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job destination pune
track 36 career embedded technology www.technofirstonline.com
Give more importance to your soft skills along with your usual curriculum
Jay menon, HR Manager
Technology Entrepreneurship & Career Magazine Vol. 6
Issue. 2
February 2010
jobs are back
interview tips tips for it jobs hr interview
being an entreprenur Wanted help with resume An IT Graduate’s Diary
Rs.25
October
2009
TechnoFIRST
www.technofirstonline.com
Technology Entrepreneurship & Career Magazine
Hon. Chief Editor Prof. Jyothy John Managing Editor Ajay Lal Editor in charge Abraham Tharakan Associate Editor Jayakrishnan.G.Pillai Senior Sub Editor Suchithra Pillai Art Director M U Prajeesh Operations Manager ArunKumar A Campus coordinator Mohammed Nijas Circulation Prijo Jose Marketing Jacob Pattara Web Coordination Anitha Reghunathan Event Coordination Jethic Bastian Administration Nileena Thomas Subscriptions - 09388833888 subscription@technofirstonline.com Advertisement (+91) 9633277714 Corp. Office mediafirst Publication A-44, Road No-2, NH-8, Mahipalpur New Delhi - 110037 Ph +91-9388833888 Admin Office mediafirst Publications C1, Alfa Towers, I.S. Press Road, Cochin-18 Ph - (+91 484) 2397533 Printed at S. T. Reddiar Press, Kochi
Copy Right All the articles published in this magazine are copyrighted. Illegal copying and reproduction by any means is punishable under the copy right laws. Articles published will be made available to the readers for personal use on written request. The views expressed in the articles by contributors. Great care has been taken in the preparation of this journal and the information contained therein has been compiled using sources believed to the reliable and accurate. Readers are however advised, in their own interest, to reconfirm the data before acting up on the same. TechnoFIRST does not accept any liability for errors or redundancies of any nature whatsoever. All disputes subject to Ernakulam Jurisdiction only
4 TF February 2010
editorial B
efore recession, US were like nine-foot-tall ‘GOLIATH from Gath. He swanked that his never-dry treasury could beat any recession (not an Israelite Soldier) who dares to visit United States. Before his copious power, India has only an old (but a younger heart) Turban- Shepherd - David who has believed the real power of economics (Stimulus plan) could overcome any crisis which will invade in terms of money and market the day next. The first stone cracked the left eye of the Goliath while Lehman Brothers filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept, 15, 2008. Then there were numerous demos have been decorated with the headdresses of Merrill Lynch, A.I.G, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and many on the brick way of Wall Street. Now, Modern Goliath looks what the David of economics says at 7, race course road on remedies of free market fall. There fore, I salute the Servcorp international business Confidence Survey’s buoyancy on Indian capability to tide over the global economic crisis faster than US and Europe in 2010. It conducted the survey in April 2009 and named us as in third country after Australia and China. All the 7,500 business people who have had participated the survey were hats off at the monitory estimation of the messiah of financial liberalization in India. Witnessing an upsurge of 19% in hiring trend in India, I can say ‘JOBS ARE BACK and the SIBC’s survey made yet another scintillating work for their clients and well wishers who have been shared their laudable musings for a noble cause. For last two quarters hiring was just 0-3.5 % and that gone up beyond 10% in current one. It is being included infrastructure, life science, energy, telecom, IT and banking. The name ‘Copenhagen’ still hangs on our head to make employment in low carbon intensive industries even if our rate is relatively lower than other many countries in the world, would be a beneficial factor for supporting more creative and greener job opportunities for a land renowned once mainly it’s devotion towards the Mother Earth. I draw your attention on the Goldman Sachs report published in Oct, 2003. Their important prophesy was BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and china) would account a bigger piece of economy by 2050. But am sure India would overtake the Chinese growth rate well on 2012. Please forgive me Mr. Roland Emmerich for my confidence on my country because in this Hollywood director’s dollar rich film, 2012, Rolland sketches only china could endure the virtual Crustal Displacement of earth, will be happened the year on which the picture is named for. Due to the far less dependency on foreign demand to power economic growth, India can focus both local consumption and investment in a speeder way than any other country in the world is the main reason what I believe“ Jobs are back in India’. Our cover story brings you a clear picture about how jobs are revisited in India with basics and bench mark. So join the banquet of information in TF and make Impossible, Possible. AJAYLAL Editor@technofirstonline.com
letters Off the track Hats off to your article on the Indian music band, ‘Ek’. It was really refreshing to find an interview with a band based in India, when all we see nowadays are magazines promoting international artists. Also, rather than sticking to the usual round of basic questions, you have covered the ones that really matter and the ones that readers really want answered. This article really helped me to better understand one of my favourite bands. I’ve always wanted to know more about them and I felt that the information available on the net was not sufficient. An interview is the best means to get to really know your favourite artists, because you get and TechnoFIRST has achieved that. This interview has brought to light the fact that a technical career isn’t all that draining when you have a dream to pursue. I hope you keep up this great work and I’m looking forward to interviews with other wonderful yet less known artists.
3 big questions
HR Talk a hit
I went through your article about the 3 big interview questions and I have to say, it couldn’t have come at a better time. I have attended a couple of interviews recently and am about to attend another few. These exactly were the questions I faced in the first two interviews and I was at a loss to correctly specify my strengths and weaknesses. Your article has helped me to better organize and plan the answers.The question that always got me was the one about my weaknesses. Now I know how to answer them, thanks to your advise. Veena
The interview with Aashu Calapa was truly a non philosophical and to the point interview. I have worked for the BPO industry for a long time and I have known the industry well. Mr Calapa was right when he talked about the qualities of an employee and understanding the fact that the BPO industry see’s the maximum number of attrition its really tough for the HR to manage human resources in a BPO. I also appreciate the fact that you cared to write about the AI, for the fact that this is an untouched vertical. I myself was fascinated about the wonders that the AI could do if it was well managed. You people are really doing a good job and you have very well kept the major aspects of being an IT, Entrepreneurship magazine
My company Your company review was exactly what I am going through, this was a perfect a review for this company. Infosys is a wonderful organization except for a few disappointments here and there but all together it’s a complete organization. Abhishek Errata: In the Career Guru section of November 2009 issue of TF, we suggested a couple of institutes for networking courses, we would like to inform that there are other equally reputed institutes providing the same course. The error is deeply regretted.
Shweta Desai Hi Shweta, Thank you, for your motivational mail. You were right about the HR talk. We look forward to more inputs from our readers. And we are really excited that we do get a review from our readers. Looking ahead to your criticism and appreciation to work better on our content The Editorial Team
TF February 2009 5
Contents 34 startup story
Anmipro Technologies
32 entrepreneurship
Being an Entrepreneur is all about following your dream and making them a reality
22 job track
The job markets is deviating everyday so as to make sure you do get through, you need to have a riight resumethem a reality
58 tech news
The story of an AI company in India and how Artin Dynamics is a success story in its true sense
52 tuc review
College of technology and engineering Udaipur acts as an integrated point for entrepreneurship developement and incubation. This time around we review one of the TUC in the country.
The Jobs Are Back
36 career track
Career in Embedded Technology is a branch of IT which has become a major crowd puller. TF reviews the career that is in demand
page 16
Smart Techie 20 Group Discussion 56 Beta Q 66 Career Guru 60 Company Review 24 Website Review 49 Book Review 60 6 TF February 2010
New recruits are enthusiastic and in quite good framework with regard to their interest towards work page 12
job destination: pune
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54 innovator of the month 14 interview tips 38 An IT Graduate’s Diary 8 corporate news 46 it career 40 gadgets
50 tbi news 23 job track 62 hot jobs
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OFF THE TRACK
TF in conversation with the founder of Inkfruit, Kashyap Dalal about their company and its journey so far, a totally off the track one. Starting from the IIT to the IIM and there goes a story of a successful but an altogether different entrepreneurship
42
YO CAMPUS
Most of you must have already reached the last stage of completion of your projects or must be still struggling to complete them. an insight into how , what and when do get started with your projects
corporate news
Apple, Microsoft eye replacing Google on iPhone
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pple Inc is talking to Microsoft Corp about stepping in as the default search engine on the iPhone, replacing Google Inc, according to report on Bloomberg’s web site. Talks between Microsoft and Apple have been going on for weeks, Bloomberg said, citing two people familiar with the matter. The story noted that the negotiations may not conclude quickly and might still fall apart.Microsoft’s Bing search engine is trying to wrest market share from Google, the leader in Internet search. Once seen as allies against Microsoft’s dominance, Google and Apple find themselves competing on a number of fronts, including operating systems and the fast-growing smartphone market.Apple is also working on ways to manage ads displayed on its mobile devices, a move that would challenge Google’s advertising business, the Bloomberg story said.
Infosys bets on training to groom leaders
employees forleadership roles in its various ventures. The company plans to increase its training budget by 24% next fiscal to $230 million, and has already hiked training time by 10 weeks to 29 weeks. HR head and director TV Mohandas Pai said Infosys plans to reward employees by offering more leadership positions. This fiscal the company filled over a dozen leadership slots through its internal, ‘open market place for leadership’ initiative. Most recently, the senior VP of its BPO arm, Swaminathan Dandapani, was elevated as CEO of Infosys BPO. By increasing training time, Infosys Technologies, which provides technology services to global customers like British Petroleum, DHL, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Royal Philips Electronics and Goldman Sachs, is preparing employees to handle the large transformational contracts. For instance, for its retail customers Infosys offers system integration services, technology support, customer help desk, supply chain management and is also developing new e-commerce platforms for at least six of the top eight US retailers. For a global communications major, it’s developing 4G wireless solutions. According to Chandramouli CS, directoradvisory services at Bangalore-based Zinnov Management Consulting, intellectual property-led growth and utility solutions are on the radar for service providers. “Executing business transformation projects requires lot more conviction and confidence, ability to think and articulate solutions to clients. Definitely demand for such talent followed by training is going to be high,” he said. A strengthening rupee and higher employee costs are also forcing companies like Infosys to go for the higher value services and eventually delink revenue and manpower growth.
Coimbatore gears up for IT revolution
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ndia’s second largest technology firm, Infosys, is putting a new premium on internal training as it looks to groom
8 TF February 2010
s the outlook has brightened for the Indian software services sector in the new year, Coimbatore, the largest Tier-II city in TamilNadu is gearing up to join the IT revolution. The much-awaited Tidel Park in the IT & ITES special economic zone (SEZ) in the city is expected to be up and running by April-end
this year. Nearly 80 per cent of the construction work is over now, said a top official in the company. Built at a cost of Rs 380 crore, Tidel Park Coimbatore has three basement floors for parking, ground floor for commercial and IT & ITES purpose and four upper floors specifically for IT & ITES companies. The SEZ is located behind Coimbatore Medical College on the NH 47 and is 3 kms from the airport. With about 9 lakh sq ft of space for IT and ITES companies, the Tidel Park is expected to provide employment to 12,000 professionals in one shift. Apart from Tidel, Wipro, TCS and HCL too have bought 9.5 acres each inside the 56-acre IT-SEZ . While Wipro stopped its construction works after completing nearly 80 per cent of one block early last year, the other two companies are yet to start work. Apart from housing IT and ITES companies, Tidel Park will have commercial shops catering to the needs of the employees. “Right from cafeteria to saloon to banks, nearly 1 lakh sq ft area in the ground floor will have all such facilities,” an official said, adding Archies had already booked space under bookstore facility.
that there was some suspicious object on the plane after he failed to convince them earlier to delay the flight. He thought the hoax call will delay the flight and he could reach the airport in the meantime to catch the flight. The IT bellwether has also suspended another software engineer, Pallav Chakraborty, after he was arrested with his wife Sinchita by the Bangalore police Dec 29 for allegedly torturing their 15-year-old domestic maid.
MindTree ranks first
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eading IT firm MindTree has been ranked second in Asia in the corporate governance poll 2009 conducted by Asiamoney magazine. The company has also been ranked first for best overall for corporate governance in India. In addition, the company has been ranked the first in the continent(excluding Japan) in two categories—responsibilities of management and board directors and shareholders rights and equitable treatment. It has been ranked among the top three in the categories of disclosure and transparency and investor relations. Chief financial officer
Infosys techies sacked for conduct
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lobal research firm Gartner Inc said on Thursday its worldwide IT spending would rise 4.6 per cent to $3.4 trillion in 2010, on the back of economic recovery and declining dollar. In 2009, spending on information technology fell 4.6 per cent to $3.22 trillion, the firm said. All major segments such as computer hardware, software, IT services would contribute to the growth, with emerging markets leading the recovery, it said.
Cisco steps up global drive from India
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nfosys Technologies has sacked a software engineer, Abhishek Gupta, for making a hoax call to budget carrier GoAir at Delhi airport to avoid missing his Bangalore-bound flight, a company official said here on Tuesday. “Yes, we have sacked Gupta for indulging in unethical behaviour. We have a very strict code of conduct. We take strict action against those who do not adhere to it,” Infosys board member and head of HRD and education and research T.V. Mohandas Pai told media. The 25-year-old Gupta caused a bomb scare by telling GoAir staff
Global IT spend to rise 4.6% in 2010
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of the firm, Rostow Ravanna, has been selected as the best investor relation officer in India.
ith the economy showing signs of revival, Cisco Systems, a leading supplier of networking equipment and network management for the internet, is accelerating its globalisation strategy out of India. In January 2007, Cisco had created the new post of chief globalisation officer in Bangalore, to make India its second headquarters. As the number two executive in Cisco, Wim Elfrink is leading the company’s globalisation strategy out of India. The objective is to transform Cisco into a company built for scale.
