The JOB tale @ the great INDIAN IT sector

(naukri-e-nautanki ki daastan)

11th class...provisional admission to XI class...and I asking myself...”ANKIT science lena chahiye ki commerce”...
confused: a short MENTOS break...
panic mode 'on' and hence took a blunder - took science with bio (left after board results), took comp sc. instead (SUPW period in senior-secondary)
(all I can say, me had a very wrong perception that taking the process ‘science in XII -> an engg. Degree -> an easy job in hand..’.)
though now its a paradox...sab BAKWAAS, and can be strictly avoided

Anyways, this tale talks about “yeh hai meri kahani” w.r.t placements regarding two-sitting-IT-office jobs. Though personally, I do feel working within defined boundaries in an AC office will ruin your originality but I guess nobody is that BOLD to reject jobs these days. I hope a read through this write-up will give you an idea about the entry into IT sector.
Me belongs to a central university located in Delhi (passed by an act of Parliament), hence it has decent placements. For all readers, here is the first hand experience (the following includes: the companies that visited our campus in chronological order, packages offered, written test difficulty, tryst with interviewers and the lovely experiences from the merriment interviews)

Keywords used (for the sake of yourself PLEASE do not try to Google them, there exposure is dangerous than that of carcinogenic substances) – DS (data structures), CN (computer networks), OS (operating systems), OOPS (object-oriented programming), C (don’t confuse with the English letter ‘C’ or as a short-hand for sea or see; it is much vast than that) and lastly, CS guy (a computer science student)
Itinerary :-
NOTE: since am a former CS student, I was eligible in IT firms only. This write-up should be read in light of a personal experience (only).

TCS
Our seniors and ancestors have said no matter what happens TCS will be the first company visiting our campus.
Advantage TCS: huge turnover, job security, huge projects, onsite chances (sexy), nice training
Disadvantage TCS: less money, can place you anywhere, already a crowd there, less capita offering per B.Tech value
Package offered: 3.15 l.p.a (lakhs per annum)
Difficulty of written paper: GRE Barrons (12th edition), English section can be cleared by ‘right-clicking’ in MS word. Hardly 5% got rejected here (my class)
Experience: TCS booked 3 days for the whole selection process for a total 300 students (approx figure). First day, first five hours, the network problems mocked us. Finally, when I got a chance, the system said “you are not authorized to use this machine”. Next day, planned to tour the place again, so went again. Thank GOD, it was working this time. I passed the English section thanks to MS Word (trick – right click, synonyms -> answers in front of eyes). Maths was VIII standard. CR was from GRE Barrons 12th edition, though many had no clue of that book...but CR was do-able.
Interview: With no curiosity and perhaps no preparation, I went inside to meet the two interviewers (one aunty and one uncle). The 'about-me' question got finished in 20 min (from singing to blogging, I covered all with unmatched confidence). Can, even remember those self-composed words...

"Bandi nahi hai college mein
Padhai ne maar daala
Aur phir, hum me se kuch bhaage
Aur Bunk maar daala"

It was after all an interview for an IT job, so they asked 'what are classes, objects' type questions for judging technical abilities. Later, he asked about my fav subject in school and got the reply as 'MATHS'. Old memories revisited...integration by parts formula, differentiation of sin(x)cos(x), functions, volume of cone...and more past mathematical memories (adorable). Technical interview took 1 hr 15 min (snoozing). HR was shit. An oldie was there. Asked me “whats RDMS”. Replied. Post 5 mins, “Okie, thank you ANKIT. You have any questions for us”, he asked me with a stare. I developed an intuition that I should ask him something “Sir, actually I dunno want to go into developing, can I start my career on consultancy front”.
End Result: Took 61. The list had ANKIT GUPTA in it (but he belonged to EC, me belong to CS).


