need for long term planning on how to capitalise on the experience/expertise gained by people.
on the whole meeting was fine but, mainly discussion was between the seniors n rajiv.being a fresher,I felt a bit left out when they started discussing some management strategies.he sighted some usual management problems n how to overcome them with simple illustrations.but,the CEO told nothing about his future strategies,his vision of a changed sasken. I found no time to request him (non-business) matters like poor toilet maintenance, poor canteen facility @ FAC B etc.the CEO satisfactorily answered all the questions posed by the guys. For one point that there was high attrition rate because of the poor quality of work found no proper answer from him.he defended this point by comparing pure RnD work of sasken with other IT giants.this way the whole meeting was conducted for complete 2 hrs.Such kinda of meetings should be conducted frequently.BTW dat awesome experience was not just another breakfast for me.


(note:- d author's seat was against to rajiv,so was nt clicked in d top 3 cliques ..so sad)

d following article was published on d news section of sasken website:-

"Breakfast with CEO"

‘Breakfast with CEO’ is an initiative of the Central Marketing Group that enables Sasians to get up close with Rajiv Mody. Conducted across the different centers of Sasken, Rajiv met with Sasians from Fac-B on the 26th of September.

The following Sasians were chosen at Fac-B: Amarender Choula, Robert Kingsly, Ranganayakulu Konduri, Srinidhi Koushik, Deepali Chourasia, Abhishek Srivastava, Vinay Rao, Swati Ravichandran, Nithin Sujathan, Anupama Sharma, Ashish Hegde, Dipti Panda

Dipti recalls ‘The first time I had met Rajiv, I was one among 60 people during my induction program. This time sitting amongst a group of 13 members took me a bit closer to him. I nervously entered the discussion room at 9.20 a.m. Rajiv joined us exactly at 9.30 a.m. with a great sense of punctuality. The meeting started with brief introduction from all the gathered members regarding their experience with Sasken and the kind of work they are involved in. He then spoke about the T20 world cup and the triumphant young Indian cricket team. He pointed out that a lot can be learnt from these games.”

Robert Kingsly relives a few moments “Breakfast with CEO of a company is usually a rare opportunity, hence is obviously exciting. In the case of Rajiv, his simplicity makes the event very attractive even to the junior most engineer of the organization. His ability to identify himself with the employees across various levels of hierarchy is quite impressive. Rajiv emphasized on the responsibilities of the managers, towards creating an Eco-system for the engineers to feel Sasken as a great place to work. Compensations alone may not keep an employee bound to the Organization.

Over a longer term of the career, ups and downs in compensations get evened out. Rajiv has a vision to grow Sasken significantly beyond what it is today. Most of the growth patterns do not follow the conventional logical sequences. They happen in a non-linear fashion as quantum leaps. Sasken's unique positioning as a complete end-to-end telecom solutions provider gives the necessary competitive edge for the growth to happen.”

Deepali in an excited tone, “It was one of the best breakfast conversations that I have ever had. It was good interacting with Rajiv on our plans to become "Better than our customers" and to start looking at improving the efficiency every day. It is really great that Sasken gives such wonderful opportunities to employees wherein they can directly talk to Rajiv to discuss issues and express views on how things are being done.”

Vinay Rao adds “On the whole, time just flew by and what added to the whole session was some wonderful breakfast”

Ashish Hegde remembers “It was not a mere one or two line introduction that Rajiv took from us. Instead he showed great interest in exactly what kind of work each one was doing here in Sasken. He seemed to know everything, from IC design technology to mobile application software!

After the elaborate introduction and a good tasty bowl of fruits, Rajiv chose to talk on forthcoming challenges that we Sasians will have to face because of the increasing Rupee value. He also showed his concern regarding the high attrition rate in Sasken. He suggested that Managers should have more one-on-one's with their reportees so that the employees’ problems get heard and solved on an individual basis. This, he felt, would reduce attrition considerably.”

And Swati up close “It was a wonderful experience and I feel each employee should go though it at least once. The most valuable takeaway was to understand the business scenario/challenges/areas of improvement for Sasken as a whole from Rajiv himself. It will surely help me align better with the larger vision/direction that Rajiv spoke about.

He was very open about answering all sorts of questions that came up. The breakfast itself was formal and almost ceremonial in nature, which makes it even more special.”

which category you are in??

"DEDICATED 2 ALL SOFTWARE ENGINEERS WHO TAKE UP CAT"
CAT-Common Admission Test... Probably the toughest exam to crack in the world today. The major chunks of people who take up CAT are SoftwareEngineers with an experience of 0-3 years. I have been also a part of this "Junta".Here are five reasons why software engineers treat writing CAT as"religion".


