6th year
Became part of NCST family on July 17, 2000.
Memories prior to NCST:
Mathematically speaking, yesterday I completed 5 years with NCST. 6th year starts today. NCST is my seventh job. Unlike bluesmoon, not all of those previous jobs were associated with programming. Me have more varied experiences. I learned typing on computer way back in 1995 when working as transcriptionist as soon as I completed my SSC during summer vacation. I learned my lessons of CRM for twelve months as newspaper delivery vendor during FYJC. No such activity done when in SYJC. There was no need. There never was a need. I did all that for I was inspired from one of my school senior. He is still an inspirational figure for me. In between those three years of BSc I spent little time doing other jobs such as marketing executive for a wipro franchisee who made us market Microworld antivirus product and Wipro's email solutions, and as office assistant + beta tester at Bombay Hospital. After completing BSc, I worked as full time trainer at Bhayander (for an year) and as part time trainer at Kandivali (for 3 months) alongside. My teaching style was liked by students so I was promoted as Senior Faculty. Nope, it was no boon. This promotion lead to some merely 500 INR increment to my salary and 4 hours increment to my lecture time and 4 hours decrement from lab support time. In other words, I was not required for lab support any more. I took lectures for 8 hrs on a continuous basis. When I agreed to help my pal as part time faculty, I was taking lectures for 10 hours a day (2 hours at Kandivali, 8 hours at Bhayander). Was teaching a bad experience? Neah. It was a wonderful experience. I met very good people as my students. They were so affectionate of me that I was invited on every occasion to their homes. Mr Rao, one of the students helped me make cheap purchase of a BPL TV with the best picture tube that was worth 10,000 bucks in market but costed merely 4,500 bucks. I don't believe that other institute can't produce good professionals. I take pride in saying that we produced 2 very good programmers while working with a crowd of 150 across the whole year. In between I was invited as consultant to BPL office at Santacruz to help them out with their programming problems. I was given partnership offer by one of the visitor (non student, friend of the institute owner) to that institute. I felt it was morally wrong, So I turned it down. One of my student offered to start up a new venture if I agree to be the technical guide. Wanted to give it a try, but then I got selected at NCST.
It would be worthwhile talking about my path to NCST from Infotech (ex-company, latest). I was informed about NCST courses during my college days by my professor. 5 subjects for 33,800 bucks was too costly for me. Plus it was a diploma. So I decided not to opt for it just after my college. I had almost forgotten about the NCST course till one fine day when my boss's sister (Kavita) approached me with NCST prospectus. She was very eager to do advance courses in programming. So she came to me asking about how to prepare for entrance exam. The conversation went like this -
She: Can you suggest me some books for NCST exam?
Me: NCST exam? What exam?
She (handing over 2 prospectus): I couldn't clear NCST exam last time. Got these two prospectus; one of NCST, one of CDAC. NCST exams are too difficult.
Me: Got the last year's paper?
She: Nope. They take it back.
Me: Why?
She: Don't know. But it's very difficult, believe me.
Me: Okay. But then why don't you do MCA?
She: Takes 3 years and other correspondence courses are not valued.
Me: A degree is still a degree. In case you want to do NCST course, do it. But see if you can get admission to MCA at VJTI.
She: That will require me clear NCST exam. Suggest books to me.
Me (surprised): Is it? VJTI admission requires clearing NCST exam? That sounds interesting. What about CDAC exam? Is that counted too?
She: Nope. Only NCST's. I got some aptitude question papers of CAT, IIM. NCST's questions are more difficult than this. May be this will give you feel for it.
Me (after solving 2 questions from that paper): Hopefully it will not be impossible to clear. I have a book on SAT gifted by my brother. It will help clear the fundamentals. Take that.
She: Thanks. You keep the book with you and lemme know the name. Are you thinking of appearing for exam?
Me: I won't be doing NCST's courses and I have no energy left for spending next 3 years for a full time course such as MCA.
She: Why? There courses are too good. You should do them.
Me (too much ego): I don't think I will need to undergo their training. Anyway handover that brochure to me for five minutes.
Takes the prospectus and my eyes are now fixed on a paragraph that talked about employment opportunities with NCST. I show that paragraph to her and ask why she isn't considering working with NCST in first place. She throws that idea away citing it as impossible. I don't remember where that conversation ended. But it ended giving me a dream. Dream of joining NCST. Thanks to that dream, I lost my sleep. I was thinking of every way to make it to NCST. After all it was only one chance. Got a copy of prospectus from my college pal, Satchit. Figured out what level was I eligible for. Coming from BSc background, I started gearing up for the post of Software Trainee. The eligible level of exam for it was I and D. Didn't want to miss it. Decided to appear for D level. It will give me an edge over the I level candidates. 'She' tried convincing me that appearing for E level is best but I had already made up my mind to appear for D level.
