Scanning myself...

When i first started this blog, i didnt know what to write about. I started writing about formula one racing, the one passion i seemed to grow inside me for long time now. Then i moved on to interviews, my friends had endless queries on how to crack an interview!! I wrote two whole posts dedicated to interview alone. After that i never seemed to have enough time to write anything as such. Its not that i dont have anything to write on... Anyways i promise to write at least one post every week... ahem... the lazy couch potato inside is poking me... fine fine... once a month. I promise to post at least one post every month & this i will deliver. Now coming back to posts... I' was not posting anything but i was regularly checking some famous blogs like youthcurry & Aamir Khan's blog. Today i've decided to write something about myself taking a cue from some friends who have done the same. Lets say i'm scanning myself...

What kind of a person am i?? I'm a confident, cool n carefree person. I dont believe in having utopian dreams at all. Rather i believe in aiming something and actually getting it. Not that i dont have dreams.... but they are strangely realistic. I believe in actually achieving small practical achievable dreams rather that dreaming about achieving something really big & beyond my immediate reach. Bottomline is this, I'm a practical minded fella. Yes I did fail myself sometimes but i found out what wrong i did & have gained enough experience from that. I keep talking about efficiency & i really believe in it. My mom would never actually see me studying for a long time... but does that really mean i dont study much? Hmmm... I practice trying to be efficient in my real life... I believe in doing good in something i really like & ignore all others almost totally. May be that's why i regret remaining a mediocre student all my life. But i'm happy with what i'm. If i have achieved something till now, i did with my heart & mind in it... I never tried too hard for anything, it came naturally to me. I didnt force myself to do anything i didnt like at all. I am a throughly patient individual and no i dont need to be in a hospital bed to be that. I believe in forgiving and forgetting, may be not totally but to a certain extent; yes i do. I keep very few friends as close company and strangely that is also part of me believing in efficiency. I believe a few very good friends is better than having a 1000 not-so-close ones. Another reason for keeping a few friends is because am a bit shy kind of person. But i really dont want to be shy. I hate to be in limelight, coz i hate that kind of attention, but i really wish i could make more quality friends...

No matter how much i might deny, i know deep within that i'm a geek. I cant live without a computer. Thank god i didnt take English Hons. after my XII. It would have been like Katrina Kaif teaching karate in a school. Hell i would have liked to be in that school... Jokes apart i'm really happy that i'm going to be part of the IT bandwagon. Its one of those practical dreams come to life. You cant expect better things in life that getting what you actually wanted. A computer is like my daily dose of oxygen. I have always been interested in computer science as a subject from my early days when i was first introduced to a strange looking box shaped 8086 machine. Gone are the days when i used to watch TV, i can watch everything and more in my computer itself. No wonder a friend of mine mentioned in my orkut testimonial that a computer is the 21st century "idiot box". And oh yeah am so damn proud of being a couch potato for it. But strangely i dont even come close to looking like a potato. Damn! i need a makeover i guess... I'm tired of people calling me "slim". I want to be strong, a macho, a hulk...okay fine not a hulk, but still i want to look stronger than what i'm now.

Enough said while scanning my inner self. I know there are a lot more i can write about, but i dont want to. I want my true friends to act as mirrors and show my faults. I am always open to ideas on how to improve myself. I would like to end this post with a SMS a friend once sent :

