A Token of Appreciation

Posted by Shriram Jagannathan(JS) as Bliss, boring, bug, coffee talk, personal experience

A few weeks back, I received loads of e-mails on Coffee with Sundar rajan. I din bother to open it and it directly went to trash. Recently I joined the NITTians webpage and after having read through all the coffee talks, I appreciate the admin and other people ( Esp. Sundar rajan) involved in creating such a novel forum. Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, these coffee talks are sometimes really pesky. I have experienced it once, it wasn’t a coffee talk though; the talk was over lunch. The unfortunate event took place at the Hindu Office with the Deputy-Editor and the Guest was Managing Director of Trivitron. I haven’t heard of such a company before. I and my good old friend were supposed to bombard questions at him on his experience in the company and other crappy stuff. This is the transcript of the event.

Dep-Editor: Welcome Mr. ***** (I forgot his name. It wasn’t that important to me.)

Me: Wow! That’s nice; you have come with a nice babe! Welcome Ma’am!

Dep-Editor: Starts hurling out the questions; what are Para-Medical Instruments? How do you make it? How is the Govt. Policy helping you or hindering your growth etc

Guest: Starts his monologue; Meanwhile my eyes were fixed at the Girl who was right next to him. Well, it surely pays to be a Managing Director. You get these fringe benefits!

Dep-Editor: Shriram, You seem to be intellectually curious.. You have any questions ?

Me: Err… No sir… Intellectually Curious? WTF?! Hey, Ya I do have… Isn’t time for lunch? How about me and the girl going for lunch and you people continuing on your ‘lunch talks’?

Dep-Editor: Yeshwanth (My friend who was really interested in the conversation), do have any queries?

Yeshwanth: Yes sir, of course… How has the recent change in the policy affected your growth?  Oops! Has there been any change in that. Well, Yes. I do suck at politics. Well the girl also seems to be silent!

Guest: Starts his monologue….

Dep-Editor: Ok, We can continue our talks in the canteen… Sir, that’s so nice of you. You have understood my purpose of visit.

Me: Exits the door first and receives the plate first.

A few minutes after I started gobbling…The girl sits next to me. Readers, she sits next to me only because here wasn’t any place left. Perverts don’t think otherwise.

Dep-Editor: Shriram, How do you think the Finance Minister should change his reforms for helping the Para-Medical Industry?

Me: Sir, My dad asked me not to utter a word while eating. It helps in digestion Don’t you want your food to be digested?. Why dint your dad tell you all such basic stuff? Actually, I have no idea on the reforms and the Finance Minister. Let him do his work, I am doing mine. The Gulab Jamun tastes good.

Dep-Editor: Asha, What is your opinion on this?

Me: Asha? Asha? My face really brightened. That’s a nice name. Finally you have asked the right person. Yes, Asha proceed.

Asha: Answers to the point. I listen to it very carefully. Ya it seems to be a nice point! I completely agree with her.

A few other questions and answers involving all other persons except Me… The discussion continued for few hours…

Dep-Editor: Think we have come to the end of the discussion… Any questions gentlemen? Shriram?

Me: Why Me?! Did I concern you while you were interviewing? Ah! Yes, I do have a question. Can I have the mobile Number of Asha? The discussion has been really helpful sir.  I am sure that even if I am given a million, I wouldn’t attend such talks. Huh!

Asha to Me: Where are you studying?

Me: National…

Asha: National College?

Me: Oh… No No… You seem to be greatly influenced by the movie Ramana. This is National Inst. of Technology-Tiruchirappalli. Formerly REC.

She then gets into the Mercedes with the Managing Director. I take out the 2 bucks I had and took the service of Pallavan and returned home.

 

Moral: It is really tough to be involved in such talks unless you know about the subject. If you don’t know, jus stay away.

My friend is now involved with the Business Line for arranging ‘Lunch Talks’ with ‘eminent people’ and in the process has earned a few thousand bucks. I now stay miles away from the Hindu Office.

Popularity: 17%



May 12, 2008 | Filed Under Bliss, boring, bug, coffee talk, personal experience | Leave a Comment 

coffee with vivek and arvind

Posted by Taggy as NITT, achievers, coffee, coffee talk, coffee with experts, entreprenuer, interviews, nittians, placement, startup, trichy, web, work

Hello friends, this will be the first of what we call the `coffee talk ` shows. In this show we will talk to NITTians who are doing something different ,something useful not only for our own community but in entirety .

The motive here is to showcase the activites of nittians which deserve mention and attention .