ARICENT (earlier known as FLEXTRONICS/HUGHES)
Advantage Aricent: worldwide brand in Telecommunications, a core firm status
Disadvantage Aricent: one domain work-culture, not into consultancy, late joinings
Package offered: 3.5 l.p.a
Difficulty of written paper: a series of 7 papers of 10 minutes each without break. In my view, DS was the toughest of all, but all were do-able. 34 cleared out of ~100. After TCS's HR mess up, devoted 20 hrs to refresh my C/C++ concepts. So, written wasn't a problem.
Experience: an absolutely professional cum impressive approach for campus recruitment.
Interview: was a bit nervous before the interviews and sadly, it did result some panic. The same 'about-me' question was done in 5 min and frankly, messed up it completely (first-impression lost). He then came to my fav topic DS (wow); and bang! asked me to code 'deletion in a B-tree' Phat li (GOD help me)!! My already pondering mind went into deep-shock-R&D state, and started penning the algo for it. Post 5 min, code was no-where (He knew this). Then, he asked me 5 more codes (relatively simpler – merging two LL without third pointer, inorder of binary-tree, deletion of middle node in DLL and one more) and all answered to satisfaction. My interview went for 1hr 30 min in which I was asked CN, OS, OOPS. Unfortunately, I blundered in OS and, I guess, said some absurd terms while answering :(...and got the FEEL of disappointment there only. Nevertheless, must say the interviewer was a nice humble guy and did ask some really relevant question like 'how will you develop a blogging site'..glad, I answered it...(would love to have a boss like him).
End Result: Though not selected, but the experience was affable. First time, encountered a real core technical interview and was fun actually. Took 11 finally.


BHARTI TELESOFT
Advantage BT: Delhi placements, chance to work on new wireless technologies, joining (July, 2008)
Disadvantage BT: package, a fear of ending up with call-centre technical work
Package offered: 2.8 l.p.a
Difficulty of written paper: cut off was 50%, marking with +2, -1. In all, 8 qualified out of ~100.
Experience: Frankly, the presentation was not good (rather some would rate it pathetic), but...
End Result: Took 5.


IMPETUS
Advantage Impetus: package, core products company, Noida placemnt
Disadvantage Impetus: job security, little onsite, deliveries of offer letters are pending
Package offered: 3.8 l.p.a
Difficulty of written paper: questions from last year papers were sufficient.
Interview: I had 2 interviews of 15 min each (technical and HR). First interview, where the 'about-me' questioned wasn't asked. All they asked in both 15 + 15 min interview was 'what happened in TCS/ ARICENT'. Don’t know what were they doing? Nevermind, a special mention about classmate cum friend Ieeesh, who went inside for the interview and came out with interviewer's drink. He made the day a laughing riot. Man...just love his attitude “if you want me for that peanut-job, earn me” !!
End Result: Took ~10 with maximum of them already having a job. Glad, I wasn't there...
Experience – Was disappointed but saw it as an opportunity to learn more…After Impetus, my views went strongly against ‘honest-is-the-policy-based’ answers, but now, after almost 1 year, I am forced to re-consider honest answers too.


SAPIENT
Advantage Sapient: package, good onsite, good work, a lot of exposure
Disadvantage Sapient: - lots of work, lately fired 4% of its workforce, joinings extended to 2009
Package offered: 4.2 l.p.a
Difficulty of written paper: 1 subjective question (2003 repeat), shit!! am surprised how I missed it, easier than expected. Result was astonishing. 11 selected...though some expected and obvious names weren't there!!
Interview: I did not qualify the written but got feedback...that the whole process wasn't that tuff (emphasis on ‘programming in OO Environment’). A do-able on an avg. day.
End Result: Took 7


CSC (INDIA)
CSC is known as an extension to our college (one of fav teachers used to call it as CSCJMI). More than twenty of my immediate seniors are enjoying there. Dunno why, but they share a special relationship with our college.
Advantage CSC: Good paymaster, Noida placement, no hard work, ash-maaro type environment
Disadvantage CSC: type of work, largely depends on what you get (FSG/GTS/GIS), no joining date till now :(
Package offered: 3.6 l.p.a + some incentives
Difficulty of written paper: 2 written (apti + technical). Apti was easy. 56 shortlisted out of 94. Technical was full of C (55 ques) and EC (20 ques). C was of ok-ok standard. In total, 75 questions in 40 min. 31 selected for GD (bakwaas idea in my view)...24 finally went for interviews
Interview: technical interview was fun. The interviewer was an ex-student of our college and we started by discussing about route no. 507 and traveling in buses. On technical front, questions on DS, CN and OS were asked. HR was taken by a ‘smart’ lady and as I was informed that my technical written marks were highest (51/75...wow), I guess the statement was made there ;) Here, too she asked that irritating googly 'what happened in earlier companies', but this time, THE dude had a preplanned answer (lesson from Impetus) :p
End Result: All guys who weren't meant for compu. engg. landed up at CSC...”CHEERS” . Took 13.
Experience: was a hefty day BUT the night-out after my first job was one of the best days that I have lived so far in my 22 years.