TF February 2010 9
event
India science congress 2010
Scientists and innovators irrespective of their age participated in huge numbers for the mega event which turned out to be a huge success. For the first time children’s science congress was also organized as part of the five day mega event. TF brings you the event report
PM Manmohan sing speaking at the inaugural function of the indian science conference 2010
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or the first time in history, the capital city witnessed swarming of great connoisseurs under one roof. Not just experts, youngsters bubbling with energy and talent, added spirit to the occasion. Smearing the notion that innovations can be done only by experts, students from different states gathered for the children’s science congress, which was held as part of the 97th indian science congress. Scientists and innovators irrespective of their age participated in huge numbers for the mega event which turned out to be a huge success. For the first time children’s science
10 TF February 2010
congress was also organized as part of the five day mega event at the kerala university campus at kariavattom. About 7,000 delegates, including 2,000 students from across the country, participated in the mega event, held for the first time in this picturesque coastal city and for the second time in the southern state after two decades at kochi in 1990. The event held from january 3 to 7, 2010 was organized at the huge green campus of university of kerala. Inaugurating the event, prime minister manmohan singh spoke on the importance and need of innovations. He said that the
government has declared 2010-2020 as the “decade of innovations”. “We need new solutions in many areas to achieve our goals of inclusive and sustainable growth – in healthcare, in energy, in urban infrastructure, in water management, in transportation, to name only a few. We cannot continue with business as usual. Solutions from developed countries available are also not applicable all the time. They are often too costly and at times not sustainable,” added singh. Organised by the indian science congress association (isca), with the state-run indian space research organisation (isro) and kerala university as co-hosts, the focal theme of the mega event was “science and technology challenges of 21st century national perspective”. About 2,000 scientific and technical papers were presented at the occasion that concluded on thursday. According to isc general president g. Madhavan nair, the event had a huge participation of scientists, technologists, research scholars, experts, policy-makers and students, never seen before in the previous science congresses. About 40 plenary sessions in various disciplines of science, public lectures, parallel scientific and technical sessions, a science and technology expo and a children’s science congress were the highlights of the mega event. The most special and attractive feature of the conducted science
congress was the interest shown by the youngsters on the occasion. Students from different states gathered at the venue with their creations bubbling with confidence. Speaking on their innovations, most of the young scientists were sparkling with energy. The former president, a.P.J. Abdul kalam inaugurated the children’s science congress and said that the future generations will look at the earth, the moon and the mars as a single economic and strategic entity, especially with rapid exhaustion of resources in the earth. He urged the delegates of the children’s science congress to use science to prove other impossible things possible. Dr. Kalam said that the purpose of conducting an annual science congress was to nurture talent which could find scientific solutions to the problems faced by mankind. He inspired the young minds and added that many impossible things have been proved to be possible by great human scientific minds. You must dream like them and acquire knowledge, work hard and have perseverance. As many as 3,500 students from different parts of the country participated in the three-day children’s science congress. Dr. Kalam also interacted with the student-delegates and answered the queries of the young minds. He confirmed on the need to upgrade the stature of scientists in the
society by forming a science cadre, which could also attract more youngsters to the field of science. Based on the theme, people could submit papers. A single author could submit a maximum of two papers only and the last date for submission of papers was september 15. The best papers were selected and awarded with the young scientists awards plus a research grant. The event witnessed the presence of many eminent scientists, including m.S. Swaminathan, father of india’s first green revolution, former atomic energy secretary anil kakodkar and space commission member roddam narasimhan who delivered lectures at the plenary sessions. Distinguished scientists m.G.K menon and c.N.R. Rao and nobel laureates roger tsien and john cromwell mather from the us also made presentations. Vice-chancellors of universities and educationists from across the country and abroad also discussed on the status and future perspectives of science education on the occasion. The mega event concluded with the handing over of the torch to former vice-chancellor of the chaudhary charan singh university k p c pandey by former isro chairman g madhavan nair. The next session of the science congress was declared to be held in chennai, hosted by srm university, chennai. The success of the event showed the prominence of indian talents to the world. The huge participation inspired many scientific minds and encouraged young scientists to come up with brand new ideas and innovations.
The event had a huge participation of scientists, technologists, research scholars, experts, policymakers and students.
TF February 2010 11
HR talk
hr speaks about the jobs
Unlike every issue this time around we decided to pitch in on a non IT company with its own level of IT verticals. TF in conversation with Jay Menon, HR manager Aviva Life Insurance, and talks about his experience with the IT companies and how the insurance segment hires
Jay Menon, HR Manager
12 TF January 2010
Industry Insurance
No. of employees 5000+
Could you tell us about the work culture in your organization IT-Wherein while working in my previous company which is an IT company, employees get motivated by responsibilities and they have different sets of rewards and recognition structure. There we need to do lot of employee engagement activities to keep them motivated and to make them stay loyal.
Current recruitment status, Recruitment forecast Insurance: Aviva was doing recruitment even during recession time but yes with less in numbers, currently the numbers we have in hand is very high, and it is forecasted to get more in the months to come, especially during JFM- Jan- feb- march as the people invest in insurance to save tax IT: Current status is quite welcoming; things have improved drastically regarding recruitment. Few months before HR people was busy issuing pink slips and now the recruitment bells are ringing like fire alarm.
What is your recruitment process like? We have mainly 4 modes of recruitment. 1) Through search engines like monster and naukri, 2) Through Job Consultants 3) Employee reference 4) campus Recruitment IT: Basically have the same set of modes, but we rely more on job portals and consultants based on urgency of recruitment TAT.
steps involved in your recruitment process Insurance: We have a specific recruitment process which is automated and works very efficient. As soon as the need for recruitment arises, the line
in new a recruit Like: New recruits are enthusiastic and in quite good framework with regard to their interest towards work. They know that they are here to help the company come out of recession and that in turn makes them more loyal towards the goals of the company. Dislike: Freshers are not showing the right attitude and they have become more demanding which is quite a surprise to me. manager let the HR department know about it and the HR post the requirement in our intranet for the employees to upload the reference resume. Simultaneously HR starts searching for resumes in job portals and start sourcing. First round of Interview is being done by HR and then the selected candidates is being sent to line managers for the next few rounds of interview and in the end the selected candidates come for final round of interview with HR where the salary negotiation takes place. InIT Industry just that there will be technical tests given for candidates based on their number of years of experience.
skill sets you are look for in a prospective candidate As HR personnel we are basically looking for people with confidence especially when it comes to client interaction, English language skills are of outmost importance. That doesn’t mean that we are completely degrading people who are bad in English, but minimum confidence in speaking what they really want to speak out regarding their education, experience and achievements are looked upon with outmost importance. We also rely on psychometric tests to know their attitude towards their future and company. I will go for
a candidate who look in my eyes and speak the truth rather than a blown up resume with not a single truth in it.
tips about the kind of resumes you expect I expect resumes which explains the experience of the person and looking for people with soft skills and I always tell the candidates to avoid making resume based on the job description, and be truthful especially when it comes to the experience. A small mistake will make them loose the job even if they are heavily talented.
major challenges you’ve faced in the campus or fresher recruitment process Campus recruitment are becoming difficult all the more nowadays. First thing is the time we spend on such a recruitment drive. Eventually we end up getting very less number of real talents that we require. The worst part is that the talent we end up getting is highly demanding and not fitting into the cap that we have in hand. Most of the colleges are still not giving importance to soft skills and finishing school training which is the most important aspect we look upon when we look for attributes in a potential candidate.
the HR challenges faced by the industry today For a HR person, everyday is a challenge, in today’s scenario, our greatest challenge is to get good quality profiles to fill our current requirements and in bringing about various employee engagement programs and rewards & recognition structures to control attrition.
your advice to the future IT professionals Give more importance to your soft skills along with your usual curriculum; try to do assignments on improving your skills on public speaking, interview skills, presentation skills etc, think out of the box when it comes to your future and plan accordingly.
TF February 2010 13
interview tips
Things You Should Not Ask During An Interview Anuja Maheshwari
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eing a fresher will help you to learn a lot. We often come across situations where in we don’t realize what we shouldn’t do. Amongst many a things that we fail to understand as a fresher is, how to interact during an interview. We might know what questions would be asked but interview is an interactive platform so you need to interact with the interviewer. The need to interact is often misunderstood and we end up saying things that will never get you a job. Most of the interviews end with the interviewer asking you “Do you have any questions for me?” Almost all interviewers will ask if you have any questions, so be prepared to ask something. If you’ve done your research, you should be able to ask an intelligent question or two about the business. But then there are some questions you should avoid asking, come what may ever. The root of the problem is jumping the gun on questions that really should be saved and used only if you get the job offer. These questions may not always be a job killer but at times you may have to suffer because you couldn’t stop yourself from asking that question that you shouldn’t have. Some of these questions are:
How many leaves do you provide? These and related topics about opportunities to get away from the office may make you look like a slacker in the eyes of some. If you get an offer, that’s the time to ask about benefits.
Will I get an office? Two things about this question, One the question would make you look like someone who is so self centric and willing to work or might be chitchat in a private dorm. The
14 TF February 2010
second thing is that you might have surely presumed that you are hired and with this question, you can be assured that you have ruined the chances of being hired.
Will there be overtime work? Many jobs require IT employees to be available 24/7 or on a rotating schedule, so when you ask this question it is not surprising. But don’t risk placing any doubt in the interviewer’s mind about your willingness to be available when needed. It’s not that every IT company will make you slog but then the idea of a candidate unwilling to work a bit extra wont be appealing for the recruiter.
What’s the stress level here? Interviews are a point of understanding the future employee and his adaptability in the organization. So when you ask a question like this, the interviewer would surely feel an urge to mark you down for being unsure about yourself. It’s a pointless question, really, because the “level of stress” is a subjective measure. You’d be much more likely to get a useful answer from a prospective coworker.
What’s your work atmosphere like? Now that’s a tricky question or might be, if at all you need to ask that question you need to rephrase that. You could have asked about the management system but that too in regards to interviewers comfort with that question. Asking about the work atmosphere is like being worried about them being inhuman, avoid this question. During an interview you can surely ask questions. Be smart enough to ask intelligent questions. Make sure you don’t lose on the job just because you asked the question that you shouldn’t have.
cover story
The Jobs Are Back With the turn of the year we expected things to better and fortunately things are getting better now. TF looks into the current job scenario when the jobs are back
priyanka narayanan sudheshna roy
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ecession was the answer to all the question in the industry and not just the industry even the college students would often say that they would be under pressure due to the lack of jobs in market and that’s again was due to the recession. All said and done the time has come for us to realize that things have changed. The employees who were waiting for the economy to bounce back before jumping boats are busy again. With the IT market slowly picking up and hiring all set to increase in 2010.
16 TF February 2010
The companies are back at the campuses this time and with an intention to hire and not just hand over the offer letters. Not just that, the ones who were hired and fired, are back on the job. Indian IT industry, in particular, is looking positive and seems to have taken up the responsibility to pull out the almost dead job market. Now as they say every coin has two sides but this one has many facets. One of them being the attrition; Companies were once at peace, until the recession was a point of
I have been working in an organisation for some time. Over the last year I have seen a lot of pink slips being handed over. But over the last couple of months there has been some serious hiring and the trend is improving kunal IT Professional
worry. The story at one of the biggest IT employer in India, TCS is very bad. The attrition rate is at 21% and employees who are quitting are being asked to hold on with their papers for a day or two in order to maintain a decent monthly attrition figures. HRs in such firms are already in soup and it is an uphill task for them from here on. 2010 would be the year of IT
companies fighting over hikes and retaining its employees, at least thats how it looks from now on. Let’s hope this prediction holds true. Sakshi Nair’s one-year contract with an IT firm ended in June 2009. And the 23-year-old returned Home only thinking her experience would fetch her a job with any major IT giant. But she was in for a shock. Her arrival
coincided with a job market that had gone into deep freeze mode since October 2008. Nair knocked on the doors of banks in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore for five months without success. Then last month, she suddenly got a call a leading IT company. The compensation being offered is lower than what she would have considered a few months ago, but Nair is happy to be back in business. “Getting a job in July was tough with more layoffs than recruitments. Though it took a lot of time, the this offer was such a respite!” she says. Nair is one of the early beneficiaries of a job market that is beginning to look good after a year-long siege. Cut to one of the leading engineering campus in India. It is hard to miss the palpable excitement among the students. Better and more jobs are coming their way this year, compared to what their seniors settled for around this time in 2008. By November, 324 of the 700 students of the current batch have firm job offers in hand. The presence of 15 new companies, including food-products giant and engineering majors, has also boosted sentiments. If engineering campuses across the country are buzzing with excitement yet again, it is because several big companies have announced, after a long gap, their intention to recruit in large
TF February 2010 17
numbers. For instance, Infosys Technologies, the IT bellwether, has revised its hiring target for 2009-10 by 11 per cent — up from 18,000 hires to 20,000
The IT jobs “There has been an improvement in the market, and our confidence is higher,” says Mohandas Pai, director, human resources, education and research and administration, Infosys Technologies said in a recent press release. Now that it has happened, the company is giving 8 per cent increment to its Indian employees. The singledigit percentage nudge in wages is a far cry from the quarter to one-third salary hikes they were used to until last year, but it is looking great considering that until a few months ago, most people were happy to just retain their job, forget salary hikes. Now this is surely a clear picture of what the IT sector looks like and if that wasn’t enough the story from the other IT major also seems to be promising. The other IT biggie from Bangalore, Wipro, also announced it hiring pattern and plans, this time around it seems there is definitely some major hiring from the campuses. The IT companies would limit the numbers to what they can digest. Most IT majors’ images took a beating in late 2008 and early 2009, as they deferred the joining dates of fresh recruits by up to nine months. Even in a worst scenario, calendar 2010 will create around 50,000 fresh IT/ITES jobs against zero fresh jobs except a very thin campus hiring - in the previous year. The calendar 2007 had witnessed a bumper hiring at over 3 lakh while the growth got tapered off towards the third quarter of 2008 clocking a total hiring of only 1.8 lakh. This means a complete change from the current skeletal and needbased hiring. The large volumehiring realm (services space) will warm up by the second quarter of calendar 2010. A 15% increment
18 TF February 2010
in hiring volumes is expected in the first two quarters while
the growth could cross 20% or double towards third and fourth quarter. The requirements will start pouring in like tsunami, HR departments of many corporates have already geared up for large scale hiring after a long standstill.
