We all came to know that INFOSYS was coming to our college on 1 March...So after being
rejected three times in U.S. Technologies , i Gate and Perot Systems...I was a bit extra
cautious and for the first time took placement so seriously...Although i was never careless at
all but did not realize the graveness of the matter....It is rightly said that "Opportunity is
more recognizable when it leaves rather than when it approaches you."
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
The criteria of INFOSYS in my college was 65% throughout.....There was a confusion
regarding the criteria..Some said they wanted 65% in any of the semesters in B.Tech and
65% in 10th and 12th. Moreover there was a relaxation of 5% for the U.P. Board students
i.e. they were allowed with 60% in 10th and 12 th. However ,i did not had any problems with
criteria as I had scored 80.4% in 10th and 77.6% in 12 th from U.P. Board itself and
maintained a decent 72.4% in B.Tech aggregate.
So I started preparations ,went through the latest paper of INFOSYS that came in JayPee
College on 17 February. That gave a very good idea of the pattern and the versatility of the
questions. I solved few puzzles and in fact gave more importance to them as puzzles are
asked in interviews also. I referred the evergreen R.S. Aggarwal for the rest of DI & DS
problems and syllogism. Then i moved on to figure type questions like odd one out,Next in
series, analogy and cubes etc etc..I can not undermine the contribution of my friend Varun
Sikka and Gaurav Agarwal who sat with me for long hours solving questions...They were the
reasons that kept me awake during those hectic days. We all bunked classes and came to
room to prepare for the INFOSYS. I think it was the first time in my engineering when i
bunked classes for studying at my room. Generally classes were bunked for a nice sleep or a
masti in canteen or just for not studying...or movies sometimes. The environment of the
hostel had drastically changed...students were always solving puzzles...in mess...on
stairs..the only point of discussions left was placement. There were always predictions and
prophecies regarding who will get selected? Students who never gave a damn to college
schedule now woke up early to attend the INFOSYS preparation classes going on in our
college. The classes were taken by Mr. Ajay Sharma( We will come to him after
sometime.)However I did not benefit much by the classes so I did not attend further classes
and stayed at my room. On 27 March, i gave few mock interviews to my friends namely
Shashank Singh ,Sanchit Mehrotra and Rajat Aggarwal. The most important thing that I
learnt from interview was to think like a HR Person..In fact I was getting a bit too much
technical in my answers. That all went fine but still i felt the need to prepare myself better.
So I made a new diary and started writing the important points. Then i moved on to puzzles
and recent papers .
Just a day before,there was a news regarding the change in criteria. The criteria now
changed to 65% throughout due to which about 58 students were getting in ineligible for
INFOSYS. There was a great disappointment among us as most of our friends who did not
leave any stone unturned were getting disqualified. There was a sudden gush of anger
against the college management and TPO. I would like to add the fact that our college does
not has a real TPO "Training & Placement Officer"..the person on the post is completely
irresponsible and unfit for the post....In fact each student can write a 1000 page note against
them. They all are just mindbogglingly stupid creatures that somehow got the humanoid
form. Anyway,lets leave it !!
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
So, after the noon I did not read anything,had a complete rest ,surfed the net ,listen songs
etc. etc. At night i just slept..waiting for the next morning. I do not know but this time I had
a good sleep of 4 hours. Next morning I got up early and was ready on time....I listened to
Chicken Little soundtrack..Its really very energizing. We all went to the college bus after
having breakfast in our college mess. I could never understand how the mess workers make
such nice breakfast whenever we go for the placement tests otherwise they just give us the
bare minimum for survival. Well,that was a nice beginning. We got into the college bus with
our friends and enjoyed the whole way..We reached IPEC Ghaziabad and saw the huge rush
for INFOSYS. I think there were about 3000 students in all. We had a tea and soon there was
an announcement regarding the attendance. I could not find the relation between tea and
attendance. In the list that the IPEC faculty had,there were also the names of students who
were disqualified on the basis of new criteria yesterday only. So we called all our friends in
our hostel and asked them to come as soon as possible. I do not think anyone took more
than 20 min to come to IPEC. At the attendance desk we were being allotted the room in
which we had to give the written papers. There was a presentation by a very smart INFOSYS
guy who told us about the company,its belief,mode of operation. He was an excellent
speaker and impressed all of us in fact. The presentation end with a slogan -- " There is an
ocean of opportunities."