One more student(Abhishek) joined in to form a team of She, me and he. We studied and discussed and prepared and prayed. I think we did everything we could. We appeared for exams of both, CDAC and NCST. CDAC's exam came before NCST's. All three of us got selected for DAC course. I got offer from Pune and Mumbai. I rejected it. Taking no further chance, she and he decided to go for the DAC course. She got placed at Nariman point (Yashwant Rao Chavan's academy centre) and He got placed at Vashi (Ashoka Mehta centre). My father asked me to enroll for DAC course. But I didn't. I was waiting for NCST's result to come out. Got not so good score overall but got 94 and 95 percentile in General Aptitude and C Programming. Thought I lost my chance. There was still time to enroll for PGDST and everyone in family asked me to do so. Some 10 days later I receive a letter from NCST accompanied with an Interview form. I was asked to fill up the form for the post of ..., VSE ? Damn! How did this happen? Argh! I have negligible chance for this post. Software Trainee looks safe and sound. So I start calling up Mama, Bhai etc seeking their advice. Bhai log, lagta hain mere kau galat letter aa gaya. Kya karoon? Every one tells me to fill up the form and attach a note saying that if required I am ready to work even as Software Trainee. I fill up the form, attach the note. But I am not ready to post it. Me went personally to Juhu centre to hand over the letter to security staff (Perumal, I guess) in person. 15, 20 days go by. No reply. I am becoming restless. If I remember correctly, we visited enough temples in between. Everyone prayed. I prayed harder. And then I got call for interview. What! It was for VSE. Oh God, save me. I start revising books. I approach my college professors. They give me 6 books on their account to take it to home. I confess, I owe it all to them. Dear Dinesh Sir and Aparna Ma'am. I will never be able to repay it back to you. I am lucky to have you all as my teachers.
The judgment day is coming close. I am becoming more and more restless. Am loosing sleep. Am tensed. Am stressed. Am hopeful.
PS for this section: There is one more name I want to put here but am waiting for her permission. I had troubled this lady with enough queries on telephone even before filling up the forms. Most of us in NCST will have no difficulty in guessing her name. It's for others I want to put her name here. May I, dear ma'am? Special thanks to Kavitha Mohanraj ma'am :) (AKA cocavita)
Interview day:
Judgment day arrives. Packed in the best attire I had, I approached the centre. I was 15 minutes late. Cursed travel. Started planning for whatever excuse I could make. I see approx 30+ candidates present in the hall and mini canteen. I am asked to take tea or coffee and am informed that my turn has not yet come. Hah! What a relief! Go to the mini canteen. Slowly look around trying to see if there are any spy camera(s). I was told by someone that occasionally organization keep spy cameras trying to see how the interviewee behaves outside the interview cabin. Couldn't spot any camera but am not taking any chances yet. Taking cautious steps, drinking tea gracefully. I laugh at myself whenever I remember that image of mine. I listen to other people conversations. Yeah! I am listening very carefully. One person said that he was rejected because he couldn't answer questions on data structure. Darn! I don't know much of Data structures. Ab kya hoga? Other one says that there was question on difference between multiprogramming and multitasking. No difference, I thought. But kya maaloom, aagey baap log hain. Kuch tau difference hauga. Start praying that I am not asked those questions.
At around 5 pm in the evening, am called in the TRC lab. The panel comprised of smdesai, Srinath and Raviprakash. My preferences for the department were CNIE, SENG, DAKE, GRAPHICS, KBCS and SPC. Now if they would have offered ADMIN dept, I might have marked that too in desperation. Just kidding :P
Before they could ask me, I made it clear that I carried no experience in networking. I only had experiences in databases and software engineering. The technical round begins. Sandhya ma'am asks me questions which I answer correctly. Srinath asks me something on data structure. I tell him that I don't know much of data structure. He asks me if I know searching, sorting. I say yes. Am asked on binary search. I explain. Am asked on bubble sort. I answer. Am asked on number of steps in bubble sort. I tell him it depends on input. Asks me what happen if everything in descending needs to be sorted in ascending. I ask back how many inputs. He smiles and says 10. I say 45. He asks me how I calculated. I say n(n-1)/2. I still don't remember how I arrived at n(n-1)/2. Anyway, it was accepted. I think he wanted n2 as the answer. Since my answer came close it, he didn't mind it. Raviprakash asked me about the web programming. I faltered in one question and answered rest. Sandhya ma'am makes some marking on the paper and goes out and comes back. I am asked to wait outside. I am still nervous. I ask the peon, security (and almost everyone) if I am supposed to leave. Am seated down. Unaware of whats happening, I am making wild guesses. It could be HR interview now. I am summoned again.