Zindegi ek raat hain,
Na jaane inme kitne khwab hain,
Jo mil gaya wo apna hain,
Jo tut gaya wo sapna hai...

~~~Lots of love~~~

Interviews... putting your best foot forward - Part II

Finally the day of your interview has come, a day that you will possibly remember for the rest of your life. So, special preparations need to be made for this. On this day you have to advertise yourself, the best things within you need to be showcased. Dress up like you have done before... most importantly... dress smart. Smart dressing will make a good first impression on you. Don't forget to take all your required documents (original & photo copies) with you along with your CV. Although these days most companies give you a form which acts as your temporary CV. Do not make spelling errors or even grammatical errors.

As the day progresses you will have to go through a possible registration & then an aptitude test. Keep yourself cool, calm & focussed during the test. Do not get tensed n nervous seeing a lot of questions n too less time. Keep doing all questions you find easy & solve them as fast as possible but make sure you dont do silly mistakes. By now you must be aware of how to do MCQ aptitude questions. Sometimes, you dont need to solve the full question & you can easily check for the right answer by back calculation. Quanti section will always seem lengthy & possibly tough for some (me for example). Dont worry, do as much as possible & leave the rest to luck. Dont panic in the situation & mark wrong answers. Dont try to peep into someone else's paper or screen (in case of online exam). You may not only mark wrong answers but possibly get your paper cancelled. So just concentrate on your paper only & do as best best as possible. Ask the people present whether there are any -ve marking, if not then you can freely mark as much as possible. But make sure you calculate how much you have done correctly; the interviewer might be interested in knowing.

If you cross the aptitude test, the next round would be the interview(s) round(s), if there isnt any GD round in between. Stay calm during your interview. Dont look nervous, wipe off those sweat off your face before you approach the interviewer. Be as nervous as you want to be, but do not show it on your face. Put a nice smile on your face while greeting him/her. Do not immediately sit, ask for permission before sitting. Put your hands on the table & cross your fingers. If there's no table, just put your hands on your lap the same way. Lean a little towards the interviewer, but be seated comfortably. Do not shake your legs, arms, scratching n itching are an absolute no-no. Answer questions as they are being asked. Be confident & answer frankly, promptly & accurately. Do not be on back foot if you are challenged during an interaction. But do not unnecessarily argue with the interviewer. Make sure you stick to your stand. Do not give one word answers, explain in brief in every question. Smile when answering a funny question or while answering something like that. Use as much hand gestures as possible while explaining some answer. Do not just sit like a robot, use your non-verbal communication skills to the fullest along with your verbal skills. While coming out do remember to greet the interviewer.

The key to cracking an interview is to be confident, cool, prompt, frank answers. Remember honesty is the best policy. Whenever you get a chance, do not fail to show that you are an honest person & that you speak your heart out. Beyond this the rest is sheer luck... So good luck to everyone giving an interview; wish you all the very best.

Interviews... putting your best foot forward. - Part I

First of all, a very HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008 to each and everyone reading this blog :)

This post is primarily dedicated to all those friends and individuals who will be seating for campuss recruitment drives by major IT companies from all over India. This is just my short and sweet analysis of going through an ideal interview. This is how an ideal interviewee should prepare himself/herself. I have written this by compiling both my experience & my friends' experiences while giving an interview & while preparing for it.

STATUATORY WARNING: Do not take this as a expert opinion or a guaranteed way to get through the interview process, but this is necessarily a probable way to prepare yourself beforehand to put your best foot forward on the D-day.

Prior preparations at home before the D-day ---

Appearance - It is very important to make a first impression on the basis of your appearance. You should have good, clean, well-combed hair & please shave off those facial hairs. Take out the formal apparels that you are going to wear on the D-day. They should be neat, clean & well ironed. The clothes, shoes & other accessories should be strictly formal. No polka dotted, flowery prints (both for boys & girls) allowed. Very bright (orange, fluorescent, etc.) coloured or half-sleeves (for boys) & sleeveless (for girls) are a strict no-no. Your shoes should be shining black. Make sure you select the best formal apparel from your wardrobe.