We moved to our allotted room no. 17.There we waited for about one and a half hour then
finally our invigilator came. He was also a very unique creature -- a semisolid form made up
of carbon and ozone resembled human to such an extent that you could confuse him with a
human. He was bestowed with a unique characteristic of mixing correct events with wrong
tenses. Even by fault or coincidence, he did not speak a single sentence without any
grammatical mistake. We were going to have two papers. The new thing in this procedure
was that we had to fill a form -- You can call that a resume in itself. It asked everything from
your eyesight to marks in 10th ,12th and B.Tech. There was also a space for photograph. It
took about 10 minutes to fill that complete form and with funny instruction of that invigilator
it was all fun! As far as i remember our first paper that was of LOGICAL REASONING started
at 11:05 and we were given 40 minutes for 30 questions, I attempted 32 questions without
any wild guesses and in second paper that was of ENGLISH, I attempted 37 out of 40
questions. For the second part we were given 35 minutes for 40 questions. I helped one of
my friends Neelabh Gangwar in the second paper.
The most difficult time in a day like this is the time when you have given your test and you
are waiting for the results. During this time you can not leave and you can not stop thinking
about the test. Moreover, the discussion leads to disaster. I and Prateek Chandra went to
Bikanerwaala for food and had Dosa and Ras Malai. Prateek Chandra had been my strength
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
all the day. He stayed with me all the time encouraging me and assisting me. Without him, I
do not think I would have been able to get through. He was quite lucky for me. When we
came back from Bikanerwaala, we found out that most of our friends were leaving IPEC and
going hostel. I and Prateek Chandra decided to stay back till the results. We
slept,roamed,sat,watched and did all the thing that a person feeling bore could do. We were
done with papers till 1:30 pm and it was 4 pm now. We were getting impatient about our
results. Many of us like Piyush,Rahul,Varun,Neelabh etc went to Mohan Nagar Temple. I slept
for about an hour on the grass while Prateek was feeling obsessed with the students of IPEC
playing Basketball.
IPEC was having a musical function on the 2nd of March. Singer Abhijeet was the chief guest
there so preparations were going on the college for the function. The seats for the visitors
were all occupied by students. It was 6 pm now and the moon was up in th sky. Everywhere
you could see bunch of students sitting and chatting. It looked more like a wedding party
than a placement interview. After having a cup of coffee we started roaming here and there
and finally got seated on few chairs started ratings.
Next we met a crazy DADA 'Abhisht Pandey' obsessed and bored with the process. Later on
at about 7 pm there was some exodus and students started moving towards the seminar hall.
There was a current in the air and suspense greater than in Hitchcock's movie. Few names
were announced and the crowd became almost dumb. As usual those TPO's of our college
were not there and we were alone without any representative from the college. I can not
understand what do they get paid for?But somehow someone from college managed to get
the list of selected students. All the students gathered around him like bees on the
honeycomb. One by one names were being announced, the selected students were jumping
and clinging to one another. I saw my name in the list and was moved with joy. After all it
was the first time I cleared the written. Most of my friends got selected except few. I called
my home and told them about the result and they all were happy.
While returning we boarded our college. Thanks God they gave us Bus. In our way i got
many calls from my friends. We got down at Aakash Hotel to have some food as it was
already 9:30 pm and the mess would be all empty. We ordered our very favorite Stuff
Paratha and tea. One of our friend called Mr. Ajay Sharma (The only good thing in our
Training and Placement Department.) He agreed to come to our hostel to guide us fro the
interview. He arrived at around 10:30 pm. He gave us few tips regarding how we should
look, How should we walk ,talk and act. The most important thing that he told us was that
there could be a stress interview so we better be ready for that. It helped me a lot as I really
had stress interview the next day. After half an hour he left. We were really thankful that he
came.
