My interview experience...

Having a few days left to join freescale, i went back to the day i was recruited for it.

Its a memorable day in my life. Having got up early i went to college before everyone else. (not even the janitors had come). It was said that we will have a Pre Placement Talk(PPT) on company prospects, what they do, and what they look for at 9am in the morning. But it got delayed. So i had lots of time to "chill out" in the campus. (really it was chilling outside ;) )

Worst thing was, I had to wear the "professional attire" all day long! It took totally 16hrs from morning till night 10pm to declare the fresh recruits!

Competition is growing fast these days. Initial screening was based on scores and 70% CGPA in B.E. There were 100's of them who wrote the written test, out of which 14 got through to the interview rounds. They gave a lot of importance to C, Data struct, OS, Networking, problem solving capabilities. And finally 3 of them got through interview rounds.

The written test took place after PPT till 1pm. The corrections of the written apti test papers took long. So Interviews started by evening 4pm. The most important and interesting of them all was technical interview round. It was testing my patience to sit in one place for hours. It's all worth the trouble if you succeed in the interview. Looking at the interviewees coming out saying that it went bad i was afraid but somewhere i consoled myself saying that i have less competition now.

There was only one room with panel interview, all others were handles single interviewers. Fortunately or unfortunately, the interviewee before me opted not to go for that room. I had to go to a panel of two interviewers who bambarded me with two different questions at the same time. One was asking about the OS, Networking and other technical stuff(normal tech round), while other was mainly into something like the stress testing(saying "no, its not like that... is it?" to everything that i tell). All the previous candidates who came out of the room had failed because of this difficult situation. He asked some questions like "where would you see urself in other 5 years to come?" and i replied with "Technical Lead!!" without knowing how long it takes to be one. Then came a sign of negative response from the other side that you cant be in other 5 years. I had to defend myself in words about my ability, strengths, projects that i worked on, my contributions. I couldn't believe that i talked so impressively but when i did their face reading it was clear. I took my own time in answering both the interviewer's questions but gave apt and precise response with illustrations, code snippets. I got positive feedback from them before i left out.

Then came the HR round of interview just in a few mins after tech round. It was very much like informal talk and guy was very cool! which made it easy for me. He asked me about the thing that gives you more happiness than any other thing in the world, even though i seemed crazy. I said that it was while writing poems that i feel the joy/pleasure. (It was in engineering that i started writing poems). I think he was touched by that! I was full of enthusiasm even at that time(maybe 9pm). I asked few questions like - "How will the day at freescale be?","Any training? How long?" to which he patiently responed back with "long memorised para"! :P
As i came out, I had a feeling that i was through and called back home that i will come back home once it is done. To my surprise, i was correct! I was speechless and had expressions on my face similar to that of the last scene where will smith gets a job in the movie - "The pursuit of happyness".(its a memorable one)

I will come back with a post on "first day at office" by next weekend.
C ya. later...

Call me crazy!

I know that you are surprised by seeing the post title, but you will know why when you read the whole story below.

Today, I did the most craziest thing in my life till now... Don't believe it? Then ask my thighs!

ok, ok... no more suspense. I bought a NEW bicycle today and rode it from town hall (K.R..Market) till our house about 14 Kms at 7:00 pm peak traffic in Bangalore city! Now u can call me crazy.

This is the first thing I bought something for myself in my own money! (stipend from HP project). One of my childhood dream has come true.(Don't ask me the remaining ones now)

Actually, having completed my graduation, I am finding ways to spend my free time (till i join freescale) in a quality manner. These few holidays are one of the most important part in anyone's life.

I have started reading good novels which interests me. I started reading "devaru" by A.N.MurthyRao. Its nice book, like a prabhandha type. Of late i have started off with "Annana nenepugaLu"( author - K.P.PoornaChandra Thejasvi). An awesome book full of laughter, a memoir on Sri.Kuvempu. I am looking for good books to start off with because there are lots of good old "literature-wise heavy" books :) in our house. (mom's gr8 collection).