With Indian economy clocking The Campus Placement 6.7 % All this while there were growth worried brows thinking about whether you would be hired or in 08-09 not for the campus recruitment. and is But with market turning positive expected to get back there has been a lot of noises to its growth path of about companies starting to hire. The major news came in 9% . There will be a when Infosys announced that positive impact on the company will start campus hiring across sectors. IT recruitments from Jan 2010. hiring will pick up slowly Since most of the companies as the growth in IT is are moving to tier 2 cities the hiring for the IT professional more indexed to the would be on the positive trend. US economy than the The most interesting fact in the Indian Economy campus hiring story is that, the deepali singh Sr. Vice President firstnaukri.com
companies have assured that there wont be a delay in the joining date as it was during the recession. The only difference it is now then it was in 2007-08 is the fact that Students of the country’s
engineering colleges may now have to wait till their final year for clinching a job with an IT firm. In a bid to get greater visibility of the business environment while hiring, IT companies, such as TCS and Wipro Technologies, are now looking to push campus recruitments closer to the passout date. This could also be a sign which means that the companies wants to maintain the bench and increase utilisation, as the company attempts to raise efficiency. Some of the IT companies has also increased the performance bar for its employees to meet higher productivity demands. But all said and done these companies are back to hiring and hiring from the campus. All you need to so is brush up your skills a bit here and there.
The Attrition Trouble
The obvious flip side of a robust job market is a higher employee attrition. Where there is hiring, attrition cannot be far behind. The attrition level increases with the increase in the packages offered but that worry for the HR to manage. The freshers generally don’t attrite when they are in the company. Every sector is off its bottom; be it IT, real estate, media, retail or advertising. The best example would be the a 38 per cent jump in job postings on job networking sites website and most of the IT jobs have a major applying. The industry experts picks for the boom sectors are IT, retail, infrastructure, construction and telecom. Among these sectors, telecom is going to get a big push in hiring from the entry of new companies such as
A New Strategy
What is remarkable through this revival is the employers’ desire to keep the additional salary costs low, even as the headcount increases. Invariably, the revived increments are in single digits across the hierarchy, functions and performance. “The slowdown has helped bring about the muchneeded correction in salaries
and the career aspirations of employees. The Job losses and the hiring freeze of the past year made people more appreciative of the companies that did not lay off people, and distributed the burden of slump across the board by cutting or freezing salaries. The ‘candidates expectations’ are more realistic today, In some cases, candidates have taken pay cuts to join companies. The improvement is expected mainly on account of significant revival of on-campus hiring by the IT, financial services and consulting majors.
More Cheers Ahead
The indications are positive for an improved campus placement season in the coming quarters. The pre-placement offers (PPOs) have improved both in terms of numbers and the spread of companies so far this year. Engineering students from Delhi Technology University are happier this academic year as a bevy of manufacturing, infrastructure and IT firms have shown interest in pre-placement offers. So is the case with many of the colleges in the country. We could surely say everything is turning around but then it is not a hockey stick type turnaround in the job market, the slant has clearly changed. But it is going to be one long, measured turn.
The jobs seems to be back. The companies have been on a hiring spree. Hopefully by the time I am done with my graduation the IT indistry should be hiring in the same manner. madhuri deshpande Trainee at IIM-A
15 Best Jobs for 2010 Actuary Software engineer Computer systems analyst Biologist Historian Mathematician Paralegal assistant Statistician Accountant Dental hygienist Philosopher Meteorologist Technical writer Bank officer Web developer
15 Worst Jobs for 2010 Roustabout Lumberjack Ironworker Dairy farmer Welder Garbage collector Taxi driver Construction worker Meter reader Mail carrier Butcher media cordinator Firefighter Sheet Metal Worker Emergency Medical Technician
TF February 2010 19
smart techie
Tata Elxsi Limited Shanu Devarajan Senior Software Test Engineer Tata Elxsi Limited
Your Career progress
W
ell, my first company was Sherston Software pvt ltd at Technopark, Trivandrum. It is one among the first UK based companies, which deals with educational softwares. It was for the first time that I was facing a pure formal interview. I was really tensed, especially because I was a B Tech mechanical graduate and had no experience in software field. I was attending the interview for the post in software testing. Sitting amidst other candidates, I was expecting an interview panel in a room but instead we were lead to the conference hall and were asked to write one page each on two topics: NDTV, news media and how to make educational a more ease process. Well, after completing them we had one to one HR interview and after two weeks, I received the call letter as a trainee for a contract of 6 months. After becoming permanent, I worked there for 2.5 years, ie, 3 years in total. I learned a lot from my first job and when I was confident enough to jump to higher level, I applied for a job vacancy of senior software test engineer at Tata Elxsi. Since 2.5 years, Am working at Tata Elxsi Limited.
Initial Job Software test engineer, Sherston Software Pvt Ltd
About your work Embedded testing Well, the nature of work is very simple. When developers start coding, we parallely prepare test
20 TF February 2010
cases by studying specification of the project. After completing the first phase of the project we start executing these test cases and check whether the output is the expected result. If the actual result and the expected does not match, then the testcase fails and the developer has to fix the issue. After retesting if the error does not happen again then we will close the issue or else open it in bug tracker tool.
Work environment and timing Well, the timing is 9-6 and Saturday or Sunday holiday. The environment is very friendly here, there are no bosses all managers are very friendly.
Salary or Job satisfaction Best way a fresh-out-of-college employee can impress you Even If they are brilliant, I like if they are very precise in simple work also. They should be able to do the job well even if it’s a small work. They should be responsible and attentive.
One thing you now know that you should have known earlier We should be professional in work in all aspects; there is no importance for relations here.
Your future plans I want to lead a happy life altogether. I want to work with more good companies and in different domains of testing.
Tips to current Job seekers Don’t bother about what you don’t know, always just be confident on what you know.
job track
Wanted help with resume
we sometimes don’t know what is to be done with our resume. some tips to get through to a perfect cv. some small time changes and some corrections, thats the answers to a perfect CV Rahul Sachitanand
W
hy don’t employers call me when I send them my CV? This was a predicament 26-year-old Rama Prasad was often faced with. He was surely not short on qualification. The problem was Prasad’s curriculum vitae (CV). With a winding one-paragraph objective and several pages detailing his many projects and minor academic achievements, the document was most recruiters’ nightmare. Beyond that, it had an unfocussed job objective, spelling errors and a random listing of his career track record. His CV conundrum was solved after speaking to some friends in the IT industry and upon feedback from HR consultants. His career objective was shortened and sharpened from a paragraph to a couple of lines, unwanted information—his passport number for example—was removed, and other details added. “The CV is all about creating a good first impression,” Prasad, a recruiter with Bangalorebased Techbridge Networks deputed to a leading software company, says. His big learning: It is critical to follow a stable pattern and list important details, including education, academic qualifications and work experience. Prasad is clearly not the only one having an application meltdown. Ninety per cent of CVs examined in a recent survey by TeamLease, a staffing services firm, had errors in them. “It appears that people did not spend too much time on their profiles... there was evidently no focus on accuracy and detail in them,” says Surabhi Mathur-Gandhi, General Manager (Staffing Services), TeamLease Services.
A Question of Scale About 90 per cent of CVs inspected as part of a recent TeamLease Survey contained
22 TF February 2010
errors. The survey of 500 randomly selected CVs revealed an assortment of errors ranging from grammar and spelling to poor structure and omission of key facts and addition of unwanted trivial details. HR heads seem to agree with these findings. “The information is often not organised, with education, career and education demographic in reverse chronological order,” says Sukhjit S. Pasricha, Head (HREnterprise Services Business), Bharti Airtel. Rather than structure their CV this way, he says many candidates end up overspicing their resumes or omitting key details. “We end up spending most of our time on preliminary conference calls with candidates filling in these gaps,” he says. Sanjay Shanmugam, VP (HR), CBaySystems, a medical transcription firm, wades through 2,500 CVs a month and says applicants, across age and demographics, like to overload their CVs. “I appreciate a CV that has contact details such as address, numbers and e-mail upfront followed by a summary of past experience,” he says. However, not everyone thinks that the problem is so widespread; T.V. Mohandas Pai, Director (HR), Infosys, argues that the
rate of errors may be higher due to the profile of TeamLease’s applicants. “English may not be their language of education or communication... people need to be taught to write CVs,” he argues. Infosys and other top Indian IT firms are, however, very picky with their selection, with HR consultants disclosing that most top firms pick barely 1-2 per cent of CVs they receive.
Range of Errors According to HR managers and recruiters that BT spoke to, the range of errors starts with simple misspelling of subheads and poor grammar to more serious—and intentional—omission of incomplete or failed academic and professional courses and programmes. “The more mundane errors can be put down to a bad education system and a lack of proficiency with English,” says E. Balaji, Executive Director & CEO, Ma Foi Management Consultants. “The more serious omissions will get you caught either at the interview, or worse, once you’ve started working. Then you’ll just get fired.” CBay’s Shanmugam recollects an incident in Hyderabad a couple of years ago when a group of fresh applicants submitted alarmingly similar CVs, with two of them even duplicating mother’s names and interests and hobbies. Fundamentally, there seems to be a mismatch between what recruiters and HR heads expect from a CV and what candidates send them. “This isn’t a statement of your life’s goals... it’s just a sharp and focussed job application,” says TeamLease’s Mathur-Gandhi. To try to attract the attention of a recruiter, she says, many candidates, especially freshers and junior executives, tend to experiment with over-complicated grammar and syntax, and play with the text, using colours, bold font and a glut of boxes and columns. While many headhunters often overlooked poorly-written CVs in the good times, selective hiring in lean periods now means that they will look through them with a fine-toothed comb. “There are definitely fewer jobs and your CV should give you a firm grip on one of them,” says Balaji. “I would prefer to know what deliverables you achieved at the last job, rather than struggle through a detailed three-page listing of all the jobs you’ve held,” says Bharti Airtel’s Pasricha.
The tech trend prediction 2010 2009 Saw some of the most ruthless it innovation and that too beating the most critical economic downturn. So the question is what has 2010 has in store for us, we can be assured that there would be certain elements of technology development that we can look forward to. This is just a prediction but this must surely among the things on your tech trend radar for 2010. The consumerization of IT This is something that the industry has been discussing over the last couple of years but this trend is evidently accelerating. The number of techies using their own personal laptops and devices for work tasks and using freely available web tools to help them get their jobs done is on a rise. This might possibly create a whole lot of problems for it, but in most cases you don’t want to squash it altogether. What you’ll need is a policy that gives employees guidance on how and when these types of tools can and can’t be used. Desktop virtualization In a recent tech survey conducted amongst the techie’s about the option of desktop virtualization, 75% said they weren’t interested. However, the 25% of those who were interested are very enthusiastic about using it to cut costs and simplify it support. It would surely be interesting whether this tech gains momentum and becomes mainstream, or if it’s simply relegated to a few niche scenarios and industries. E-readers While most of the buzz around e-readers is centered around consumers readings books and newspapers, there are also a new set of e-readers that will hit the market in 2010 that are aimed at helping businesses streamline the meetings that require huge stacks of paper and bring more multimedia capabilities to business documents. Smartphone, iphone and android What do these three things have in common? Well, of course, we’re talking about smartphones with blackberry, apple iphone, and google android. These are the three smartphone platforms that have the most momentum heading into 2010. With smartphones becoming standard tools for more and more business workers, it’s going to be important to watch which devices users gravitate toward, which platforms offer it more security and manageability features.
TF February 2010 23
company review
Hexaware Technologies Brand Value
Hexaware is a CMM5 level company and has a good reputation and standing in the market. Constantly ranked as among the top 10 employers in Dataquest and rising companies in other Business magazines.
Career growth and onsite opportunities
It depends on the projects one is working but there is sufficient onsite opportunity as most of the clients are outside India. Slow growth in terms of position and salary. But the experience counts.
work environment and
Good learning environment and flexibility in choosing areas if interest.
communication between the teams or department The communication is just average across teams. There is a possibility that you sometimes feel the pressure of authority responsibility chain. Work pressure and Work – life balance. Again depends on the projects. Most of them require 8 hrs of work. Some requires more time but is manageable. And its great fun if you have great team leader. Satisfaction with salary and quality of work. There is not much satisfaction in terms of salary especially as a fresher. Decent packages as a lateral. Even the appraisal is not up to standard. But you can surely enjoy your work. What type of work Product development or Services Majority of the work is service oriented.