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
I went to my room and recollected myself,browsed through my resume and prepared my self
for the following days. I also went through the current events, profile of INFOSYS etc etc .
Finally slept at 2 am and woke up at 5 am. I could not sleep well. Next day has to be mine if
I wanted to get selected. I got ready and reached the college bus on time. Again Prateek
Chandra went with us. I think he was quite lucky for us. We reached IPEC on time. Today
there was the Abhijeet event so the preparations were all people trying to set up things and
organize the function. I was highly impressed by their Dean and Director. They were very
energetic and were always on road investigating the preparations. At 9 am sharp we were
called into the Seminar hall :: RAMAN HALL .We all got seated there. I think there were
around 400 students. After few minutes there was a call for three college for interview . The
first three colleges were BIT,VIET and I don't remember who. Our batch was third. We came
to know that there were 13 interviewers and gave 15-20 minutes each. This way they
finished the first three colleges in just 90 minutes. The questions being asked were from
resume only and basic HR questions. No technicals or teasing. But they were always asking
puzzles. After sometimes we went for the coffee. I wrote down some of the basic questions
in my diary lest I should forget something. That was really the right time to get nervous and
so I was.
Just then there was a call for our college. We all went in wishing one another 'Best of Luck'. I
gave my cell phone to Prateek and went inside. When we reached the hall we saw Ajay Sir
there. He wished us all the best and we went upstairs where interviews were going on. We
all were seated in a room. Just then Ajay Sir again came to our class and asked us to be cool
and true to ourselves. He asked us to meditate and again reminded us of the stress
interview. Further he cracked few jokes that helped us cool down. Just then there was a
person announcing the name of students to get ready for the interview. Six of us went away,
we all wished them all the best. Then the second batch went away. In the third and last
batch my name was the last one. Ajay sir again wished us all the best and waited in the hall
for us. We were taken to a classroom where we all were seated and one by one students
were being called.
I was the last one to be called. I went to the interviewer, he called me in and offered me
seat.
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER:
He was about 50 years old,looked quite mature,serious ,grave and somewhat kind. He was a
type of person who does not make you feel uneasy. The most noticeable thing was that he
never looked into my eyes, It seemed that he was not paying any attention to me but he was
really listening to me and catching things I missed or skipped. He also seemed to have sound
knowledge of computers. He spoke slowly and gave time to think but almost never
encouraged. Sometimes his facial expressions changed a lot giving him the look of a
dissatisfied person. I think he was concentrating more on my emotional quotient than what I
said. He tried to make me nervous and popped up simultaneous questions that were not
related to previous questions( i.e The Kali Kudrow question). He did not even touch my
Resume and asked questions from the form that we filled yesterday.
The interview room was a classroom in fact where he was sitting in the front row student
seat and I was seated on a chair in front of him. There was a height difference of about 1
feet between his and mine chairs. So this way he could see me completely. At every point he
opposed me and tried to remind me that I was wrong. Many times I answered 'yes' when I
was not sure but he did not mind it. He checked the confidence with which I said 'yes'. Many
times I had to say 'No' and he just moved to next question without creating a fuss about that
except at few points that you will see in the following INTERVIEW.
I have tried to include almost all the questions I was asked :
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
INTERVIEW
Interviewer>
Hello Tarun
Tarun>
Good Afternoon Sir!
Interviewer>
(He already had my profile in his hands)In the photograph you
are not wearing spectacles but now you are wearing them?Why
is it so?
Tarun>
Sir,i do wear glasses. In photograph, I did not wear them
because it is not advisable to do so and moreover the snap
would not be quite clear because of the flashlight.
Interviewer>
So Tarun, You are from CS Branch
Tarun>
Yes sir.
Interviewer>
Why did you chose CS?
Tarun>
Sir, I got my first computer in 10th class and since then I had
developed deep interest in Computers. I find pleasure in
tweaking and spent a lot of time on my system. Very soon
I found out that I could not live without it and chose CS.I think
I am quite happy now.