SATYAM
Advantage Satyam: onsite, established brand like TCS, etc
Disadvantage Satyam: package, lot in crowd, Hyderabad placement (high probability)
Package offered: 3.1 l.p.a
Experience: got feedback that the whole process was ok (barring GD, the elimination round).
End Result: Took 11.


HUGHES SYSTEQUE
Advantage HS: a core firm, sexy package, perks, a good exposure
Disadvantage HS: headcount of 250 guys, you have to do work there, recently deferred joining to Sept (2008)
Package offered: 4.25 l.p.a + a lot extra (travel, food, etc)
Difficulty of written test: 2 written tests (apti + technical), Apti was of good standard, Technical was ok-ok. 18 selected out of ~64. Many top-rankers, geeks and good coders got rejected in technical. A lot of speculation spread regarding there marking strategies.
Experience: Sat as a dummy, n if he is reading, please say thanx the next time we meet (if we)!! Interview was not easy.
End Result: 5 got selected


ACCENTURE (INDIA)
Advantage Accenture: globally recognized, established brand, FORTUNE rank #1, job security, onsite chances, nice training
Disadvantage Accenture: less money, can place you anywhere, a crowd there, less capita offering per B.Tech value
Package offered: 2.7 (fixed) + .3 (variable) + .1 (relocation) = 3.1 l.p.a
Difficulty of written test: Entered into the room, and wrote jokes (even snapped them :P), very easy paper, ~98 selected out of ~200.
Experience: got feedback that interviews were easy 'Whats the difference b/t C and C++' types questions
End Result: 28 selected


NEWGEN
Advantage Newgen: core products company, good R&D cell, a lot to learn, joining (July, 2008)
Disadvantage Newgen: less onsite, very small building, some say gender-imbalance too [:p]
Package offered: 3.75 l.p.a
Difficulty of written test: I was using my second chance here. All the writtens (apti, tech, pycho) were very easy.18 shortlisted for final interview.
Experience: well once you are placed, you feel damn confident and can counter many ‘i-dunno-know-answers’ questions with smart answers (read ‘lies’). 2 interviews – one technical + one HR. Technical had questions of DS (coding of LL, DLL, recursive programs), CN, Compilers. HR was ok-ok.
End Result: 2 selected. Utilized my last chance at the right time.

ps: incase in interviews, you see your technical answers non-impressing, don't panic. What I take from experience is that, in every company there will be ample number of non-tech questions to assess your 'mind-thinking-speed'. Try to give them smart confident replies (doesn't matter incase you are using lies in these). Try to be original. An example -

If the interviewer asks - "What do you think! Why should I take you?"
Throw him a reply - "Why not" ;)

(once you are placed, you will feel cosy to reply in this fashion :))

There were more firms for recruitments. Since I wasn’t involved further, I can’t write in detail. Some of them – Google INDIA (non-tech), Servigistics, Abacus Software, Evalueserve, Keane Softwares, etc. Oh! There was MICROSOFT too (package of 8-9 L.p.a) , but it came for GIRLS only ;)…What is happening in the name of ‘diversity’?
Amidst the lowering IT industry, there were plenty core ones for electrical and mechanical brothers & non-brothers. Some of the biggies were – Ashok Leyland, Ansals Ltd., Voltas, DRDO, L&T Ltd, Schneider Electric, Blue Star, Lahmeyer, Unitech Ltd., ACC Ltd., NDPL, Lanco Infratech, ABB, etc.

IRONY - the IT sector is so down these days that only some of the above- mentioned companies have given joinings, seems rest all are interested in deferring.
We became engineers (somehow!!), we got an on-campus job (God blessed us) and then we got multiple jobs (Demons blessed us) and now, after the college completion, we don’t even know about the joinings. Hey guys, I can remember a class song for this irony – “Haal Chaal Theek Thaak Hai” from the movie “Mere Apne”, sung by “Kishore and Mukesh”…do listen