Job security.
Pretty much secured
Do you recommend your company to others? Why?
Yes- good for learning and start of your career Onsite opportunity is good. I would recommend it to freshers. But the salaries is just average.I would say yes because there are a lot of opportunities for freshers to learn and the HR policies are fresher friendly. Disclaimer:This is an individuals point of view about the company that he/ she is employed in and we, at TechnoFIRST, won’t be held responsible for the same. As per the request the identity of that individual shall not be disclosed under any circumstances.
presents
Sharp minds together to start up your dreams Start your company in Technopark - TBI
The sharpest mind in India are coming together to lend support for the flagship campaign to change the face of the Indian Technology industry. From statesmen, to successful young entrepreneurs to pioneer I.T. giants, the “I am an Entrepreneur” Campaign is aimed at making change at the grass root level to the future of the country, namely the youth. The innovative ideas in young minds shall be crafted and applied from the shoulders of these people who have shown the world the value of independent thinking. The campaign focuses on evaluating the viable ideas in future entrepreneurs and providing help in making their campus dreams come true.
Log on to www.iamanentrepreneur.in Mail us: info@iamanentrepreneur.in
A Campaign To Make Your Campus Dreams Come True
Get ready
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Help Line: Sreejith (Technopark)
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October
2009
job destination
pune Pune known as the oxford of the east is a famous educational hub, but over the years it has changed into a leading IT destination. This edition of TF looks into the career opportunities in the scenic city of Pune suchithra pillai
P
une known as Oxford of the East, is fast emerging as the IT and educational capital of India. Pune is one of the very few places in the country which have a great historical tradition and a wonderful geographical location. Located at an altitude of 2,000 ft above the sea level and partially hidden by the mighty ranges of the Sahyadri mountain, the place has witnessed a spectacular advancement, a tremendous growth and a rapid face lift yet retaining its ancient flavour and oriental character. Great legends in the Indian history unfolded themselves here-of brave warriors; of
flourished, modern science made a deep impact on the social thoughts, the literacy works portrayed the reality of life, and creative thinking and imaginative ideas became a passion with the people. The one time seat of the great Maratha power three centuries ago, Pune today is a place of educational advancement, technological prosperity and cultural exchange. The infinite skyline, which years ago was Surrounded by picturesque sahayadri ranges of the Western Ghats, Pune is your quintessential student city. With pleasant weather all the year round a landscape punctuated by impossibly green hills, a pulsating nightlife, eating points that sells everything from Italian Cuisine to ‘Vada Pav’ and multiplexes that host worldwide premiers, Pune has something to offer for everyone. And for the more culturally inclined , Pune offers a host of classical music concerts, an internationally acclaimed film festival, historical landmarks and architectural marvels that bear testimony to the city’s unique culture. As a student you will find yourself right at home among approximately seven lakh students who come from all over the world to study at the Oxford of the East.
Transport
staunch patriots; of great social reformers; of artists, artisans and artists of great talents; of saints, sages and savants excelling in spiritual teachings and cultural renaissance - to make Pune a “synthesis between modern science and ancient wisdom”. As the orientalism
26 TF February 2010
City’s infrastructure is excellent with public transport buses reaching every part of the city mainly from Swargate, Deccan Gymkhana, Shivajinagar, Pune Station, MG Bus Stand, Saras Baug, Pune Municipal Corporation & Kothrud. A city with large two wheeler population, also has three seater riskshaws, rental cars as per individual’s budget. Local trains ferry passengers to various scenic spots like Lonavala & Khandala.
Connectivity
Startup’s coming up.
Pune is well connected by air, rail & express highway to Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, as well as to other prominent metros and cities in India. Pune has three major bus stations viz., Railway Station, Shivajinagar & Swargate Bus Stand. There is a domestic Airport in Pune with frequent flights to some of the major cities.
Living in Pune
IT in the City Pune is the place where country’s one of the IT majors ventured. Infosys being a major player in the IT development in the city, the company has its campus in Pune. Over the last decade or Pune saw a drastic growth in the IT industries. Major career opportunities have evolved in the various verticals of IT in the city. Being the education hub of the country, Pune has many IT based institutes. The city has also developed a couple of IT focused parks like Pune Infotech Park, Software Technology Park, Cyber Park. The major players in the IT sector in the city are Infosys, Wipro, Tata Technologies, Cognizant, Symantec, Syntel. Job opportunities are wide for the techie crowd with the large number of large scale and small scale tech companies. Recently, The city has also seen a lot of
The city has excellent cosmopolitan mix catering to the largest number of student population in India, coming from different states & backgrounds. With its safe and secured living conditions one doesn’t feel scared to enjoy the abundant night life available.
Being a student, I have understood that it is easier to find people of your same field in pune. The best part about pune is education opportunities and the jobs available for you once you are done with your studies Nayna Kelkar Student
Food International & local restaurant chains like Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Smokin’Joes, McDonalds , Kamats etc. offer you variety of Continental, Chinese, and Indian delicacies to tingle your taste buds. Apart from South Indian, North Indian, Punjabi, Gujarati & Konkani cuisines, the student community can join any mess on daily/monthly basis near our campus.
Entertainment & Culture The cultural happenings in the city have no bounds. The city has more than 20 good cinema halls, theatres, museums and scenic spots in the vicinity. There are various inter/intra collegiate competitions throughout the year. Students, apart from their scholastic rituals never have to bother about rejuvenating relaxation methods, which are available in plenty.
Being a techie helps you a lot. I have found a lot of interesting events and lot of IT based events taking place in around pune every month. This is one of the best places for a techie to work in Ronnie P George IT professional
TF February 2010 27
of the track
A Not So IIT Story TF in conversation with the founder of Inkfruit, Kashyap Dalal about their company and its journey so far, a totally off the track one. Starting from the IIT to the IIM and there goes a story of a successful but an altogether different entrepreneurship some of the best designs are selected by the community and the company makes these available for sale. All products under the Inkfruit range carry the name of the designer who creates the product – thereby recognizing his/her contribution. These products are sold at the Inkfruit website and across retail outlets. Currently Inkfruit products are available at over 300 retail shops across India. The company plans to have Inkfruit products available in over 500 outlets across the top 20 cities in India by the end of 2010. TF in conversation with the founder of Inkfruit, Kashyap Dalal about their company and its journey so far, a totally off the track one
Not a typical IIT dream company
F
ingerprints Fashions Pvt. Ltd. is the holding company of Inkfruit, India’s first democratic product brand. Inkfruit is a community of over 20000 designers across the world and 100,000 members/customers who participate actively at Inkfruit.com – they create some amazing graphic designs for t-shirts, posters, bags and other related merchandise – they collectively vote on and comment on all the work put up at the website – as a result of this process
28 TF February 2010
We were really excited about the merchandise space in India to start with. The gap between India and the more developed countries is very stark when it comes to designer merchandise – there are only a few brands and even there the offerings are largely stereotyped. We were fascinated by a scalable model in this space that could offer a truly differentiated product. Using the Internet to build a large community of people who would together co-create seemed to be a challenge attractive enough to pursue. That’s what got us started. We aspire to be the first company to have all major decisions governed by its customers rather than internal team members. This would be a major shift in the conventional working of things.
What was the idea behind a web based business? The idea was simple – we wanted people to be able to collectively create their own collection. Anyone and everyone should be able to participate by submitting designs and/or voting for designs. What better way to enable and scale such a model than use the Internet?
Through the internet, anyone across the world can be a part of Inkfruit and help build the biggest democratic product brand!
What were the major hurdles that you came across as an Entrepreneur? I think Entrepreneurship is all about facing one hurdle after another. Infact I think I would be worried if suddenly there weren’t any hurdles to face – cause that would mean we aren’t doing anything different. We started with the initial hurdle of picking up skills needed in product creation. Navneet and myself are not from the apparel field and one of our biggest product categories is T-shirts. So we picked up the ropes in this area – and being outsiders to the field, we ended up creating the best quality of merchandise as we saw everything from the consumers eyes. Next was the entire task of making designers feel secure participating on the site and starting the community that has now grown to 100,000 people. The initial growth in this area was very gradual. But having got the initial members, the spread has been really rapid due to the engaging nature of the model. Post this challenge, it was difficult to convince Investors about the scaleability of such a business. Currently we are facing the hurdle of scaling up by expanding the team beyond 25 people, which is a completely different problem. The journey continues …
Your future plans Our vision is to be the biggest democratic product brand – diversify into all areas where a large community of customers can collectively compete and better established conventional companies – and be known for being the leader in providing amazing designs consistently.
Wasn’t it a tough decision to start something that was different from the normal
30 TF February 2010
Company Address & Contact: Fingerprints Fashions Pvt Ltd 100/795 | Motilal Nagar | Goregaon (W) | Mumbai – 400 104 | Maharashtra | INDIA Tel : +92-22-6529-2584 Blog: blog.inkfruit.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/ inkfruit Face book: www.facebook.com/ inkfruit
IITian ideas? Starting a business is always a tough decision – whether it’s a conventional idea or something that’s very different. In our case it was at times a bit more difficult as people would frown at the plan of starting a ‘tshirt business’ and not understand the bigger vision behind the company.
What is your team like? We are team of 25 people. For any business, after the first couple of years its not just the founders who are responsible for the success – it’s the first 15 – 20 people who make all the difference. We have a team that loves Inkfruit as much as we do. Many of the guys have joined from our base of users and fans. Loads of people who are members of Inkfruit ask us if they can join the team – and we do prefer to recruit from people who are already Inkfruit fans.
The name “Inkfruit” would surely raise a few eyebrows? Why this name? Exactly the reason you mentioned – it raises eyebrows. Almost everyone I meet asks me what Inkfruit means. Well, when we set about finalizing a name for the site, we had over 300 ideas that came up – some weird, some boring and so on. Its just that when we put down Inkfruit, everyone was just silent for a while and then said “I like it”.
It has many attributes of a good name – its short, it gets people curious, its easy to spell and type and most importantly, it leaves people with a happy image/ feeling.
What are the skill sets required to lead from the front? I think it’s just about having conviction in the idea and a stubbornness to keep at every problem till its solved. This remains the same for any company. There are some functional areas such as being aware of the technology needed for a website like ours and the operational areas of production and logistics. These tend to become important specifically for our business.
Youth and Entrepreneurship: Your Opinion I think as time passes its going to get more and more exciting for young people to start off. The support structures are coming in, with bodies like TIE and NEN doing a lot for budding entrepreneurs. There are also lots of Angel funds like SeedFund and Mumbai Angels. So things are getting more structured for first time entrepreneurs at a young age. Finally, I think it’s a leap of Faith. There isn’t much science to it.
What is one thing that you learnt during your college days that did help during your journey of Ink fruit I think the most important thing that helps in any path of life is building relationships. Most times, the strongest financials fail – but relationships work.
Your idea to all those who wants to do something different I would say Just Do It! Its exciting to work on a new venture. And what’s the worst case scenario? It might not work and you’ll be back to what you were doing earlier. At least you would have seen what’s on the other side.
Adi Shankara, Kalady
mba
entrepreneurship
Being An
Entrepreneur Change is inevitable but if you have an and wish to be an entrepreneur, all you need is the will to work towarsd it. some ideas and opinion about what it really takes to be an entrepreneur jayakrishnan. g
Being an entrepreneur is a life changing decision but this change could be catastrophic and could ruin your ideas so think enough not to make mistake
T
he recently released and successfully running movie “3 Idiots” had a message and that was “all is well”. The message was to do what you want to do if you feel its right. Entrepreneurship is one such journey, doing things the way you want to but then that has to be thoughtful. Entrepreneurship is a path of opportunities, failures and a lot of risk, so being thoughtful is a necessity. A look into what you really need to know to be an entrepreneur.
Do it for a purpose It’s the thought that’s hammering in your head to find the right moment to drop the hat of being a job seeker and dive into become your own boss and an entrepreneur. It might seem
32 TF February 2010
like a style statement but do not jump into the bandwagon just because every one is trying their luck. Being an entrepreneur is a life changing decision but this change could be catastrophic and could ruin your ideas. So if you have plans to startup make sure you do think and think enough not to make mistake. But if you have been thoughtful and sure about your plans then Just do it!!! Do not wait for the right time and moment, think hard and if you get positive vibes the just be an Entrepreneur
Only if you have a burning desire for your idea Starting a business a few decades ago was a different ball game and today it’s a totally different match. Earlier it was indeed a Test Match and now it’s all about 20:20. The rules are almost the same but the game is tougher. The point is you have to be sure about your idea and you need to have this urge to go ahead with your plans. So even if you are just about to start your career but have this desire to startup with a business, its better
you go for it. The most difficult part about being self employed is accepting the reality when you see your peers who are employed and making much more than you when you run a business or start-up. So make sure you are prepared to be deprived of the initial benefits.