Interviewer>
OK. So have you ever opened a computer?
Tarun>
No Sir. I basically own a laptop.
Interviewer>
Thats good! So what is the configuration of your laptop?
Tarun>
(I was happy that this question was asked.)Sir, I have Compaq
Presario M 2201 TU Notebook. It has 1.6 G Hz Pentium M
Processor, 512 MB RAM,15' inches TFT screen, inbuilt Altec
Lansing speakers and 7.1 ready Sound card with 256 MB
dedicated Video Memory. I have 84 Keys Microsoft Keyboard,
6 cell Li-ion Battery with a decent back up of 2.5 hours. It has
6-in-1 Media card reader,Combo Drive, LAN card, Modem,
3-USB's and a firewire port.
Interviewer>
But you do not have Hard Disk???
Tarun>
Of course I have a Hard Disk. Its 40 GB SATA.I think its quite
less.
Interviewer>
So when did you buy this laptop?
Tarun>
I bought it about 2 years ago.
Interviewer>
How much did it cost you?
Tarun>
4600
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
Interviewer>
WHAAT?
Tarun>
Sorry,It cost me 46000.
Interviewer>
Well,I do not think you can get this configuration in such less
price just two years ago.
Tarun>
Sir, I got that for such less price because:
1.>It has a PENTIUM M processor that is cheap.
2.>It does not has Wi-Fi card and Blue tooth.
3.>I bought it from Original HP retail center at NOIDA.
4.>The windows in it is also not genuine.
Interviewer>
Fine. So what was the company of your Lap top?
Tarun>
Sir,Its COMPAQ.
Interviewer>
Recently, Compaq had been overtaken by some other company
Do you have any idea about that?
Tarun>
Sir,Compaq was taken over by HP.
Interviewer>
Who is the CEO of HP?
Tarun>
Mr. Mark Hurd.
Interviewer>
There had been some problem in the company??
Tarun>
Yes Sir,There was a Pretexting Scandal in the company
Interviewer>
Tell me about it in detail.
Tarun>
A lady in the Board of Director of Hp named Rebbecca ............
I cant remember her last name..She used some unfair means
like taping phone calls and decrypting emails of the other
officers for checking their morality. There was a lot of fuss in
the media about it and finally she had to resign from the post.
Interviewer>
Tarun,her first name was also not Rebbecca. Anyway,Do you
read books?
Tarun>
Sir,I read a lot of books..
Interviewer>
Which type of books you read?
Tarun>
I read Science fiction,Novels,Life Histories,Fantasies etc
Interviewer>
Have you read CARL ZEISS(i do not remember the exact name
but it was something like this only)
Tarun>
No Sir,i never read Carl...
Interviewer>
What??You read science fiction and you never heard of Carl..
Tarun>
Sir, In science fiction i read Douglas Adams,Jules Verne and
Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. I think i missed Carl.
Interviewer>
Ok . You must be reading newspapers. Tell me five important
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
events since last 10 days?
Tarun>
The Samjhauta Express was attacked on 19 Feb by terrorist. It
first started in 1976 and was the first train between..................
(He interrupted me...)
Interviewer>
Do not get into details,just tell me the event name.
Tarun>
Fine Sir,Secondly - The elections
Interviewer>
Elections?In which states?
Tarun>
In Punjab,Haryana and Uttarakhand.(I was wrong with
Haryana)
Interviewer>
Are you sure there were elections in Haryana?
Tarun>
Yes sir.(although I was not.)
Thirdly ,the Railway Budget........................................................
......................................................................................................
(A brief silence)
Interviewer>
Thats it?
Tarun>
Yes sir..
Interviewer>
Do you know KALI KUDROW??(She is no one,in fact!)
Tarun>
No Sir.
Interviewer>
What?You never heard her name?
Tarun>
No Sir.
Interviewer>
You read newspapers but you do not know KALI KUDROW?
Tarun>
Sir,I am a regular reader but I never came across her name.
Interviewer>
Do you like music?
