Hello everyone !
This post is about the days which are really very important to me – especially the day when I got my first job offer. My first job – even these words sound like…umm….yeah, great….no….no…awesome!
By this time, as we all know, the stupid recession has really changed the recruitment scenario all over the world. Our esteemed institute also felt the heat. The campus placements started on its due date, but many companies didn’t have the balls to hire at that time. Some big names visited and took a few of us. Others preferred to visit by the fall of sweet ’09. But all this made us restless. Each day, nearly every moment we got the habit of discussing something, somehow (even absurdly, at times) related with this burning issue. The things got worse with the cut throat competition that increased by many folds due to many reasons, best known to us. After every company visit, names started to get attached with it. As our branch is ECE, so we felt a lot more competitive heat than others. From being decent, well-educated, well-cultured, high achieving, blah blah graduates, we started becoming animals!
We started studying really hard even on days we couldn’t have imagined before (non-study break time :P). Frustration, panic, anger, ego-problems and many other crap – they all came along.
Then, cutting the crap, notices came about the companies which would visit our campus and their visiting dates in this sweet month of Dec’09. As expected, we all got excited. Everybody fastened their belts and started studying their butts off. Resume writing was also a very big task. We now had to sell ourselves, and in simple terms, this resume thing was our advertisement. We had to write many hilarious things about ourselves (achievements, marks, projects and oh yeah, many other crap also, like hardworking, smart, am-goooood, blah blah). The day I finally wrote it and read it back, I must say, I was nothing less than being amazed !
Then the day arrived. It was our D-Day – atleast for many of us. We have waited so long (right from our childhood days) for this day. It was the day when Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) – Asia’s numero uno in IT services - visited our campus. 15th December 2009. On that fine morning I woke up and took my time to get prepared. The Pre-Placement talk was scheduled at 0930 hrs. Some pro-looking guys turned up and addressed the crowd. Dr.B.B.Pant sir welcomed them and we all clapped happily. The presentation was really something. We were given our slots for the written online exams followed by the technical and HR interview. After waiting for the whole day, my turn for the online exam came at nearly 1900 hrs.
The war for me was on. Now, it was the time when we all wanted to hit the road running. After carefully listening to the instructions for the exam, we all started for this 90 minutes marathon. The milestones were verbal ability (GRE level), quantitative aptitude (normal level) and Critical reasoning (again, GRE level). Right after this marathon (which got over by 2115 hrs I guess), we were asked by the coordinators to assemble at G-3 (the result distribution point). With horrified faces, we all waited for the results. Some time again passed by, and then some people from TCS came with the printed list of the selected candidates for the interviews. With each calling-out of names, my heartbeat increased monotonically. Finally, after few minutes my name was called out and then for only some fractions of a second, I responded to my called-out name. It was a moment of sheer joy. After this they asked us to hand them over our resumes and company CV. It was already past 2230 hrs. From our canteen, I could only manage to get some biscuits and a packet of mixture as it was too late. So, after getting selected for the next day interview, living a day only on bhel-puri, biscuits and water, studying like hell, I returned back to my den. Again after studying for some more time I finally fell asleep.
Next morning, a very sweet morning, on 16th December’09, I woke up. Again took my time to be prepared, dressed up like a real gentleman, offered my prayers to the Almighty and my dear parents, I headed for the interview. After waiting for some time, my turn came. I entered the air-conditioned, glass-fitted, modern looking room – MR-1. I was appointed with the panel number 3 among twelve other panels. The interviewers were two in number – both of them really pro-looking gentlemen. They offered me a seat and I humbly greeted them. My HR started first, then technical, then again back to HR.
I had to talk about myself, my family background, my intentions for joining the company among many other things. The technical part also went smoothly and then they asked me to write a C code on a problem statement, which after some thinking, I wrote successfully. The whole interview ran for about 30-40 minutes. Then, after being satisfied with my interview, I walked back to my den. The whole day passed away. My worries kept increasing. I again started thinking about all sort of stuffs. After having an early dinner, I fell asleep.
Then the best thing happened. My fellow batch mates started screaming in the hostel corridors. The final list of the selected students for the hiring was out. It was official and I came to know about it at around 0207 hrs in the night/morning ! I completely woke up and headed for the institute main building.
The guards had already locked the doors and they asked us to come only in the morning. After some failed persuasions by some of us, we again headed for our hostel. On my way back to our hostel, one of my classmates informed me that I had been selected by TCS. When I heard this information, I really felt a fountain of happiness inside me. They all started congratulating me and I also offered mine to the chosen ones. This all happened in a flash and I came back to my room by around 0300 hrs.
I thought of sleeping but it was all in vain. I was so happy that I cannot even express it in words.
I thanked God and my parents for everything and waited for the sun of this great day to rise again.
In the morning I conveyed this news to my family, who like me, were literally elated and happy. Then I went back to the institute main building and saw my name in the list on the placement notice board. I really felt satisfied.
After all these when my relatives and shubh-chintaks came to know about this and I heard their responses , I really understood the real meaning of this beautiful feat of mine!