Support from people around you If you are looking to start-up, ensure you have the full possible support from your parents, friends, college, professors, neighbors and all possible humans whom you interact with. Reason is that initially entrepreneurship is about spreading the word and above all the individual efforts but if you do have some support from people around you then it will surely be a boost for you. Ensure you have great relations with customers, partners and suppliers as you will need all their help & support while you start-up
Money Matters and Matters the Most If you realize, the greatest realization would be the fact that when you venture into entrepreneurship the most critical thing is idea but then the idea could be evolved and if you leave that aside, the most important thing would be the capital. Anything could be managed starting from idea evolution, business plans, employees, strategies but if you are not having the money factor you are surely close to being doomed. Get this right as you can’t afford losing steam a few months down the line due to lack of capital. Try to get the bankers, investors, VCs to be with you who understand you, your business and the business model in totality. You might also need some good contacts to raise money overnight so good financers, friends and relatives are a must when you start-up.
Human Resources Human resource is not about having the best of the resources but its more about having the ability to manage the available resources. It’s a known fact that be it any business, it’s all about people, people & only people. Your team will ensure whether you are a on to the path of success or you are failing within the company itself. At the end of the day what matters is you being successful because everything in your organization is growing. The best suggestion is to have your own friends from your college to be a part of your team because they will know what your ideas and it’s easier to convey that. So if you are on the verge of getting out of your campus life and planning to do something different, entrepreneurship is surely a great choice but make sure that you have done your homework, so that “All is Well”.
TF February 2010 33
startup story
Anmipro Technologies Karthik is our founder and the key strategist for 360webology. He is also the co-founder of Anmipro Technology Private Limited, an animations and web services provider established in Hyderabad.. His startup story is pretty impressive with not much of a support from an external investor. It was more about the support from people around him. TF in conversation with the CEO about his entrepreneurial journey.
Hyderabad. My startup budget was Rs.250/and a Computer. I was out in the market to get the projects and I had a team who worked on projects. Later in the year 2004 Lalitha joined the team and took over the production and operations of the company. In the same year our company was registered with ROC (Register of Companies) and from then it is called Anmipro Technologies Pvt. Ltd
Major steps taken Naming the company is one of the major steps. (Name represents our business)
Place to start up the company. Team involved in company’s future. Finance to start up the company Marketing and Branding Plan Motivation
The initial funding
From my Childhood I was very passionate to be on my own. I was very sure of starting up my own business and that too in creative industry. I worked as a freelancer as an Assistant Director for Advertising stream, Assistant Consultant for an Industrial Consulting Firm and then as a freelancer Graphic Designer / Animator. I worked on many Animations, e-Learning and Designing projects with help of my friends who are still with me. With the same passion I started my company (then called Anmipro Technologies) on March 4th 2004 in a small room in
I borrowed an amount of Rs.250/- from my mother and requested one of my aunts to lend her Flat for rent for 6 months (Where I would be paying rent after 6 months). Whatever money we have invested in company is through raising finance from delivering client projects.
34 TF February 2010
Most valuable assets Research and documentation in every step of business is the valuable asset in business.
Support from Incubator We never planned to approach incubators
till date. As we are in the expansion stage. We are planning to expand our business, presently we are approaching few professionals who can help our business in HR and Accounting.
Challenges you faced As mentioned earlier – we are a self funded organization. We have had many challenges on our way up – we would say – surviving everyday was a challenge in itself. With no funding – Financial Crunch was inevitable. We had to plan investment of every penny out of our pocket. Supporting my team, motivating them with no money in pocket and keeping myself motivated– it’s a different ball game altogether. The best part was – My core team stayed with me intact from the very start. If there is any way we could survive the competition with the giants was – Give
value to client’s money by providing best quality. Because we know the value of the money at ground Zero – we know what it demands in return. This is the best lesson I gained for all the hardship me and my team went through. We never invested in marketing – The word of mouth is what got us to where we are today.
education, entertainment, Interactivity and Technology.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs Passion and dedication is the only way towards survival and ultimately success.
Future plans Anmipro has always had a clear vision from the very start of its existence. Our mission is to establish ourselves as the creative lab to provide superior quality production and services in the field of entertainment, education and technology. We plan to expand our operations 5 folds by 2014. Our operations will include products, services and R n D. Our Services will be more enhanced and will be ONE STOP SOLUTION for all the mobile & internet requirements for the
Founded in 22 May 2004 nd
Head Quartered in Hyderabad (No Branches. But having representatives from USA, Australia, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia) Industry Animation & Web Development Business Description 2D, 3D Animation, Web Design and Development The Team Karthik Yanamandra (Founder & Chief Executive) Karthik is our founder and the key strategist for 360webology. He is also the co-founder of Anmipro Technology Private Limited, an
Give value to client’s money by providing best quality. Because we know the value of the money at ground Zero – we know what it demands in return. This is the best lesson I gained for all the hardship karthik CEO, Amnipro
animations and web services provider established in Hyderabad. He has extensive experience with the online industry, having headed the marketing and business development teams of Anmipro. KK is a true visionary and he brings to 360webology his experience of 5+ years in web services. Lalitha Dhurjati (Co-founder & COO)
working with Anmipro, she brings to 360webology a unique blend of creativity and management skills.
Lalitha is the co-founder and Chief Operations Officer of 360webology. She is also the cofounder of Anmipro Technology Private Limited. Lalitha is a certified entrepreneur from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and has been instrumental in getting recongnition and awards for Anmipro with her hard work and dedication. With 5+ years of experience
Company Address & Contact
Team Strength 12 Achievements Won “Best Business Plan Award” from ISB on behalf of Gold man sachs in the year 2009. Anmipro Technologies Pvt. Ltd Hig-2, Block-9, G-4, Baghlingampally, Hyderabad – 500044, Andhra Pradesh, India. Phone: 91-40-64507150 Email ID karthiky@anmipro.com Anmipro@gmail.com
TF February 2010 35
career track
Career in Embedded Technology Embedded technology is nothing new. It’s all around us and has been for years. An early example of embedded technology is the engine control unit in a car, which measures what settings to give the engine
E
mbedded technology is software or hardware that is hidden—embedded —in a large device or system. It typically refers to a fixed function device, as compared with a PC, which runs general-purpose applications. Embedded technology is nothing new. It’s all around us and has been for years. An early example of embedded technology is the engine control unit in a car, which measures what settings to give the engine. Your coffeemaker has embedded technology in the form of a microcontroller, which is what tells it to make the coffee at 6 a.m. The vending machine has it too. Overall, billions of devices woven into everyday life use embedded technology. In the past, embedded technology existed in standalone devices—vending machines and copiers—that did their jobs with little regard for what went on around them. But as technology has learned to connect
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devices (mobile phones, PDAs and so on) to the Internet and to each other, embedded technology’s potential has grown. Suddenly it’s not so much about what devices do on their own, but about what they’re connected to and what actions those connections let them perform. Cell phone companies figured that out a long time ago, which is why cell phones are cheap and the service, plans are expensive. It’s not the phone itself that matters, but the connectivity to a vast network of other phones, other people and the Internet. Similarly, your PDA is just a PDA, until you download software that lets you find a local restaurant or manage your finances.
In India The increase in consumer demand for innovative electronic products at lower cost has given rise to embedded technology, which is also known as product engineering
outsourcing. The growth of Internet technologies and recent advances in embedded systems such as reliable and low-cost flash memory are driving the penetration of smart devices and hence bolster the embedded technology market in India. India can leverage its strengths in the services market as most of the global bigwigs are looking for effective partners to outsource work on embedded technologies. In India, software companies such as Wipro, CMC, HCL and Patni have been engaged in the development of embedded software for specialised hardware of their global clients.
Career Scope in Embedded Technology Medical electronics The medical vertical utilises embedded technologies at varying levels for monitoring, therapeutic and diagnostic devices. There is an
increasing trend towards creating smaller, high quality, less invasive and more affordable machines.
Automotive electronics The automotive electronics segment is another driver of embedded technologies. Growth is forecast across all product segments with the strongest demand coming from emerging markets in Asia, East & Central Europe. With respect to software, industry estimates suggest that the costs associated with developing automotive software accounted for around 4 percent of the total vehicle cost in 2002. This has increased to nearly 13 percent by 2010. Consumer electronics Embedded technologies will have to provide compelling software that provides valueadded information, interactive entertainment services with an interweaving of audio, video
and data services. Such trends increase the time-to-market pressures on vendors, who are now eyeing ready-to-use solutions from the market, which offered with their core components, will deliver innovative products to the consumer.
The Career as it is Career in embedded technology is to be opted for only if you are interested in the technology. This career is more about applying your innovation in the various aspects of technology. The pay scale has improved over the last couple of years and so has the competition to be the best. There are a lot of certified courses available, even provided by the IIT’s so it is indeed an in thing to be a part of this embedded technology thing. So those who have made up their mind to join the league, this is surely a great opportunity.
now subscribe TF just with an SMS SMS â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Ask< space> TFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to 56161
NABARD Funding for Technopark Innovators
NABARD, National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development, this time around has decided to fund three ongoing projects in Technopark and that indeed is a matter of pride for us. The innovators who got the funding are Mr.Aseer Manilal for the project Shrimp Activa (Algal Bioactives) for which he got Rs 5 lakh funding, Mr.Sujith S for the project Synshrimp for which he got a funding of 5 lakh and Mr.C V Varghese for the project RSW
Chiller for which he got a funding of Rs.2.5 Lakhs. The projects were agro based and this funding is a clear sign of how much support NABARD leverages for such agriculture based innovative project. The project RSW chiller is a project based on prevention of deteroration of of fish, thus preserving the fisg garden fresh. The project by Mr Manilal, is focused of shrimp diesease management. It is developing a top coated feed. considering
the need of a stable formulation for commercial application,the proposed commercial product will be optimized as incorporated feed containing the active ingredients of algal bioactives. The project by Mr Sujith S is a project which involves a balanced probiotic formulation to exclude pathogenic strains, to increase digestibility of shrimp, to degrade toxic metabolites and unfed remains. The proposed probiotic formulation will maintain natural ecological balance in the shrimp farm hence the shrimp farming technology become ecologically and economically sustainable venture. These innovators would surely find motivation in the support provided by Nabard to them. TF February 2010 37
column
An IT Graduate’s Diary shreyans desai
I
IT Bombay attracts thousands of students every year, in their annual technical extravaganza. I too was bedazzled by the mere thought of IIT-B’s Techfest. Being an Electronics & Communication Engineer myself (a passed-out one), and having seen the advertisement of the Techfest scheduled from 22nd to 24th January 2010; I felt an urge to visit it this year. Engineer or not an engineer people from all wakes of life were there. My main interest this year was to attend the guest lectures by invitees such as Ajay Bhatt (co-founder of the USB), Vic Hayes (Father of Wi-Fi), Lars Rasmussen (co-inventor of Google Maps & Google Wave), and many of other dignitaries; and the exhibits put up by the Indian Navy, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The schedule was filled with full day events; competitions, Robotics events, workshops on Planetary Rover, Artificial Intelligence, 3D Animation, Information Security, Humanoid Hand, etc.; and many other on-the-spot events and expert lectures. The lectures I attended were by General N.C. Vij, Mr. Vic Hayes and Mr. Ajay Bhatt. General Vij, an Ex-Chief of the Indian Army and presently the Chairman of the NDMA. He discussed about the Government’s plans to build resilience against these kind of contingencies, like building alarm systems in cyclone prone coastal areas, and quake prone areas, also send SMS alerts; so that the least damage is caused. Mr. Bhatt, Intel’s ‘Rockstar’ was the coinventor of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface. There was such a mad rush to see him that the coordinators had to schedule another lecture of him an hour later. He talked about the USB, on why there was a need to invent it; and now that it’s in common use with every PC, how can it be used for maximum power conservation. He discussed about Mobile Computing; on how it has come of age and how the PCs can be further made more complex in features, lighter in weight and higher on energy conservation. On the second day, I went through the
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Naval Exhibits and the ISRO exhibits. The Indian Navy had displayed the P-15 Surface to Surface Missile and the RZ 61 Surface to Air Missile. Also on display were the tools and gadgets used by the NDMA and the NDRF for rescue work. The IIT exhibits had innovation at its best; got the opportunity of meeting many ‘Phunsuk Wangdus’ there. Most of the exhibits were about how with a minimum use of energy, maximum output can be achieved. Mr. Vic Hayes is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Delft (Netherlands). Mr. Hayes’s lecture was about the ‘Genesis of Wi-Fi’. Being the ‘Father of the WiFi’, he enlightened us about why a technology such a WiFi was needed, on how it was developed and then finally certified as a standard by the IEEE as it’s 802.11 standard. Mr. Vijay Mukhi delivered a seminar on ‘Cloud Computing’ and how it can change the future of the computer hardware industry, by almost removing then need of purchasing a server physically, when we can outsource it to servers of Google / Amazon / Microsoft for rates as economical as Rs.1 per hour. This would reduce the cost of running the processes on servers and also, will minimise the need of hiring personnel to monitor and administer the servers. On the last day, dignitaries such as Mr. Gerhard Knies of the Deserted Foundation, Mr. Jonathan Gardner, a senior scientist at NASA and Dr. Lyn Evans, who is the project leader on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Switzerland were to deliver lectures. On this note, lastly, I would like to say that if Engineering = Religion, IITs = Temples. It was enlightening being there at the largest technical symposium of the country. It was a great opportunity. Those who have visited the IITs during their Techfests would agree to this, and those who have not, must visit it the next year, or this year at either IIT-Kharagpur, or Kanpur or Delhi. With the funding the IITs receive, they are the first in this country to inculcate any new technology in their syllabus. It’s like a dream come true for all the engineering aspirants to have even once been inside the campus. I hope to be there next year too, for the Techfest 2011.