Tarun>
Yes sir,I play guitar..
Interviewer>
Thats good! Can you show me the SEAGULL chords?
Tarun>
I do not chords by name.
Interviewer>
You did not get any training.
Tarun>
I did not get any official training. I just listen to songs and try to
catch the rhythm.
Interviewer>
So you copy them?
Tarun>
Not exactly...Sometime I compose myself.
Interviewer>
Can you show some chords you remember?
Tarun>
Yes Sir.(I showed him chord ADE with fingers)
Interviewer>
So where do you come from?
Tarun>
Sir,I come from the holy city of Sitapur.
Interviewer>
Where is Sitapur?
Tarun>
Sir, Its 84 Km North West of Lucknow.
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
Interviewer>
Why is it holy?
Tarun>
There is a very famous lake. It is said that after visiting all the
four pilgrimage of Hindus if you bathe here....One will attain
salvation. There is a long mythological story behind this..
Interviewer>
Whats that?
Tarun>
In olden times there was a saint by name Dadhichi,he gave all
his bones to the Gods to be used as weapons against the devils.
The place where he sacrificed himself is now the lake itself.
The gods brought the waters from all the holy rivers of this
world and poured it in the lake.
Interviewer>
Fine. So you are from UP Board?Are you from Hindi Medium?
Tarun>
No Sir, I am from a convent school run by an Italian Society.
Interviewer>
Whats the name of your school?
Tarun>
Sir,The name of my school is Sacred Heart Inter College. It was
established in 1952 by the very first Missionaries from Rome.
The founder of our school came from Rome itself.
Interviewer>
Who was he?
Tarun>
His name was Rev. Father Gerard Perazinni. He headed the
Diocese Society in India till he expired two years back.
Interviewer>
What does your daddy do?
Tarun>
Sir,He works in Indian Institute Of Handloom Technology.
Interviewer>
Your mother?
Tarun>
Sir,she is a teacher in Govt. School.
Interviewer>
Do you know what is hyperthreading?
Tarun>
(I took it as HT Technology)Its a cooling technology for
processors in which few silicon wires measuring nano meters are
passed through processors. They help in dissipating the heat
produced.
Interviewer>
Are you sure?
Tarun>
Yes sir.(again I was not sure)
Interviewer>
What is this 3D studio Max?
Tarun>
Its an animation software I worked upon. Its an autodesk
software that helps in animating,rigging and character
animation. We also took classes of it.
Interviewer>
What type of classes?
Tarun>
It was more than classes. It was basically a workshop in which
students were provided with computers and we gave them a
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
practical problem and helped them solve it.
Interviewer>
Did you take workshops outside college also?
Tarun>
No Sir.
Interviewer>
Can you solve puzzles?
Tarun>
I will definitely give it a try?
Interviewer>
OK Tarun,Have you played chess?
Tarun>
Yes Sir.
Interviewer>
How many squares are there on the chessboard?
Tarun>
64
Interviewer>
Can you increase the no. of squares on the chessboard.
Tarun>
Can I use Pencil?
Interviewer>
No, You do not have pencil and you can not even touch the
chessboard.
Tarun>
Sir,then it can be done by illusion?
Interviewer>
How?
Tarun>
We can use mirrors to create an illusion.
Interviewer>
You are reaching closer. You do not have anything with you.
You can not touch it.
Tarun>
Then I think it could be done by perception.........
Interviewer>
How?
Tarun>
Can I use Paper and pen?
Interviewer>
Sure.
Tarun>
(I showed him on paper)
Till now we considered one small square and counted them to
64 but now we can take a group of 4 squares together and count
it as yet another square. In the same way, we can take pair of 9
squares.....................................................................................
CHESSBOARD
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
(Assume rectangles to be squares)
Interviewer>
Good Tarun!
How many squares can you increase in the method you
described?
Tarun>
(I did some calculations)Sir,Its 25.
Interviewer>
Are you sure?
Tarun>
Yes Sir.(Again I was not that much sure!!)
Interviewer>
Tarun,I am through with my interview. Do you have any
questions to ask?