This time its on first floor. I think it was KBCS cluster room. The panel comprised of Gopalswamy, Dixit and Durgesh. I am asked only two questions. Both technical. Am left wondering when is the HR gonna happen. I got stuck up in the second question. Durgesh and Dixit try every hint to make me arrive at the correct answer. May be they knew that I know the answer but was stuck somewhere. As soon as I answer the second question, I am asked to leave. This time I am asked to leave NCST premise. Damn! no HR interview. I sure have been rejected. Disappointed, I leave for home. At home everyone comforts me. They believe me that I now have no chance of getting any call. I am told "Your attempt is praise worthy. Don't lose heart.". After 30 days or more, I receive appointment letter. I am asked to join on or after July 7th. I resign from Infotech and am relieved of duties by June 30th. My appointment letter says selected as 'VSE' for 'DAKE'. Visiting Software Engineer? How often do I have to visit them? Is VSE their jargon for consultants? But then why would they require anyone of my caliber to be consultant for them? I reach NCST door steps on July 7th. Perumalji tells me that everyone is in Bangalore for the inauguration of new centre. I make earnest request to him so that he could connect me to anyone from DAKE. Amrish comes on the phone. I ask him if he can guide me what I should study to get ready for work in DAKE. He makes no commitment and keeps down the phone. I am asked to come back on July 17th. I head back to home. DD news that evening confirms inauguration of NCST Bangalore centre. I now start feeling the heat of the place where I am going to be. NCST affairs making it to National News definitely means something.
July 17th instead of July 7th becomes the most important date for me. I am now part of NCST.
Memories of last 5 years:
Its plentiful. Can't accommodate in this post. Wait for future posts.
Memories prior to NCST:
Mathematically speaking, yesterday I completed 5 years with NCST. 6th year starts today. NCST is my seventh job. Unlike bluesmoon, not all of those previous jobs were associated with programming. Me have more varied experiences. I learned typing on computer way back in 1995 when working as transcriptionist as soon as I completed my SSC during summer vacation. I learned my lessons of CRM for twelve months as newspaper delivery vendor during FYJC. No such activity done when in SYJC. There was no need. There never was a need. I did all that for I was inspired from one of my school senior. He is still an inspirational figure for me. In between those three years of BSc I spent little time doing other jobs such as marketing executive for a wipro franchisee who made us market Microworld antivirus product and Wipro's email solutions, and as office assistant + beta tester at Bombay Hospital. After completing BSc, I worked as full time trainer at Bhayander (for an year) and as part time trainer at Kandivali (for 3 months) alongside. My teaching style was liked by students so I was promoted as Senior Faculty. Nope, it was no boon. This promotion lead to some merely 500 INR increment to my salary and 4 hours increment to my lecture time and 4 hours decrement from lab support time. In other words, I was not required for lab support any more. I took lectures for 8 hrs on a continuous basis. When I agreed to help my pal as part time faculty, I was taking lectures for 10 hours a day (2 hours at Kandivali, 8 hours at Bhayander). Was teaching a bad experience? Neah. It was a wonderful experience. I met very good people as my students. They were so affectionate of me that I was invited on every occasion to their homes. Mr Rao, one of the students helped me make cheap purchase of a BPL TV with the best picture tube that was worth 10,000 bucks in market but costed merely 4,500 bucks. I don't believe that other institute can't produce good professionals. I take pride in saying that we produced 2 very good programmers while working with a crowd of 150 across the whole year. In between I was invited as consultant to BPL office at Santacruz to help them out with their programming problems. I was given partnership offer by one of the visitor (non student, friend of the institute owner) to that institute. I felt it was morally wrong, So I turned it down. One of my student offered to start up a new venture if I agree to be the technical guide. Wanted to give it a try, but then I got selected at NCST.