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gadgets Western Digital MyBook Western Digital MyBook with USB 3.0 transfer rates of up to 5 gigabits-persecond USB-IF SuperSpeed USB 3.0 standard a special kit, which includes USB 3.0 PCIe adapter card Windows-ready and has plug-and-play compatibility 1TB capacity Rs. 9,990 for the standard model
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study abroad Being abroad helps you in having better interaction with yourself as well. The students get new ideas and perspectives about themselves and their own culture. The experience may perhaps strengthen those values or it may cause students to a
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tudying abroad is still considered as a privilege in our country even when thousands of Indians have already made their mark abroad. Getting a degree from abroad is still a dream for many, with number of aspirants increasing on a daily basis. But many a time, you must have wondered on what difference it makes to have a foreign degree over others. With India attaining such a higher stature in the field of academics, the degree and education imparted here can never be down rated with that of the foreign counterparts. Still the craze for having a foreign degree continues with most of the youngsters finding it as just a method to show off their degrees. But studying abroad purely means having a new experience in life. It has nothing to do with the notions attached to it. It offers rewarding situations and thoughts that can nurture your life better.
Opportunity to break out of your academic routine Study abroad would be completely different from what you were doing till now. You may become familiar with an entirely new academic system and you will have the chance to take courses not offered on your home campus. Wide range of opportunities get opened up for you that break the usual monotony of routine that you face in your country.
languages and varied culture. It gives you a wider exposure and also enhances your outlook on life. A personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s culture reflects very deep perceptions, beliefs, and values that influence his or her way of life and the way that s/he views the world. Students who experience cultural differences personally can understand better about other culture and people.
Expands your world view Usually, our thoughts get limited within the boundaries of the country. The true picture of the world is known only when one travels around. Studying abroad thus will make you well informed having less biased perspective toward other cultures and peoples, expanding your world view.
Enhance employment opportunity Studying abroad has added advantage especially while you are seeking for a job. For an employer, a student who has studied abroad is self-motivated, independent, willing to embrace challenges, and able to cope with diverse problems and situations. Your experience living and studying in a foreign country, negotiating another culture, and acquiring another language will all set you apart from the majority of other job applicants.
Culture and language While abroad, you get to know about vivid lifestyles, different
Optimum social interaction Going to a new place always helps you making new friends. Getting to know their culture, new languages, it develops a wide network of people around you. Being abroad helps you in having better interaction with yourself as well. The students get new ideas and perspectives about themselves and their own culture. The experience may perhaps strengthen those values or it may cause students to alter or abandon them and embrace new concepts and perceptions. Not just that it also gives you an opportunity to travel to new places as well. Enhance the value of your degree Studying abroad gives you a wide range of courses to choose from. In addition to that it boosts up your language skills too. Having better knowledge and specialisation makes you have an upper hand over others, thus enhancing the value of your degree. Thereby, studying abroad increases your scope of opportunity and gives an overall new framework to your life.
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yo campus
College Projects are Pure Fun
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anuary - the month of submission, when all the colleges across the country must be gearing up with their last minute preparations, prior to the exam season in March. Most of you must have already reached the last stage of completion of your projects or must be still struggling to complete them. Unfortunately, selecting the project topic remains limited within the boundaries of subject. Still projects always remain as fun especially during college life. With friends coming together and pondering on new ideas, hanging out at friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s places, staying overnight at homes with black teas at midnight; really is an amazing time. But to be frank, all this happens only one week prior to the submission and the lightening speed which one achieves during that time cannot be explained as well. The
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spirit comes from nowhere and together with the team effort the projects are somehow completed. College projects are really a time to enjoy and treasure. The efforts to compile them and then the last minute rehearsals for the presentation, always remains a memorable moment. These are the few stages in life when we get to work with our own friends in our own homely atmosphere. Gather such moments and make it memorable. Though the projects are of academic importance, it surely has a friendly side too. We can learn and make our creativity come to play by getting to do our ideas into work. Utilize the maximum of such opportunities and bring your ideas to the fore, who may know that you may sometimes stumble on an innovation as well. Whatever you do, do it with complete passion so that once in life when you turn back at yourself, you will have so many memorable moments as treasure.
How to handle college stress
C
ollege life is fun bit isn’t easy. Yo! Campus brings in a few more steps to enjoy your life at college.
Create a Space
Find a favourite nook in the library or coffee shop to frequent. This will be a place you can visit everyday and may end up forming a group and you will surely enjoy the time spent out there.
Create a Schedule When planning your activities, be sure you allow yourself the time you need to study and get work done. You may require more time than you realize at first, so it’s best to over-estimate when it comes to study hours, so you don’t have to pull all-nighters and end up paying for it the next few days.
Stay healthy Even if you’re only able to work out in 10 minutes, exercise can elevate your mood, release tension, and help keep your body remain healthy and this can serve you for the rest of your life.
Learn New Things One of the best things about college life is that there are so many amazing opportunities for growth and new experience so try learning new thing like a couple of musical instruments, kick boxing, salsa or whatever interests you.
Voice.yocampus.in YoCampus.in brings you exciting opportunity to win great prizes . Send across your SMS to ASK<space> Followed by your SMS to 56161. Send across the funniest, weirdest, smartest and the dumbest of the SMS
Log on to voice.yocampus. in and share your opinion, discuss, chat and interact in this youth forum and have fun and the best comment would get published in this section every month.
placement experience
Open-Silicon Ambily S ASIC design engineer at Open-Silicon, Banglore
About the Company Open-Silicon is an SoC and ASIC design service company that provides customers with proven, low-risk access to the world’s best IP, foundry, test, and packaging technologies. Hurdles you faced before you got Placed Recession was a major problem. Then, I always wanted to get into a good electronics company, but only one company had visited our campus before Open Silicon, in which I performed very badly in the interview.
About their recruitment procedures Since this company coming to our campus for the first time we didn’t know much about their recruitment processor the company’s profile. They had an initial screening based on our academic performance. Our resumes were sent to the company by the college placement cell and based on marks they short listed some 30 candidates. As the second round they had a written test. There were questions from aptitude, logical and tech. Only 7 people were short listed for the interview. The interview was easy compared to test. There was a single interview, kind of tech and HR. After the first interview they informed there’s one more telephone interview. It was the 1st telephone interview I had faced, but everything went fine. I guess it was just a formality for them
Were you nervous This was the 4th or 5th company I was writing and I already had a decent software job. The only point of writing this company was to get
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into a core company. So I didn’t feel much pressure while writing the test. But once the test results were out, and we came to know that only 7 persons were shortlisted, I felt little nervous. There also, I was the first person to face the interview. So there was not much time to get tensed. Once the interview started, there was not much tension. The interviewer was a really friendly person and, compared to their test, interview was a piece of cake.
Your Tips For Written Test : Get the basics right. Especially if you are appearing for an electronics company, find out which area they are into and prepare. Have a thorough knowledge in digital electronics, circuits and solid state coz every core company will be dealing with them. Do not mug up everything. Most of the questions will be application level and once u get the concept properly, u can solve any question related to it. For Interview (Tech & HR) : Don’t be nervous. Be cool. They don’t expect us to answer all the questions. But try to show that you can think logically and find out a solution. If it’s a tech interview, use pen and paper to the maximum. At least draw/write whatever circuit he’s asking about, and pretend to be thinking and trying to solve it. It’s the attitude and your common sense that matters. In telephone interviews, try to speak as politely as possible.
Advice to next job seekers Be positive always. Aim high. Whichever company u are appearing, be confident that u have the potential to get into it.
it career Tips for Making a Career Choice in Information Technology
vimal naravane
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hat is your motive behind selecting a career in IT? Not all of the reasons cited by people are rational. You must make the right choice regarding your profession for reasons that will help you grow and succeed.
Do not let money be the only reason Financial situations are always considered when one thinks over his or her career, it shouldn’t be the sole determining factor. It is wrong to think of moving only where they will pay you more. Nobody is in IT for the sole purpose of making tones of money in a short span of time. You have to be practical. Money will come, but look at it as an eventuality
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rather than immediacy.
Don’t move just because “everyone else is doing it”
Remember, a mob has many heads, but no brains! Everybody seems to rush into what others regard as a “hot” career choice. You have to be careful because often, you are not guided correctly, or a bunch of people you know rush into a particular career direction (in some cases, even the same company!), as it seems the easy way out.
Don’t get into IT simply because it is the “in thing” When you talk about the scope of IT, you will find it to be pretty wide. The monumental growth of the Internet, technology and
increasing global dependence on IT, has expanded the scope of IT furthermore. IT not only requires Computer professionals but also Computer savvy individuals in all professions. So even though you definitely need to be Computer literate and aware right now, you can survive the IT revolution without necessarily being a Tech-guru.
more of a creator, provider or user of IT products? Are you the sort of person who wants to know how IT itself works, i.e. the inner workings and how you can be an creator, or you are more interested in how to get results using IT? How much do you know about the different IT career options, such as Networking, Database Administration, etc?
What are your skills and do they fit into the IT industry?
IT is fun
What is it that interests you? What are your abilities? What do you aspire to be? Self -awareness is key to making wise career choices. Knowing yourself and what you thrive on is half the battle won. Specifically pertaining to the IT industry, what is it that interests you? Do you wish to be
What may be fun to you may be boring to another. Maybe the idea of an IT career excites you? You think it is â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;funâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This has more to do with the nature of work and the professionals. What kind of a profile in IT excites you? What does the job require? What are the skills required? Is it managerial or team oriented? Answers to these questions should indicate the area that suits you. Mind you, while every job may require hard-work and skills, I know of several IT professionals who have spent days together at work, without minimum rest and sleep, to get a project over with.
IT is a respected and much adopted profession But can you handle the challenges and of IT? Does working with advanced technology interest you? Are you fascinated by the very idea or concepts of Internet or technology and similar trends? You may like being on the cutting edge of technology.
IT is different The nature of IT offers professionals the opportunity to work in diverse areas over time, and sometimes even on an ongoing basis. It is not unusual to find IT professionals carrying out Tech support, Computer Networking, Training and Troubleshooting all in one job.
IT is knowledge driven field Does knowledge or the will to learn more drive you? Aspiring professionals must learn as much as possible about IT and its sections. A good way to acquire knowledge would be via the Internet, books and practice. Read IT magazines such as CHIP, Digit and Computers @ home and the IT sections of most newspapers and magazines.
Passion is what should be the most important reason You need to have passion for IT and how it works. Be honest and sincere to yourself: how passionate and committed are you to a career in IT? It is your love for the profession that can withstand pressure and tension when you come across obstacles. All areas of IT have opportunities and challenges. It is your interest in your chosen field that can make it work for you. When you have the right amount of passion (in other words, your heart in the right place!), you become deft at handling opportunities and challenges.
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website review
W
hen it comes to e-books, newsletters, manuals and other such text on the computer, the PDF is the format of choice. But locating the right PDF isn’t as easy as just searching on Google for it. Sure, Google will give you a result that may be close to what you are looking for, but a specialist engine that is looking to track only PDF files will always be a lot more accurate. Suppose you were looking for a copy of a particular academic book or CAT papers; while a Google search will get you some results, it won’t match up to a
openpdf.com dedicated PDF search engine. That’s what OpenPDF brings to the table through a simplistic and easy-to-use format. Just use the provided search bar to key in the name of an e-book, a newsletter, a product manual or any other document you desire and you will most likely get what you asked for. And there is also a helpful tag cloud to let you see some of the most popular search terms at the moment. The site also has a great ‘PDF Viewer’ option that lets
you open PDF files in your browser if you don’t have the Adobe Acrobat plug-in installed. Simply copy-paste the link of any online PDF file into the provided space and the site will open it up for you. A word of caution though: the site has a toolbar that it advertises heavily, but a couple of users online have reported that this carries malware. Our advice would be to use the site, but not to install the toolbar on your computer’s browser.
tbi news
IEDC Inaugurated at Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology
throughout the state. Student startups from the college by Mr.Aravind, CEO, Enythin Technologies, who will be working out of the college IEDC as a virtual incubatee of Technopark TBI and Mr. Gokul Nath who participated in the sports inventor competition of NEO sports will also be incubated by the college IEDC. Both of them made their company presentations during the function.
KSCSTE- Technical Committee Reconstituted
An Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre (IEDC) supported by Technopark TBI has been formally inaugurated in Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology on January 15, 2010 .The IEDC was inaugurated by Mr.Mervin Alexander, CEO Technopark by lighting the lamp. The inaugural function was presided over by Dr.T.M.George, Principal. Mr. K.C.Chandrasekharan Nair, CFO, Technopark, Programme CoordinatorNew Initiatives, Technopark and Registrar, Technopark TBI delivered the keynote address. Addressing the students Mr.Mervin Alexander said that the IEDC will act as a catalyst to create entrepreneurial ventures from the college and the major objective is to promote Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the campus and also to exploit and effectively convert the skills and expertise within the institute to create entrepreneurial ventures. In the keynote address Mr.K.C. Chandrasekharan Nair, CFO Technopark pointed out that â&#x20AC;&#x153;Technopark,through the Technology Business Incubation initiatives, is creating an ecosystem and a fertile ground that promotes the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship
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The Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) has re-constituted the Technical Committee for Rural Technology Programmes (RTP). The committee with Dr. RVG Menon as Chairman and Dr. Ajit Prabhu.V, Principal Scientific Officer, KSCSTE as co-ordinator and other experts from various Governmental organisations. Mr. K.C.Chandrasekharan Nair, TUC Co-ordinator is the representative from Technopark in the Technical Committee. The committee will evaluate the worthiness, innovativeness, scientific content, technical feasibility and time frame of project proposals coming under RTP for funding, before recommending KSCSTE. The committee will also periodically review the progress of the projects funded by KSCSTE.