And this Coffee Talks is an NITTians.com Exclusive

In the first of this series we present R Vivek and R Arvind , both of them are final year computer science undergrads in the department of CS at NITT . So read on .

hired.jpg

” You have an apple ,i have an apple and if we both exchange our apples we wil still have each one apple .
I have an idea ,you have an idea and if we exchange our ideas then both of us end up having two ideas ”

Vivek Ravishankar and R Arvind are two normal college academics until the moment they decided to give it back to the community they have earned their credentials from . Preparing for an interview is tough and any effort to help students get it right is bound to be recieved with enthusiasm and also caution ,for expectations are going to be high . Lets see how these two students are planning to get about this .

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Me: Interview (taggy)

VA : Vivek and Arvind

Me : Good Afternoon vivek and arvind ,

VA: Good afternoon taggy

Me : First tell us something about the project that you have undertaken ,what is it about ?

VA : The project deals with taking online interviews to juniors. Firmly, believing in the policy of Open Source :), we thought it would be great if everyone knew about the company’s requirements before taking up the real test. Hence, this interface was launched where the final year students can participate to take mock interview sessions simulating his/her company’s environment. Register at http://delta.nitt.edu/untitled ( Link available only on intranet) .

Me: How did this get to you ,why do you think its needed for juniors or students as such ?

VA: I knew a lot of people ( even now ), who come up to me and ask, “What kind of questions can I expect from the interview tomorrow ?”, “Is it going to be pure tech or HR also ?”, ” Will Microsoft test me in OS or just Data Structures and Algorithms alone”. Well, to be honest, I couldn’t give a clear answer. Hence, we found the need to have something like this and I would feel great if every final year came forward to participate in this venture

Me: .Why is it still nameless ( untitled ) or is its name actually untitled ;) ?

VA: We thought “untitled” sounded catchy :). Anyways, we have planned to give a pen drive for suggesting a name that impresses both of us ! ( so who is picking it ? )

Me: .Who are the two parties that are going to interact on this platform and how are they going to help each other ?

V A: The final year student(interviewer) provides a schedule indicating the date,time in which he/she is free. The juniors make a request on the date specified. The interviewer either approves/rejects the request. If approved, an interview over voice chat will be taken on the specified date and time.

Me: Speaking for placement preps ,we already have quite a few CPC’s and mock PI’s and how do you think your initiative is different and going to help the students more ?

VA: Yeah, true CPC’s are of great help. But, honestly, how many of them take it up seriously ? Even the mock PI’s and CPC’s aren’t company specific. Its always general tech and HR. I want to narrow down to what each company expects. After all, I guess people might be quite free during May-July to take an interview. Anyways, u r welcome to take interviews after joining the company also.

Me: tell us something about the platform for interaction and also the technology underneath it ? what are the components that make up untitled ?

VA : A voice chat interface is under construction and all u need is a mic :).

Me: Is the portal going to archive all the interviews for students to review how they fared after the interview or help others look at questions asked ?

VA:Nope !!. I do not want it to look like any other placement paper websites. The interviewee should have an open mind before taking the interview, so that his real potential is revealed and he can fine tune areas where he/she is weak.

Me: And is this limited only to people who are about to have their placement seasons starting ?

VA : Yes, atleast for initial stages.

Me: Tell us something about the team behind Untitled and what are your future plans with it ?

VA:The team consists of only the 2 people. We have launched it on the intranet to gauge the response from the final years, whether they are actually willing to take an interview. If we receive a good feedback, we will launch it on the internet.

Me: So hows the response been ?

VA:Ah!, not to the kind we expected. I guess not all of them are aware of this. But, I am pretty confident of attracting a lot of guys.

Me: Do you have plans to spread the same to other colleges,NITT has the advantage of being a premier inst in the region around trichy/.madurai /coimbatore and shouldnt the information and talent and expertise be shared across them too ?

VA:Yeah, definitely! Every business model must be extended and so is this one too. But my interviewers sample set is limited to NITT final years. Hence, as the interviewers set increases, we would extend it beyond NITT.

Me: Rumours tell us you guys are planning to pull up a startup,is it true ? are you looking for ways to make a business model out of it ? ( atleast tell us a yes or a no)

VA:Right now, its just a rumour :). I am not planning to charge my NITT juniors. But, if it extends beyond our college, I would definitely make money. Based on the money, we shall decide!

Me: Its great to see fellow nittians thinking about the community and try and do something for it ,i wish you all the best on behalf of all NITTians and myself too and hope you guys succeed .

VA: Thanks and we are hoping too and we need your support .

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So this was our first coffee talk ,more to come and to keep track of what our NITTIans are doing ,you only have to subscribe to the feed here Feed .

Have more questions to ask to Vivek ,Arvind or the interviewee ? Just put them down as comments and we promise to get back to you .

In their own interest students ,do check out http://delta.nitt.edu/untitled.

Popularity: 70%



February 4, 2008 | Filed Under NITT, achievers, coffee, coffee talk, coffee with experts, entreprenuer, interviews, nittians, placement, startup, trichy, web, work | 5 Comments