Tarun>
Sir,What are the short term goals of the company?
(I could not think of anything else !)
Interviewer>
Tarun,I also do not know anything about it.
It nice talking to you.
Tarun>
Thank you Sir! Have a nice day and A very Happy HOLI!!
Interviewer>
A very happy holi to you too, Tarun.
***********************************************************************
***********************************************************************
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
So this was my 30-35 minutes
-- the longest
among my friends.
Then again the most difficult time started - The waiting time. My
did not go
well as most of my friends had a very nice
. I was worried as it would really be a
great disappointment if I had to return from this point. The worst thing about placements
is that once you are not selected, you have to start over all again from the very beginning.
No matter where have you reached before, you have to start from the very beginning. I
,Saurabh and Abhishek went to Bikanerwaala for food. We again had cold drinks, Dosa
and Jeera Rice. Then we returned back. All the day I received calls from Varun, Abhinav
and Sanchit about the results. I and Saurabh slept behind the IPEC campus for about an
hour and woke up to feel refreshed. We had coffee and then sat with our friends
discussing everything but the
. We assumed that the result will be out till 4 pm as
there was function in IPEC from 7:30 pm. Many of our friends went to Mohan Nagar
Temple.
At about 4 pm there was an announcement regarding the results. We all held our breaths
and moved to the allotted room no. 17. I called my friends and asked them to come soon
to the room. We went inside the room. Besides us there was one more college IMS sitting
in the room. We took seats and heartbeats began to increase. All were silent for about 15
minutes but after that movements began. Students came out of the room and began
discussing. The corridors were soon filled up students. It was 5 pm now. Mobiles had
started ringing and tensions increased. We went outside to see the preparations for the
music show. There were D J's and big sound system along with the arrangements for
videography. We again returned to our respective rooms. Prayers and good wishes could
be felt all around. It was 6 pm and students were restless. We came to know that results
would be given to TPO only. As usual our TPO was no where to find while TPO of other
colleges were with their students. Our invigilator (the new species) was looking at us
from the balcony where results were being prepared. He was somewhat lucky for me. At
6:30 we all were asked to get into our classrooms as the results were going to be
announced. Very soon there were clapping and whistling in the nearby classes and it was
really a time to pray and hold your will together. Very soon the turn of our class came.
The TPO of IMS came with results and started taking names. We all sat waiting and
watching.
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
Then our Mr. Slowy Rahul Gupta somehow managed to get the TPO of other college to
announce our results. We all held our breaths and prayed to God. The first name to be
announced was of Neelabh Gangwar...then Sanjeev Singh and then I could not
remember...The class was overjoyed..I could not hold myself & went to the stage to see
the results list. My name was on the last page almost in the end. I could not believe. I
jumped to Rajat and we clang to one another. Then to Piyush, Saurabh, Neelabh ,Prateek
,Rahul, Sanjeev,Ashish.....Abhishek Garg lifted me up and we all shouted to our full
throat. Out of 30 who cleared the written 27 made through the
as well. It was
90% selection from our college the highest ratio among all the present colleges. I called
my home and gave them the good news first. I thanked God and joined the celebrations.
Everywhere there were phone calls being made and students dancing with joy.
We were asked to move to the seminar hall for the presentation. The same guy who came
yesterday was there. His first words were --- " Welcome to INFOSYS."
He congratulated us on our success and told us few rules and expectations. He told us that
we have to be in Mysore for 4 months for training. I think at that moment students were
ready to go to Alcatrazz Prison for the training. He asked us to get our passports ready.
There was a great round of applause for him and the sounds of hip hip hurray filled the
hall.
We all left the hall happily. Most of could not just believe that we really got a job and
that too in INFOSYS. You all must be thinking that its' the happy ending of a real story
but its in fact not. The rest events are too personal to be shared this way. However,being
a blogger, I will definitely post them at my live.space and 360 blog.
This was my journey to INFY as I see it.
Tarun Kumar Jaiswal
Tarun.Reflex
Thats it friends!
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