The first reason is some people hate to code. These are the group of people who don't get a shit out of Mainframe, Java or Dot Net. These are the people who are still confused between the difference of"Classes" and "Objects","C" and "C++". These are the people who get AT LEAST ten errors per line of code they write. These are the group of people who hate to hear terms such as "Defect","Enhancement","Unit Testing","integration testing".


The second reason why people take up CAT is "joblessness". Yes people on"Bench". Some of these guys wanted to be hot shot computer programmers,but end up just playing computer games to pass their free time. One of my friends used to dream of joining "Google" one day. He got a campus placement in one of the well known software companies of India. He was so good that he topped in his training batch. But would u believe me this guy is on "Bench"for the past one and a half years. First week on bench he played computer games. Second week he spoke to his Project Manager and asked him to install some software so that he can learn SOMETHING. His ProjectManager denied him giving a reason "Project Cost". Third week he just felt "helpless" sitting idle in office. Fourth week he decided to take Up CAT.


The third reason is "Money & Opportunities(travel & living)". As most of you would have been reading in various magazines and internet websites that average salaries in leading B-schools are more than 10 lacs pa. I can bet that any Software Engineer in any of the software service majors in this country cannot reach this figure in the next five years. Frankly speaking I feel that the job of software engineers is equal in challenge to the job of B-school grads. If the challenge is same ...why not the salaries...? When software engineers don't get an answer to this question, one day they decide to go for the bucks...and join a B-school.


The fourth reason is the reason which caused "Ramayana" and"Mahabharata".Yes you got it right "girlfriends". One of my roommates got a call from his baby just before his CAT exams and she said "DO WELL ATLEAST FOR ME,I KNOW U CAN". This guy got so excited that he ended up attempting 65 out of 75 questions in CAT last year. Another friend of mine says that he wants to pursue a technical career but he says that his girlfriend wants him to do Management. She told him that her brother has a MBA degree from a topB-school, so he should also have one. Bul l shit!! If I were my friend I would have ditched her that day coz you cannot get any silly reason for taking up CAT than this.

The last reason is "Following the crowd". These groups of people write CAT because everyone else around them is writing. These are the people who perform the worst in the exam and give a push up to other people percentiles.while i was in the queue infront of AXIS bank 4 buyin CAT form,the guy standin behind me asked "hii,can u plz tell me wht i've 2 do..like which form i've 2 buy 2 get into IIMB,i dont like CAT or XAT...they r too tough dude,i cannot even correct a single question there."i told him,"nice dude u want a degree only frm IIMB, k writting CAT is one way which u dont like,then simplest way is enter into IIMB campus thru their main gate without askin anybdy,u'll 've an interview session with sm professional interviewers(security personnel),if u can satisfy them ,then u'll get d ticket(gatepass) 2 IIMB." Whatever is the reason, one fine Sunday morning in November they would all assemble in some examination center in some part of the country to take up a challenge called as "CAT".

Completion of my BTech project ...a paradox??

"yaar, tum logon ka project kahan tak gaya??hamara guide c***** hai be.sala kuchh batata nahi.jabhi jao bolta hai meet me 2morrow.uska "2morrow" kab aayega pata nahi.ab bol raha hai end sem se pehle thesis submit karo.watt lagega hamara.shit.."... used 2 b d default initials of discussion among final yrs these days.sm poor chaps r obsessed wth d fact dat their guide is too genius 2 b handled(always in a mood 2 assign smthin heavier not bothering about d effort put in completing previous loads).

it's exactly 2.15pm on a hot-sunny-day,chitta(my project partner,aims 4 an Ex grade here) called me 2 come 2 our giude's chamber.i ruptured my afternoon nap 4 dat mundane project work.around 2.30,i gently pressed d push-2-open door of his chamber,wth d gentle words of request,"may i cm in sir?"...RATH sir(my guide,short heighted tech savvy in his sixties) gave us a mystified look as if v r completely unknown 2 him,perhaps he was not in mood 2 discuss anything abt our progress.he really got aghast,i chuckled.then offered us 2 sit facing him with our 20 paged progress report(30% our own effort n rest frm GOOGLE SEARCH).we stated our problems n also gave sm suggestions ragarding d rest of work.main simulation part of our report took 3complete odd nights b4 giving desired o/ps.when sir told dat there was sm problem in d method which he taught us (on which dat simulation is totally based on),instantly d informally-formal phrase popped up in my mind(thank god!!not in mouth),"FUCK OFF".all dat night stand gone wasted,now v have 2 write a new code implementing a new method.it's 3 o'clock now,a newly jobbed lecturer frm META DEPT. entered into d chamber wth sm problems on institute telephone system,which rath sir is in charge of.his matter is resolved,sir now completely forgot about our project.