It would be worthwhile talking about my path to NCST from Infotech (ex-company, latest). I was informed about NCST courses during my college days by my professor. 5 subjects for 33,800 bucks was too costly for me. Plus it was a diploma. So I decided not to opt for it just after my college. I had almost forgotten about the NCST course till one fine day when my boss's sister (Kavita) approached me with NCST prospectus. She was very eager to do advance courses in programming. So she came to me asking about how to prepare for entrance exam. The conversation went like this -
She: Can you suggest me some books for NCST exam?
Me: NCST exam? What exam?
She (handing over 2 prospectus): I couldn't clear NCST exam last time. Got these two prospectus; one of NCST, one of CDAC. NCST exams are too difficult.
Me: Got the last year's paper?
She: Nope. They take it back.
Me: Why?
She: Don't know. But it's very difficult, believe me.
Me: Okay. But then why don't you do MCA?
She: Takes 3 years and other correspondence courses are not valued.
Me: A degree is still a degree. In case you want to do NCST course, do it. But see if you can get admission to MCA at VJTI.
She: That will require me clear NCST exam. Suggest books to me.
Me (surprised): Is it? VJTI admission requires clearing NCST exam? That sounds interesting. What about CDAC exam? Is that counted too?
She: Nope. Only NCST's. I got some aptitude question papers of CAT, IIM. NCST's questions are more difficult than this. May be this will give you feel for it.
Me (after solving 2 questions from that paper): Hopefully it will not be impossible to clear. I have a book on SAT gifted by my brother. It will help clear the fundamentals. Take that.
She: Thanks. You keep the book with you and lemme know the name. Are you thinking of appearing for exam?
Me: I won't be doing NCST's courses and I have no energy left for spending next 3 years for a full time course such as MCA.
She: Why? There courses are too good. You should do them.
Me (too much ego): I don't think I will need to undergo their training. Anyway handover that brochure to me for five minutes.
Takes the prospectus and my eyes are now fixed on a paragraph that talked about employment opportunities with NCST. I show that paragraph to her and ask why she isn't considering working with NCST in first place. She throws that idea away citing it as impossible. I don't remember where that conversation ended. But it ended giving me a dream. Dream of joining NCST. Thanks to that dream, I lost my sleep. I was thinking of every way to make it to NCST. After all it was only one chance. Got a copy of prospectus from my college pal, Satchit. Figured out what level was I eligible for. Coming from BSc background, I started gearing up for the post of Software Trainee. The eligible level of exam for it was I and D. Didn't want to miss it. Decided to appear for D level. It will give me an edge over the I level candidates. 'She' tried convincing me that appearing for E level is best but I had already made up my mind to appear for D level.
One more student(Abhishek) joined in to form a team of She, me and he. We studied and discussed and prepared and prayed. I think we did everything we could. We appeared for exams of both, CDAC and NCST. CDAC's exam came before NCST's. All three of us got selected for DAC course. I got offer from Pune and Mumbai. I rejected it. Taking no further chance, she and he decided to go for the DAC course. She got placed at Nariman point (Yashwant Rao Chavan's academy centre) and He got placed at Vashi (Ashoka Mehta centre). My father asked me to enroll for DAC course. But I didn't. I was waiting for NCST's result to come out. Got not so good score overall but got 94 and 95 percentile in General Aptitude and C Programming. Thought I lost my chance. There was still time to enroll for PGDST and everyone in family asked me to do so. Some 10 days later I receive a letter from NCST accompanied with an Interview form. I was asked to fill up the form for the post of ..., VSE ? Damn! How did this happen? Argh! I have negligible chance for this post. Software Trainee looks safe and sound. So I start calling up Mama, Bhai etc seeking their advice. Bhai log, lagta hain mere kau galat letter aa gaya. Kya karoon? Every one tells me to fill up the form and attach a note saying that if required I am ready to work even as Software Trainee. I fill up the form, attach the note. But I am not ready to post it. Me went personally to Juhu centre to hand over the letter to security staff (Perumal, I guess) in person. 15, 20 days go by. No reply. I am becoming restless. If I remember correctly, we visited enough temples in between. Everyone prayed. I prayed harder. And then I got call for interview. What! It was for VSE. Oh God, save me. I start revising books. I approach my college professors. They give me 6 books on their account to take it to home. I confess, I owe it all to them. Dear Dinesh Sir and Aparna Ma'am. I will never be able to repay it back to you. I am lucky to have you all as my teachers.
The judgment day is coming close. I am becoming more and more restless. Am loosing sleep. Am tensed. Am stressed. Am hopeful.
