Thursday, May 15, 2008

My IIT Bombay Interview... SJMSOM , March2008

Here goes my GD/PI experience...
Slot : 2nd March, 7.30 AM( unearthly hours !!!)
Journey: From B'lore to Mumbai... reached on 1st afternoon..1 whole day ... bad experience by the time i reached IIT B .. interview was the last thing on my mind. just wanted a quite room to sleep after the noisy crowd i had to travel with The Nite before. Refreshed by evening and dinner done. Met some other guys who were in the same slot as me.. gt abt chit chatting. Then it was 10pm and seniors invited us for an informal discussion. there were abt 7-8 seniors and fielded questions patiently.. above all instead of painting a rosy picture they gave us all the info and told us to make the decision....this went on till midnite.. then realised that i gotta grab some sleep ( which eventually i didnt get.. was sittin in bed from 4am waitin for the alarm to ring @ 5.30 am..) and returned to my room.
The D-Day: Got ready...reached SOM building.. usual process of registration and presentation.. then my group was called for GD...
Panel: Admissions co-ordinator, he is also an IT entrepreneur, thn 2 other ppl.. one doing his phd and 3rd an alumnus..only panel with 3 ppl...
GD: It was a case study, HR kind in nature, abt a lady moved to a new division and nt given proper training..big sad story ( we nicknamed it Madhuri ki Kahani )... some questions at the end of it were to be discussed... In general, began well then we lost steam as the case didnt offer too many points ( we felt..).. enuff time to speak for all though few gentlemen took it upon themselves to speak for the grp always and then urge us nt to make a fish market ... me came in 2-3 times with decent points...tried to resolve a couple of conflicts.. thats all... cd have spoken more but then didnt want to really get into a acrimonious discussion as it was becoming... eventually things sorted out well...
General tip : dont attack the questions directly...look at the problem holistically... then set abt answering the ques... (yeh gyan mere kaam to nahi aaya...)
PI: was waiting for nearly an hour for it as some guy wanted a reschedule coz of his flight and all... seniors were very helpful... ( 1 bottle paani khatam kar diya wahan !!!)... went in and here's wat followed:P1-- iit prof P2 -- phd guy P3 -- alumnus M -- who else is left
P1 -- XXX company eh ??? wat kinda product development do u do ???
M -- tld him ( been doin this for 2 years !!!)
P1 -- hmmm.. so wat language do u use ?
M -- using C for final product..currently working prototype in Python..
P1 -- why ?
M -- tld him ..
P1 -- so confident in C ? I can ask u questions ?? ( he was from IT sector )
M -- sure sir ( wat else can i say )
P1 went on to ask abt string functions, arrays and their indexes, memory allocation and stuff.. basics ... M was confident...Finally he gt bored of Cing me ... looked over to P2.
P2 -- so tell me wat do all locos run on...???
M -- (clean bowled..) dc motors sir ( sheepish grin !!)
P2 -- (laughs... pakda gaya !!!) sure??
M -- nt very sure but i think so... ( tried to laugh off this pathetic reply ...)
P2 -- (laughs) ok wat is ur feeling abt the budget... ???
M -- started with a disclaimer that i was travellin so cdnt really keep a tab on the budget but still wd answer to best of my knowledge... then gyan for next 5 mins... tld abt cut in excise duties which has made industry happy
P3 -- ( gr8 entry) which industry...
M -- manufacturing..
P3 -- which section of manufacturing ??
M -- automobiles to be specific...
P2 -- asked abt the changed taxation and all...
M -- told ..
P1 -- u said u hv nt followed the budget properly still u are tellin us most of the things...
M -- tld him abt my habit of watchin budget speeches and all ... ( i think they gt my point..)
P2 -- Is the industry unhappy abt something ?
M -- loan waiver affecting banks, capital gains tax increase, no spl sops for IT services !!( all Ps smile.. )
P2 -- wat do u feel abt the Ram Sethu Proj ?
M -- ( abe ye kya tha..) sir it is a controversial issue... and i feel India can do with one less controversy...!!! P2 smiles even more...
P2 -- wat abt the alternate sources of energy...wats ur take...?
M -- talked abt nuclear... hydro ..
P2-- nt hydro and all...wat abt the future...
M -- fuel cells ka gyan.. stressed on scientific capability to develop such fuels
P3 -- (again interjecting!!) do u think these are viable solns ? electric cars and all..after all we are still polluting the environment to get that electricity...
M -- agreed with him ..said only finding the fuels is nt the soln but ppl shd be more active for eco friendly initiatives..talked abt car poolin and proper public transport... quoted swaminathan at a couple of places...
P1 -- u r electrical rite ? so i cant ask from satellite engg..
M -- No sir, i am nt very aware abt that subject (this was prob my most confident answer)
P1 -- (laughs... ) gud gud... u tld us before hand wat u dnt know !!!
M -- ( smiled..nt much else i cd do )
P3 -- wat specialisation will u take ?
M -- gyan... SOM gives flexibility to choose in 2nd year.. so will wait till then..
P3 -- wat abt ur coding job.. wd u completely leave it...
M -- well nt completely...still do it when job requires..teaching juniors and all... but may not be as involved as now...!!!
P1 -- do u want to ask us anything ?
M -- asked abt the staff ... and aviation mgmt programme they are gonna start..
All Ps smile back.. took that as an indication to leave ..gt up and came out .... big sigh of relief...
Cheers!!!!

3 comments:

  1. It must hav been a really nice experience... Gud questions and smart answers... I didnt expect an interview to be so intersting... :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. nice question&answer round....

    ReplyDelete