Enythin Technologies Enythin Technologies, a student start up from MBCET- IEDC, launched by Mr.Aravinth D as CEO, Mr. Suchith Dominic as CTO and Mr. Ashok L.R as CIO will work as a virtual incubatee of Technopark TBI. Started with zero investment, Enythin focuses on product development rather than on service. Currently they have developed web based products and is doing projects with Kudumbashree and Energy Management Centre. The team includes developers specialized in JAVA, .NET , PHP, ColdFusion, RIA development, Mobile VAS etc.
showcased their innovative prototypes from various fields in Automobile, Mechanical, Energy Conservation, Electrical & Electronics, Holography, Botany & Agriculture, Mathematics and Research displayed their innovations. A stall displaying the details of the TePP Programme with flex banners, Zap Panels and the support offered by Technopark TePP Outreach Centre for the Innovators also attracted Shri.Pratap Singh receving the award from Dr.G.Madhavan Nair the crowd. TePP Brochure describing the various funding Chauhan after the ISC inaugural options for innovators and the DSIR’s TePP Exhibition ceremony. Personalities like Prof. support provided by Technopark adjudged most Innovative Samir K Brahmachari, Secretary TUC was distributed during the DSIR’s TePP Exhibition bagged DSIR, Mr. Anuj Sinha, Advisor programme. Technopark TUC the ISC Award for “Most & Head (NCSTC) National received more than 70 enquiries Innovative” among the Exhibits Council for Science & Technology from various fields. Innovators in the ‘Pride of India Exhibition’ Communication, Mr.Veera who participated in the Pride organized in association with the Raghavan, Director VSSC, other of India- TePP Innovators 97th Indian Science Congress eminent scientists from Exhibition include Sri Das Ajee (ISC) from January 3-7, 2010 Regional Cancer Centre, Kamath, Sri Anil C.C, Dr. P.T. in the University of Kerala, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Ajithkumar and Dr. Mayadevi Kariavattom, Trivandrum. The (VSSC), Rajiv Gandhi Centre C, Sri Nelvin Joseph and Sri 97th Indian Science Congress was for Biotechnology (RGCB), Chandu Sasiharan, Sri P.U. inaugurated by Dr. Manmohan various Technology Angels and Rajan, Sri Syam Kumar, Smt. Singh, Hon’ble Prime Minister of Business Angels of Technopark Remya, Dr. MSN BalasubraIndia and the Childrens Congress TUC, students, entrepreneurs, maniyan, Sri Mehar Ali, Sri K.P. by Dr. APJ .Abdul Kalam, Former researches and other public also Premachandrn, Sri Joy Abraham President of India. The award visited the TePP DSIR stalls and and Sri Aubin Joe, Sri Sumesh was received by Sri Pratap expressed satisfaction. DSIR Issac, Sri Soman C.T, Sri Aniyan Sigh, Scientist, DSIR during the actively participated with its Koshy and Sri V.K.Shaji from valedictory function on January TePP Innovators in the 97th ISC, Technopark TUC and Sri Vikram 7, 2010. The Pride of India- TePP by showcasing the innovations of Chadaga, Sri Sandeep Senan Innovators Exhibition was covarious innovators across South from TUC Bangalore and Sri ordinated by Technopark TUC. India. TePP Outreach Centres Mohammed Fakruddin from The ‘Pride of India Exhibition’ of Bangalore, Chennai and TUC-University of Madras. was inaugurated by Sri Prithviraj Technopark, Trivandrum
Innoz wins Dell Idea League Challenge ‘09 Technopark TBI incubatee Innoz won the Dell Idea League Challenge ’09 held on December 18, 2009 at Bangalore. Innoz Technologies is one of the most innovative and exciting companies working on rich mobile and web applications. Innoz featured with SMSGYAN, the technology providing text messaging solutions for businesses and individuals,
and web services via SMS & WAP absolutely free of cost. SMSGYAN provides services like Encyclopedia, Dictionary,Movie/Book Review,Weather, Stock Market, GadgetPrice,LiveCricket Scores, Acronyms, Alerts, Twitter Hash tag search etc. Also Innoz is
one among the 16 companies to participate in the finals of DFJCISCO Global Business Plan Competition and the youngest to receive one on one mentoring from Indian Angel Network. They were part of iAccelerator’09 program in which the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM Ahmedabad supported them in their journey to become a world class technology company.
TF February 2010 51
tuc review
College of Technology and Engineering, Udaipur The college started in 1964 to impart graduate education in Agricultural Engineering, today it acts as an integrated point for entrepreneurship developement and incubation. This time around we review one of the TUC in the country.
T
he college started in 1964 to impart graduate education in Agricultural Engineering leading to the degree of B.E. (Ag.). This college now also offers the degree programmes in Computer Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Mining Engineering. From the year 2006 degree programme in Electronics and Communication Engineering and civil engineering has also been added. College of Engineering and Technology is one of the major TUCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in the country which provides inevitable and complete support to the innovators and entrepreneurs. Agricultural innovation and technology being its niche , it has surely evolved into a major destination for agro based innovators. With the kind of support and enthusiasm provided by the team there, we can understand the confidence of the innovators incubated there.
TUC Team Dr. V. K. Srivastava, Chief Coordinator Dr. S.M.Mathur, Coordinator Dr. Surendra Kothari, Felicitator Er. Sudhakar Jindal, Felicitator Dr. Sanjay Jain, Felicitator Er. Navneet Agrawal, Felicitator Mrs Vinita Chittora, Computer Operator
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Dr. V. K. Srivastava, Chief Coordinator
Strengths The College of Technology and Engineering is a multi faculty college having all the branches of Engineering. Besides this we are associated with Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi (ICAR) and handling number of research projects. Our college has well qualified faculty along with well equipped laboratories and a testing center to assist innovators. We also have good linkages with NGOs and other reputed organizations and have no dearth of expert opinion.
Workshop held on April 30, 2009 at CTAE, Udaipur
Funding Support
Spotting of innovators
We have funded 12 companies so far under the following classifications. a) MicroTEPP Funding -06 b) Phase 1 Funding -06 c) Phase 2 Funding-Nil
We advertise through news papers and organize workshops. We also organize awareness camps in various colleges of Rajasthan and intimate our contact address and source and thus many people have approached us.
Completed innovations/ projects The project, Energy Efficient Braking System has been completed and the project Development of Extendable Width Cultivator has been commercialized
Other offered support We provide counseling to innovators and help them to formulate the proposals.
Events and Initiatives We have organized state level workshop in 2008 and 2009 and awareness camps in various colleges of Rajasthan. We have delivered lectures on TePP in science fairs, exhibitions and conferences.
Innovation according to you An innovation is any new idea or creation which can help or simplify the life style of people and add values and can be commercialized.
Our college has well qualified faculty along with well equipped laboratories and a testing center to assist innovators. We also have good linkages with NGOs and other reputed organizations and have no dearth of expert opinion Dr. S.M.Mathur Coordinator TF February 2010 53
innovator of the month
Innovation From The Nature With the idea of doing something for the society, I started working on it for the past six years. For the last two years, I am constantly trying to improve on this machine. In between, I faced many problems Your innovation My innovation is about â&#x20AC;&#x153;Study and the use of Musa Parsdisica (Banana Tree) Fiber for making eco-friendly and cost effective products for mankind and there by create employments to rural and tribal people.
Impact on society The textile industry is the global second largest field and the scope of the employment is really big in this field. Having developed such a technology of developing
from the fibres, it will offer employment to a big percent of the Indian population. Banana plant is endowed with virtuous fibres, which can be used to make good apparels. Though, the plant is more popular for its fruit, it has been a source of high quality fiber which is used to manufacture textiles. Waste materials extracted from banana trees can be a source of livelihood for the poor, rural and tribal population of the country and has the potential to generate employment opportunities along with becoming a source of livelihood for the rural and urban youth of India.
The Initial Spark From childhood itself, I was interested in Science. Inventions always fascinated me and did small works during that time itself. This invention was done by me when I was in 11th standard and I have six year experience in this project. The idea of the invention came from â&#x20AC;&#x153;Garland Maker Womenâ&#x20AC;? and I started working on it from 2005.
Your entrepreneurial journey Understanding the importance of Banana plant made me come up with such an idea. With the idea of doing something for the society, I started working on it for the past six years. For the last two years, I am constantly trying
Mann society Mann society, full form of Mann is (Make atmosphere and nature neat and clean, society). It is a non profit, non government and non religious voluntary society. Operating mainly in the field of atmosphere, because it is the major problem of our society. In this society, we mainly work to reduce the problem of global warming, banana waste material, marble slurry problem and biodiesel and to give eco friendly and cost effective products for mankinds. We also give new opportunity to young youth for employment in different fields. This is the first society which is working in the field of global warming in Rajasthan. Our mission is to ensure, develop and support indigenous strategies that would cater to the developmental needs of the rural society in realizing their true strength and transforming themselves into a developed society.
to improve on this machine. In between, I faced many problems. No mechanic would have wasted their type to make prototype of a single machine but I was still doing it. Firstly, I had made a wooden model with the help from the carpenter but it was not working. But slowly people started recognizing my efforts and with an article being published on me faith was bestowed on me.
Association with TePP I had asked for support from many farms but none came to help. Once I got to see an article on TePP in the local newspaper. The TUC Coordinator Dr. S.M. Mathur sir help me and now my project stands up to the international level. Without their support my venture would not have attained the wings. The platform helped me a lot to realize my dream.
by the Department of Science and Technology in 2006
Patent status I had filed my final patent and I got it in March. My Patent file up No is 570/Del/2008.
I was interested in Science. Inventions always fascinated me and did small works during that time itself. This invention was done by me when I was in 11th standard and I have six year experience in this project. Ashish Khatri
Recognitions/awards I have received many number of awards and prizes among which one which Iam proud of is being the recipient of an honor of being named ‘Junior Scientist of Rajasthan’, by none other than the former President, Dr. Kalam. I was also honored by the Government of Rajasthan on Republic day in
Future plans To give employment to the people in need and to give some thing new to the textile industry. I have also started a society, MANN SOCIETY (Make Atmosphere Neat & Clean).
Word of advice I am totally inspired by our Former President and His Vision2020 like many others. My whole society team work is on his vision and I would advice new innovators to come and let us change the universe but maintain the natural beauty of universe.
Innovation philosophy Make Universe Creative, and Save Nature 2006. I also secured first position in the India International Rural Cultural Festival in the ‘Field of Science’ held by Ministry of Youth, India and also bagged the first position in an exhibition organized
Mr Ashish Khatri 86-D, Block Hiran Magri Sector No-14, Udaipur Rajasthan-313002 Mob- +91-9785757086
TF February 2010 55
group discussion India or West, which is the land of opportunities? We have often discussed about brain drain, now lets talk about whether our country really has the opportunity that the west has, or are we being over patriotic about our country. The discussion is about what amongst this two are really the land of opportunity. There is no point in debating about opportunities, it solely depends on individual to grab it either you go east or west.
I
t took 15 years for the
European industries to attain maturity, but in India it will happen in just six years. There are very few companies in the West that operate at the kind of growth rate that is represented in India and China. There are also very few countries that have the kind of potential in terms of number that India and China offer Hitesh
T
he
countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impressive economic growth and investments pouring in from almost all the Fortune-listed top companies, expatriate professionals from across industries in developed countries like those in North America and Europe and even Asian countries like Japan and South Korea have started turning to us on their own these days. But India seems to be going great guns. Kevin
56 TF February 2010
O
pportunities are everywhere. To talk about the people who leave India, they leave because of money. Hardly 10% of people might be leaving because they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get opportunity to work in field of their desire in India.
W
Amishi
ell India has lots of
opportunity but not distributed, however, even if India has opportunity or not, we the citizen of India should stay back and create opportunity more than looking elsewhere
Bijal
A
s far as good
opportunities are concerned, India does not lag behind. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just a wrong perception that west helps you make a better career. In terms of both, good opportunities and good growth, east has all the resources and capabilities.
I
n my
point of view east is the land of oppurtunity where human can know about their surrounding when they are in childhood. As it is a fast running world .we can gain more only in east. Even the students can easily earn &learn about the environment when they are studying .this is land of oppurtunity. Though India has resource it done have opportunity.
I
t was a long time ago when there are big opportunities lies in the west only, but that is the past and now plenty of big opportunities available here. So India is a great land of opportunities.