time is 3.15pm.from dat moment onwards all we discussed r interrelated with each other without satisfying our aim of presence in dat chamber.first he scolded d mismanaged management system of dis centrally funded temple-of-learning,giving us detail idea about his hectic professional life here.he told,"you know,i never looked for a job,i just stepped into dis unluckily.here,there is no respect for a senior prof.even i 've 2 pay rs 500/- for renewal of my ID card.if i'll take more classes(wth tests n assignments),u ppl 'll give d worst feedback on me at d end of sem.reverse is true,but dat is fraud n i hate dat mentality..bla bla bla".v supported him makin a no. of FW-BW motion of our tiny neckbone(plasticity factor=1).then shortterm GD sessions started on topics like:-dating-crammed-mindset of modern NITians,nobelprize-missed grt indian brains,advanced medical science in india...etc.it's around 4.30pm,sir put a fullstop on dat ongoing entertainment discussion coz of sm imp work in d academic section.he hurriedly told," u ppl come on tomorrow...(silence)..no i won't 've free time then,cm on day after tomorrow...no..u better cm on next project period(after 7 days)",i corroborated.ohhh..v r now free 4 d next 7 days,no tension about project work.

only one BTech project is assigned here 4 d whole final yr(7th+8th sem).around 64 hrs(2hr each period*2 periods every week*4 weeks per month*4 months per sem)of d whole 7th sem is wasted in choosing a suitable project topic which can help us in future endeavour.In those dayz v r a bit busy wth campus placements,hence excused.now in 8th sem atleast v r spending sm time(5-10hrs per month)there n a bit progressed too.still boubtful regarding its completion.d content of 2nd n 3rd paragraphs in dis article is sample of a day's project work similar to many other wasted project periods.there r basically 4 reasons 4 neglegence of BTech projects:-(1)guide doesnt 've much knowledge in dat subject n he is n't interested in gaining too,(2)students r a bit anaemic on studies after having a job backup,(3)tight BTech schedule doesn't let students 2 devote time 4 project works,(4)lack of proper environment(lab facility,equipments requied..etc).1st n 2nd facts r most appropriate in case of NITs.so here d solution lies in d mentality,freakness,level of knowledge of both guides n underassigned students.

my project is on-"eye detection using wavelets n ANN".after a lot of discussions with sir on varied biological topics, v r now in a position 2 detect each n every parts of a human being except eyes.anyway i have 2 incompletely complete it before d official submission date.remember things never workout d way u want them to,but things always workout in d end..don't limit ur challenges,challenge ur limits.then only i can remove d word "paradox" 4m title of dis article.wait plzzz....got a call frm chitta(wish it's not abt our project work)

DESIGNING A FUTURE

Being a final yr guy of a technical institution(class lectures,textbooks... bye bye) ,boarded in a single room,umpteen times i keep myself busy with high level AI based games like AOE,CS,IGI(1 &2)...etc. or any kinda of Hollywood movies(can tolerate anything) to be survived from mental trauma caused due to boredom.always i m abit confused about my future,which career path i should follow(MS/MBA/IAS)..it's not dat i m unfit for a particular career,rather i can achieve any of those three fields,but which can satisfy me in long run is d real question i tried to find d answer for.truely its very tuff designing a future......when ppl approach me basically juniors,sm fellow mates ,even sm seniors on a solution for dis question i try my best to shape up their way of thinking ,so that they can get it by themselves according to their wish,their interest...now @3am m writting these stuffs coz i just watched a movie( " the persuit of happyness") which reminded me about one of such encounters.

once when i was to my village, A not so desperate housewife told me,"i want to change.i don't like being changed."the thirty something mother of two wanted to break free from the domestic rut.yet,she doesn't want to take up a soft teaching job that her husband recommends.she wants to grow and export orchids.she has had completed her graduation by dat time.

"i want to go out there and make a difference,but i am afraid of the unknown,"she said with a heavy breath.honestly,i told her,"how can you be afraid of the unknown when you don't know what that is?you can only be afraid of something you know,isn't it?".then looking at her puzzled eyes and a mop of hair hanging on her cheek like a delicate creeper,i said,"what you are afraid of is really giving up the security of the known".we are scared to give up control of what we have .we cling like leeches to our past experiences .we are really afraid of getting unstuck from our past.

so how does one change?she asked.not by going back to the past but by designing the future,i told her.you can design the future only when you stop repeating the past.look here,i insist,your brain has a billion neurons that can combine in trillions of new neural circuits.your attachment to the past is locked in only 5 percent of your entire neural network.just use the rest 95 percent of your brain to dream up a future full of orchids.dream of blooming flowers and smiling customers.you will then design a dream future.she smiles nervously.i didn't know what dat smile means.but i know for sure,i have set her thinking about her future.