five point someone

A famous title, but a not so famous author this time around.

But, campus narration is the flavour in this version too.

The squib is about the recruitment fiasco down here at CET. Few of the HEAVY engineering companies had come and gone, leaving few of my fellow TRICALS with their offer letters. My aversion towards the course I am pursuing prevented me from testing my stuff with them. Along came one of the first software companies, that too one with some global presence from what I heard. This truly interested me, as I felt it was the only vocation towards which I could contribute something worthwhile. But it came as a shock when they declared the cut off from those who wish to appear for their tests was 8.3 GPA (can you believe it!!!!!!) On the day of their test, I was killing time at home, doing nothing as usual, and only thinking about my shoddy academic record of the past five sems. Contemplating the lost chance, I decided to appear for this auditing firm which were making their appearance the next week. Late in the night on the particular day, my buddy ‘Pakaran’ rang me up, to enlighten about him being offered a job. During the chitchat, I acquainted him with my master plan. That was when he informed about another software company that was due to make its appearance the very next day. His persuasion yielded, as I was now having second thoughts. A quick word with my parents, and I finally decided to at least sit for their presentation.

Waking up early, I set off to college. No college bus on Saturdays. The sight of a lady with a basket full of ‘brooms’ was not a good omen, and it certainly didn’t leave a good taste in my mouth. After the journey for about an hour, I reached the amphi theatre, and was seated comfortably for procedures to commence. ThoughtWorks was introduced and the presentation was pretty impressive I should say. Their philosophy of not needing a recruitment drive like the big boys at IBM or Accenture did surprise me. Plus certain other details too. So, I did finally decide to take the test with some seriousness.

The test in fact was a sitter. Easy to finish off the 11 Qs in the allotted time, even easier to get them wrong. Once I was done with the 11, the thought checking my answers came about. That is something I usually don’t do, even for University exams. But, Vola!!! I had the first three of them wrong. Had to do them again and then scampered away. The whisper outside was all about high cut-offs for the test, and ‘Pakaran’ getting his share of bumps (hey, he was employed and happy!!!) Then, strolled through the campus for about an hour or so. And then assembled outside the CGPU as the list of qualifiers was read out. The heart beat was slowly climbing. My name didn’t feature in the first five (didn’t expect it to in the first place!!), not in the first ten, not even in the first fifteen. The heart beat did go up drastically, by the instant when my name was announced somewhere in the middle of the pack. That would be fine, I thought to myself. I get to EAT something before I restart the battle.

The next round was coding (or programming). They give the problem statement; we get to do the code in C C++ Java or whatever language of our choice. The statement was pretty easy and I was able to get the desired output pretty quickly. Then came the tricky part. One of the pro's from the company would pair up with u and would suggest some change in the question so as to alter the code. It was rather precarious, but still I managed it. I made my exit from the lab, asking them a word or two about my chances of getting into the next round (‘Mums the word’ was the reply!!!). This time around, the shortlist was announced pretty quickly, and I was there. I did expect it though. (Hehe!!! was optimistic for once....)

Again, there was another long wait, till all batches were done with the exercise. Now, all that was left was the interview part of the activity. Once I had gathered myself to deliver the knockout punch of a performance with my so called ‘gift of the gab’, the interviewers landed one of those on me, by announcing only half of the short-listed ones were to appear for interview then, the others had to come back the next day. Whether I was having the advantage or not, was difficult to judge. Once back home, it was a miserable feeling almost till eleven in the night, after which, surprisingly, I had a nice and sound sleep.

Woke up early on the next day. Got dressed, ate, and strangely, drove myself to college. (Funny enough, that was the first time I had performed a solo in my new car). Once I was there, I saw the Rep sweeping the floor with the Broom (Bad omen today to!!!).

Again, the waiting game, until the interviewers arrived. Once, they did, the processes went quickly, announcing the schedule for today’s session. I got drafted into the second group of three. The next one hour was wasted mainly loitering around the empty campus, trying to keep my head empty. Did not want to think too much. Once I got back, and some more time squandering, it was my turn for a rendezvous with them. The next hour flew past amazingly. Not much tech stuff came my way. They few that came were left untouched. Programming logic, loads of puzzles and a bit of HR. I handled them to my content and made them acquainted with my love affair with electrical engineering. Once that was done away with, I made my way out of the room thinking about my chances for progressing to the next round of Q n A session. Again, the long dally... This time, I guess it took till eternity. ...........

Well it didn’t. It just seemed like. They were done after an hour and a half, after which they announced the short list. And again, I found myself in the game. The next round of the tête-à-tête would begin after the 15 odd minutes they announced. The time given to grab a bite. I was contempt with a glass of lemonade.

Back into the interview room, I was the first to dart in with them. Once again, the hour flew past. The only indication was the Air conditioner making all of us feel a wee bit chilly as time wore on. This session was more about My Experiments With Craziness (with the Turbo C++ complier and a robotic competition) and of course puzzles (their favourite as you should have guessed by now). I was satisfied with my performance, this time too. Once I got out, the immediate journey was to the nearest restaurant to get my meal. Kept poking at it for a while and then came back. And then, at least a two hour wait was left while the others were being analysed. From over 170 of us who wrote the tests, almost 70 had made it to the coding bit, 18 to the 1st round of interviews, and now 9 to the this stage. What was in store was something we had no clue about.

I tried to sleep in the big amphi theatre. That worked only for just a few minutes. Tried the iPod then, not with much success either. Further, tried giving a ring to few my friends, couple of them asked me to remain optimistic. Few others didn’t bother to pick up the phone (lazily sleeping on a Sunday afternoon, I guess. Cant blame them!!!). Rest of the time was killed off pacing myself up and down the CGPU hall, until the final batch was out. What came next? Each one of us remained puzzled.

After a further pause, they called out 5 of the names, when again mine was included, and was told we had to undergo another test. "Have they not had enough of this?” was all I asked, because surely I had had. We were invited into the conference room, made to sit down, and then were given a question paper. We were instructed to finish off the 50 questions in the given 12 minutes. Once that too was done with we were left to ponder, whether they were again going to short list us based on these pre-primary level English and Math stuff.

As, the answer books were taken to the next room to be corrected, the rest of the team assembled over and started a verbal problem solving session. They said "We need 2 people only and are going to judge you based on this round". That was enough to convince me of the prank that seemed to be well planned. I had grinned all through the drama that was panning out in front of us in the next quarter of an hour. The emotions surely were running high and then finally, they broke the bubble revealing that the five of us were invited to join ThoughtWorks. After a small round of applause, they handed out a neat booklet with their brochure and a sheet with my name on top and my pay packet explained beneath in detail and the final sum right at the bottom, saying - 5.08 :-) :-)

Ya....... From now on, I am a Five point some one..............