PS for this section: There is one more name I want to put here but am waiting for her permission. I had troubled this lady with enough queries on telephone even before filling up the forms. Most of us in NCST will have no difficulty in guessing her name. It's for others I want to put her name here. May I, dear ma'am? Special thanks to Kavitha Mohanraj ma'am :) (AKA cocavita)
Interview day:
Judgment day arrives. Packed in the best attire I had, I approached the centre. I was 15 minutes late. Cursed travel. Started planning for whatever excuse I could make. I see approx 30+ candidates present in the hall and mini canteen. I am asked to take tea or coffee and am informed that my turn has not yet come. Hah! What a relief! Go to the mini canteen. Slowly look around trying to see if there are any spy camera(s). I was told by someone that occasionally organization keep spy cameras trying to see how the interviewee behaves outside the interview cabin. Couldn't spot any camera but am not taking any chances yet. Taking cautious steps, drinking tea gracefully. I laugh at myself whenever I remember that image of mine. I listen to other people conversations. Yeah! I am listening very carefully. One person said that he was rejected because he couldn't answer questions on data structure. Darn! I don't know much of Data structures. Ab kya hoga? Other one says that there was question on difference between multiprogramming and multitasking. No difference, I thought. But kya maaloom, aagey baap log hain. Kuch tau difference hauga. Start praying that I am not asked those questions.
At around 5 pm in the evening, am called in the TRC lab. The panel comprised of smdesai, Srinath and Raviprakash. My preferences for the department were CNIE, SENG, DAKE, GRAPHICS, KBCS and SPC. Now if they would have offered ADMIN dept, I might have marked that too in desperation. Just kidding :P
Before they could ask me, I made it clear that I carried no experience in networking. I only had experiences in databases and software engineering. The technical round begins. Sandhya ma'am asks me questions which I answer correctly. Srinath asks me something on data structure. I tell him that I don't know much of data structure. He asks me if I know searching, sorting. I say yes. Am asked on binary search. I explain. Am asked on bubble sort. I answer. Am asked on number of steps in bubble sort. I tell him it depends on input. Asks me what happen if everything in descending needs to be sorted in ascending. I ask back how many inputs. He smiles and says 10. I say 45. He asks me how I calculated. I say n(n-1)/2. I still don't remember how I arrived at n(n-1)/2. Anyway, it was accepted. I think he wanted n2 as the answer. Since my answer came close it, he didn't mind it. Raviprakash asked me about the web programming. I faltered in one question and answered rest. Sandhya ma'am makes some marking on the paper and goes out and comes back. I am asked to wait outside. I am still nervous. I ask the peon, security (and almost everyone) if I am supposed to leave. Am seated down. Unaware of whats happening, I am making wild guesses. It could be HR interview now. I am summoned again.
This time its on first floor. I think it was KBCS cluster room. The panel comprised of Gopalswamy, Dixit and Durgesh. I am asked only two questions. Both technical. Am left wondering when is the HR gonna happen. I got stuck up in the second question. Durgesh and Dixit try every hint to make me arrive at the correct answer. May be they knew that I know the answer but was stuck somewhere. As soon as I answer the second question, I am asked to leave. This time I am asked to leave NCST premise. Damn! no HR interview. I sure have been rejected. Disappointed, I leave for home. At home everyone comforts me. They believe me that I now have no chance of getting any call. I am told "Your attempt is praise worthy. Don't lose heart.". After 30 days or more, I receive appointment letter. I am asked to join on or after July 7th. I resign from Infotech and am relieved of duties by June 30th. My appointment letter says selected as 'VSE' for 'DAKE'. Visiting Software Engineer? How often do I have to visit them? Is VSE their jargon for consultants? But then why would they require anyone of my caliber to be consultant for them? I reach NCST door steps on July 7th. Perumalji tells me that everyone is in Bangalore for the inauguration of new centre. I make earnest request to him so that he could connect me to anyone from DAKE. Amrish comes on the phone. I ask him if he can guide me what I should study to get ready for work in DAKE. He makes no commitment and keeps down the phone. I am asked to come back on July 17th. I head back to home. DD news that evening confirms inauguration of NCST Bangalore centre. I now start feeling the heat of the place where I am going to be. NCST affairs making it to National News definitely means something.
July 17th instead of July 7th becomes the most important date for me. I am now part of NCST.
Memories of last 5 years:
Its plentiful. Can't accommodate in this post. Wait for future posts.