Technical - It is important to prepare yourselves for the technical interview weeks in advance. Make sure that you are confident to answer simple, basic questions & FAQ's. Note them down, copy them from www.freshersworld.com or other such websites. Remember, it is better to be confident in a few subjects than to be clumsy on a variety of subjects. Popular IT subjects that are generally asked are C, C++, DS, OS, DBMS & other department specific subjects. It is necessary to be confident on at least two programming languages (one of them should have OOPS concept) & two other subjects.

Communication skills - This is a very wide & vague concept which most people ignore. But it is equally important (i personally think its even more important) than your technical skills. You should have fairly good command over the english language & should be able to speak freely on any given topic. Make sure your accent can be understood by the person you are speaking to & that every word should be clearly pronounced. You can develop on this by speaking to your friends in english & by watching good english news channels like Times NOW, NDTV, BBC World etc. Also keep a tab on the non-verbal communication skill. Small things make a large difference. This may seem unimportant but physical gestures like making eye contact, smiling to a witty question/comment, hand gestures while explaining something are very important to make the interviewer understand that you are genuinely interested in giving the interview. You should practice these things as often as possible. Use your home dressing table mirror if you are having trouble regarding this (it helped for me). It is important to be spontaneous & not act like a robot :)

This is the end of PART I of a two part series blog. The next post would be on how to handle an interview & some tips & tricks to remember during an interview. If you have any doubts/queries/remarks, please feel free to write them down as a comment. I would really appreciate it.

Force India F1

Formula 1 Racing has always been fast, exciting and full of surprises. I got hooked into this sport for the last 5 years and have been closely following it. I'm writing this post today because a very exciting thing has happened recently to F1 racing in India. This has created a lot of interest among individuals and motosport fans.
A man called Dr. Vijay Mallya has bought the Spykar F1 for a whopping sum of € 88 million. Dr. Mallya is the owner of United Beverages, maker of Kingfisher Beer. He also owns Kisgfisher airlines and also has a stake in Deccan airlines. An Indian billionaire? Oh yes of course. He may be called a desi version of Richard Branson. Yeah he has got the style no doubt. But billionaire he may be, but I still wonder why he bought a F1 team which was ranked last in the last years' constructors' championship! Well, he has the money, he has the power. His closeness with Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone might have resulted in buying of a formula one team. Also, it can be noted that Bernie has reportedly been interested in holding a Formula One race in India within 2010. This could be a major stepping stone for motosport in India.
Now let us come down to the details of this team. The logo of the team has been decided probably by Mallya himself. Colin Kolles will remain as the team principal for the 2008 season. Michael Mol is the director and Mike Gascoyne as the Chief Technology Officer. Force India has a contract with Adrian Sutil as one of its drivers. Mallya has reportedly been pleased with Sutil (huh!) and has confirmed his position as a driver in the team. The second seat has not yet been fixed. A few drivers have been approached like Christian Klien, Vitantonnio Liuzzi and former Spyker test drivers Giedo van der Garde and Roldan Rodriguez. As far as taking Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan is concerned, Mallya has reportedly told that Force India would not necessarily have an Indian driver. News has it that another Indian driver Karun Chandhok has been roped in by Red Bull F1 team for their testing position. This could be a turning point in rookie Chandhok's career as a potential F1 driver. As far as Narain Karthikeyan's career is concerned, he might just remain as test driver for Williams F1 this time too. Please note that Narain raced as a driver for Jordan F1 in 2005, before being bought by Midland in 2006 and subsequently by Spyker F1 in 2007. Narain was thrown out of Midland for suposed lack of fund support from his advertisers. That was when he took the 2nd test driver position of Williams. He never got a chance to drive a F1 race again. Let us see if he gets to drive again in future. As far as Karun Chandhok's future is concerned, he might get a driver's position in 2009 in Red Bull F1.
Let us go back to Force India team. Will this team get a higher position in championship rankings or will it remain last as every year? One can only speculate this. A lot of money was spent buying this team, Mallya may not be interested in wasting much money in research and development of the cars.
As far as other teams are concerned, Michael Schumacher has reportedly taken a test driver position in Ferrari. But he has dismissed reports of having a comeback after retiring from F1 in 2006. This year, electronic gadgets, equipments have been banned. So, Schumacher has been roped in, given his experience for more than a decade in F1. I'll continue posting on F1 in future... Till then, have a nice time. Good Bye.