Then coming back to my new venture that i am up to. Its great pleasure to ride on bike with wind blowing past your ears, cool breeze taking the sweat off your forehead. Call it adrenaline rush or anything but thats a super experience. I plan to ride it everyday morning starting at 5:00am as its a great exercise but i don't know how far i can carry that on.
Also the petrol price hike seems to be rocketing due to inflation. So no more fuel-bike for purchasing petty things near my home. I am happy that I am not contributing to air pollution and most of all I am delighted to see other people's reaction around me. I feel that in someway I am spreading an awareness everytime i take it on highway when i listen to pubic comments. All I can remember now is this memorable quote - "Be the change you want to see in the world" by Mahatma Gandhi.

Oh, I didn't tell you the bike that i purchased.
Its - Hercules Ultima Shox 6Sp.
Features:
Lower step thru stylish frame, 6 speed shimano gears, front and rear shock absorbers, Sturdy carrier, comfortable saddle with spring.
Cost: Rs. 4100/-

Together with all these, i will continue to goto flute classes regularly. Huh..! lots of things to do these holidays.

Crazy carthik!

One stupid story...

Our tenants vacated yesterday and i was lending my mom a helping hand in cleaning our new house. Soon there was the entry of neighbor kid, about 5 years of age and was very accustomed to our old tenants and asked about the "Tamil aunt"(They were from Madurai) who had just left.

I don't know how and why the "story telling" began but my mom and kid were talking about a story of dumb idiotic guy.
The story was somewhat like - The mother of that idiot asks him to get butter from a shop. but he puts it in his pockets to bring it back home. Later when asked to get it in a ice pack so that it doesn't melt he does it same for bringing salt! Ah.. this poor fellow then makes the princess laugh who had not even laughed in her lifetime... and so king makes him marry to her because of his utter sense of humor(so called).

I hated this kind of stories as they made no sense to practical world but there was something more interesting than this.

After telling complete story, the kid asked a very surprising question (which i overheard) for which even my mom was awestruck!
She had asked - "why didn't the princess divorce that idiot and marry another prince?"

I couldn't believe that young kid of this age could pronounce any word like D_I_V_O_R_C_E.
The time is getting from bad to worse for the next generation.

Success in my vision

What's the secret of success in your life?

Have you ever realized how hard it is to answer such a difficult question. It's just like one of those job interview questions that i have faced in recent days.

I have been asked this question several times by my friend. At first, I didn't understand what makes him ask it over and over again, but later I got a good reason - It's a must to ask oneself at all times to lead your own life in a proper direction. I think that his success lies in the fact that this same question always lingers in his mind.

I know that strengths like Hard work, Attitude, Persistence, Confidence can make a person succeed in life. But thats not completely true with me. As these virtues are obtained by necessary opportunities and exposure.

Personally i would say that my secret of success is my fear of failure! Yes, its true. The society is making our lives so competitive.

Well, I feared that i may fail as a student, as a teenager, as a responsible adult, as a good human being. The consciousness of this fear led me into a path that I'm right now in. I had seen some part of the suffering in my family. My efforts to minimize their problem was to get into good college, get good education, build my own career and lessen the burden of donations. Being a part of typical middle class family, understanding my family needs was one of most important thing in my life as a youngster. I do regret for all the things that i missed during my childhood days. But everything comes at a price of something else. But now things have changed a lot in these 20 years, We are now one happy, contended family.

Its not only about the "monetary stuff" but also as a person, I got to know more about responsibility. We have the opportunity to be strong when we are given difficulties. With more opportunity comes great exposure, with correct usage of exposure comes great power, with great power comes great responsibility.

According to me - Success is driven by failure and necessity is its motivator.

Kick off!!!

I do enjoy writing. Do visit my poem blog at http://blog.360.yahoo.com/karthikhb . (i didn't want to mess up with the nice yahoo360 blog). All I want to do is to communicate some of my experience via writing and also learn to improve my communication skills at the same time (forgive my grammatical mistakes, if any). I am not very much disciplined to write regularly but i aim that sooner or later i can spare time to write daily(i guess its sooner). All sorts of critics are welcome. I'm putting myself out there to learn something new. I know that i am not alone in having experienced the same as someone before. Yet, there is a sense of adventure, a feel of being alive and getting noticed. The entries here will be my fighting random thoughts that keeps me busy all day long and makes me have some sleepless nights like today.