Israque
Foram
Ankur
TF February 2010 57
technology
Artin Dynamics: The story Now, I knew intelligence but what on earth was artificial intelligence. It was a really strange concept as never before had I encountered two words whose meanings I very well understood but didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand when put together Nelvin joseph Ceo, Artindynamics
I
t was when I saw terminator 2 way back in â&#x20AC;&#x2122;92 that I stumbled upon my destiny. Even though initially it was to become a terminator, I soon realized the bodily integrative issues I would have to face. Hence I modified my destiny to make a Terminator. Well technically speaking, I was not so sure of making a terminator as I would be required to have the genetic sequence of Arnold Schwarzenegger (which I concluded he would not cooperate with), I decided to make a similar android. So then I started with my research. The first thing I realized about android is that they needed something called artificial intelligence. Now, I knew intelligence but what on earth was artificial intelligence. It was a really strange concept as never before had I encountered two words whose meanings I very well understood but didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand when put together. Well, as childish as it may sound, I once again re-modified my destiny to accommodate this newly acquired work. This formed my dream of a company which would deal in Artificial Intelligence. Time went by and unlike usual stories; I did not forget it and I did not improve, I was still that stupid, over analytic guy who was trying to figure out
58 TF February 2010
what is artificial intelligence. It was also destined that terminator be my favorite movie (well until Independence Day came around… and then SHREK and then…. Not relevant)… anyways I knew I had to learn about it. Finally the time for me to realize what this world was, took me a long four years. It was when I was in my sixth class that I realized that it had to do with intelligent decisions made by artificial computer programs. So I started my quest to learn about it. On the way I came across LISP, prolog, California brain makers but it was never enough.. I had to move forward, strangely enough there was something which was common for every link I took. It ended with “it’s an emerging field and a lot more is still to be developed” what if I was the one to do it?? Call it overconfidence or childishness. I had an uncanny reason to trust my instincts. Fast forward some ten years. The day of my engineering exams and in my mind was the single biggest milestone to achieve my dream. A MS in Artificial Intelligence (in fact there were some others too including marrying Amrita Rao, acquiring Microsoft and the likes) then it happened,an accident which left me immobilized for some time. Anyway it sure did kill my dreams of MS in AI. Trust me hadn’t my destiny been made with an EEPROM or a tellurium based silver alloy I would have been in serious jeopardy. It really made me create those subtle adjustments to finally suit the perfectionist in me. There are somethings which I am really bad at. These include electronics, finance, mathematics and sales. So my experience had taught me that I was not capable of kicking off my dream alone. I needed support. I needed a team. So my quests begin. There were a few people I had heard about who were pretty much very renowned for their field of interests. I got around calling them. Even though it was then that I found that I had the quality to become a
Well technically speaking I was not so sure of making a terminator as I would be required to have the genetic sequence of Arnold Schwarzenegger, I decided to make a similar android. This formed my dream of a company which would deal in Artificial Intelligence.
tele-marketer. Well anyway fastforwarding more, I found out that everyone in this group had the same dream (even though it did not include the AI section). So we decided to meet On the 26th of January 2008, we met for the first time. It was really amazing and irritating as well not because of anything, each of us being hyper proficient in what we do could not get others to understand what we were saying. The topics moved between impossible jargons of marketing, electronics, operations sales, AI and at times quantum physics and astrophysics (thanks to me!!!!). Well the whole point being, we were extremely comfortable around each other. There was a lot of chemistry amongst us. The amount of knowledge pouring out was immense. I knew what I had stumbled upon. I had just
opened Pandora’s box everything I had lacked was falling in place, was returning. The pieces I missed to complete the puzzle was there in front of me. Electronics, marketing, operations it was all there. Then it was time for the verdict. I am pretty sure that most of you would have guessed it. Its obvious that the answer was a “let’s do it”. On the 1st of February we took the office… A journey had started. We knew sacrifice, criticisms, temptations, egos, frustrations, probabilities, setbacks were all going to be a part of the package we had selected but then again we knew well enough that to be persistent in it would lead us somewhere on our way the team’s strength just grew and along with it grew the team’s spirit to glow brighter. And today I am tasting the sweetness which is awaiting us. For all the hard work and sacrifices, everyone had done for us, we had and have done the unthinkable, conquered the impossible, we set records, we registered patents, we moved with blinding pace, each recognition overshadowed the ones before. A child’s dream has been realized… I made my last modification to my destiny, I modified one word in it “It’s no longer MY destiny, it’s OUR destiny.
TF February 2010 59
book review career Zero percentile
Missed iit kissed russia Neeraj chhibba Rupa & co 95/- Inr Zero percentile is the story of boy, who is the only son in a family of 2 daughters. Very much like every other indian family he was expected to fulfill the dreams of his family and to bring them out of their sad existence. Things didn’t look difficult for the brilliant and talented boy who was all set to clear iit exams when things go for a toss and he is driven into a depressing state. His life takes a twist and he travels across to russia to study in an engineering college. Leaving behind his childhood friends motu & priya he moves on marking the beginning of a roller coaster ride. He battles the new language, horrid climate, totally different people etc. In the process he also finds love & an enterprising side in him which takes him to places. In all the bad times what works for him is his brain & aggressive behavior. What would possibly make this one a different serving is the fact that the story is set in russia. It is a country which is hardly talked about in books; in this case half the book is set in russia & the author really transports you there. The cold & gloominess of cold/ snow gives you a sense of loneliness faced by the students & the author manage to capture it well through his words. I guess the fact that neeraj himself has spent seven years in volgograd is what adds to the authentic portrayal of the place. The book is a fast pace read, which entertains you and turns out to be a page turner. At places i did feel that it is clichéd but overall the book makes for a good time pass read with all the masala at the right places.
60 TF February 2010
guru
How one should develop their skills to get higher salary in it companies. I have got a job offer from a company as a software tester but i feel that the salary package is a bit underpaid. Also let me know how we know the salary standards of testers in various companies. Sadanand swami In today’s time it is not only the it sector but all professions look for people who have a good personality and is not only a hard worker but a smart worker. The salary these days can vary from person to person. To be able to tell you more we need more information about your qualifications as salary is dependent on various factors - your qualifications, your work experience, designation, city where you are working, the organization, institute where you have done your graduation or post graduation, etc. It would be advisable that you are not salary centric if you are a fresher and got a job offer from a good company
I have completed my be (e&c) in 2009 with 57%, so what i do to get jobs in mnc Shalini mohitre Hi, we consider that a masters degree is important for an individual to grow in an organisation. You can at this stage choose between 2 options. Either you can take up a job and work for 1-2 years. This will give you a perspective on jobs in the e& c segment. And then you can do a post graduation later. Or you may study further in the technical side (like a masters) or do an mba. The choice of any of these routes depends on your career aspirations.
I have recently started working with an it company as a trainee. I have worked as a team member on some of their websites and inhouse projects. I now want to update my resume. Can i mention the links of the particular websites that i have worked upon in my resume along with details of the inhouse projects. Astha bansal A good resume is your selling document that greatly facilitate in job search. You should mention all the training/certifications and work experience in different areas/technologies you have worked upon. You may also take professional help to get your resume developed.
careerQ@technofirstonline.com
hot jobs
Indian Oil Corporation Limited Applications are invited for the position of Engineers/ Graduate Apprentice Engineers (GAEs) in the following engineering disciplines: Chemical Engineering (Including Petrochemicals engineering) Civil Engineering Electrical Engineering Instrumentation Engineering (Including Electronics & Instrumentation engineering but excluding Electronics & Communication engineering/ Telecommunication engineering) Mechanical Engineering (excluding Production/ Manufacturing/ Industrial engineering) Metallurgical Engineering The eligibility criteria regarding prescribed educational qualification, age and other eligibility criteria and application procedure is mentioned below: Educational Qualification Candidates should have passed qualifying degree examinations and awarded bachelor’s degree in engineering/ technology in the above mentioned disciplines (full time regular courses only) from recognized Indian Universities / Institutes. Candidates currently in final year of their engineering studies may also apply. However, if selected, they must be in a position to submit their final mark sheet by 31st July 2010. Age Limit Maximum 26 years as on 30th June, 2010
62 TF February 2010
The last date for receiving application On-Line is 13th February 2010 For more datails: http://www.iocl.com
DOEACC Society, Chandigarh Recruitment of System Analyst, Senior Clerk and Jr. Clerk Applications are invited from Indian Nationals by DOEACC Society, Chandigarh Centre having its Branch Offices at Shimla, Lucknow and NewDelhi for filling up the following posts on regular basis. 1. Systems Analyst - 5 Posts* (UR-3, OBC-2) Out of these posts one post is reserved for OH person with at least 40% disability in any of two legs. Age Limit : 30 Years Pay Scale : Rs. 1560039100(PB-3) with Grade Pay Rs. 5400/Essential Qualification & Experience : B.E./B.Tech (Computer Science/ Electronics & Communication/IT) /recognised equivalent qualification with not less than 65% marks OR M.E./M.Tech (Computer Science/ Electronics & Communication / IT). Note : No. of vacancies may vary. Candidates selected will be offered Contributory Provident Fund. Medical reimbursement, Gratuity and other allowances shall be as applicable for Society employees. How to Apply : Application in prescribed Performa with recent passport size photograph, attested Xerox copies of the certificates with regard to age, qualification, experience,
caste certificate in case of claiming reservation along with Demand Draft of Rs. 350/- each for the above posts (exempted for Internal and SC/ST candidates) drawn in favour of DOEACC Society, Chandigarh Centre payable at Chandigarh, may be sent to :DOEACC Society, Chandigarh Centre, An Autonomous Scientific Society of Deptt. of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Govt. of India SCO 114-116, SECTOR 17-B, CHANDIGARH Last Date for Receipt of Application Form : 23rd February, 2010. For further details: http:// rcc.nic.in/tender/jan10/rec/ adv180110.htm
Indian School of Mines Dhanbad Indian School of Mines Looking for the post of Project Associates/ JRF/SRF/Research Assistant Project No. 2(32)/2005-ISEA “Information Security Education & Awareness Post Project Associates (Tech./Admn.) – 2 Nos. Qualification ME/MTech/BE/BTech in Computer Science & Engg / Computer Engg / Information Technology/Electronics Engg/ Electronics & Comm.Engg or equivalent degree with first class. Age Not exceeding 40 years at the time of appointment. Fellowship Rs.18,000 (approx) per month. Duration The position is purely temporary
and for one year (extendable subject to extension of the project. Principal Investigator Dr G P Biswas, Associate Professor & Head, Dept of Computer Science & Engg; Ph : (0326) 2296621 (M) 9431124198; gpbiswas@gmail.com How to apply Applications on plain paper along with attested copies of supporting documents with complete biodata, including contact number and email ID within 9th February,2010 to Dr. Atul K.Varma, Coal Geology and Organic Petrology Lab., Dept. of Applied Geology, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad -826004.www. ismdhanbad.ac.in
Central Institute for Cotton Research (ICAR) Recruitment of Programme Assistant and Technical Assistant Name of post Programme Assistant (Computer) T-4 Qualification B.Sc. (Computer Application) / Bachelor in Computer Application / Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Application. Desirable: i) MCA, ii) two years experience in handling agri-based data on computer. No of post 1 (UR) Age Limit 18-30 Yrs Pay Scale Rs.9300-34800 How to apply Application in white paper (in A-4 size) should be submitted in the proforma given strictly typed / hand written along with attested copies of educational qualifications certificates, age proof, Caste Proof and necessary other required documents. Separate application should be submitted for each post / place with fee. Application may be sent to the “Director, CICR, P.B. No. 2, Shankar Nagar Post, Nagpur –
440 010”. The envelope may be super scribed as “Application for the post of -------, Place --------, Category---- and Sr. No. of the post -------”. The dead line for application submission is on 15th February 2010.
Structural Engineering Research Centre Chennai Recruitment of Scientist Post Scientist Gr.IV[1] Qualification First class or equivalent CGPA B.E./ B.Tech. in CivilEngineering or recognized equivalent qualification/ First Class or equivalent CGPA M.Tech./M.E. in Structural Engineering or recognized equivalent qualification/ Ph.D in Structural Engineering. Desirable: Candidates having knowledge of advanced structural analysis and design; familiarity with computer programming; use of software(s) and experimental techniques for structural engineering applications will be preferred. Number of Posts 2 (ST-1, UR-1) Pay Scale Rs.15600-39100 How to apply The applications should be in the prescribed format. The last date for receipt of completed applications is on 22nd February 2010. Applications should be supported by attested copies of the certificates/testimonials. Application forms can be obtained (free of cost) from the Controller of Administration, Structural Engineering Research Center, CSIR Campus, Post Bag No.8287, TTTI Taramani P.O., Chennai 600 113. Advertisement Number, Name of the Post applied for and full address in Block Letters must be indicated at the top of the request which should be sent together with self-addressed and duly stamped envelope [Rs.10.00] of size 22cm X 10cm.
For Further Details http://www. sercm.org:
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Chennai- 600 036 IITM Summer Fellowship Programme 2010 The IITM Summer Fellowship Programme of two months with stipend is designed to enhance awareness and interest in high quality academic research among young Engineering, Management, Sciences and Humanities students through a goal oriented summer miniproject undertaken at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Eligibility Candidates pursuing third year of B.E./B.Tech./B.Sc. (Engg)/ Integrated M.E./M.Tech. programme, first year of M.Sc./ M.A, MBA with outstanding academic background in terms of high ranks in university examinations, papers presented at seminars, projects executed, design contests participated, score/rank in Mathematics Olympiad and any other awards/ distinctions obtained, are encouraged to apply. Period of the Project The contact period for the project will be two months normally during 17 th May 16 th July 2010. However depending on the convenience, the selected candidates can undertake the project at any time subject to the availability of faculty. Stipend A sum of Rs.6,500/ (maximum) will be given as a stipend for a total period of 2 months. The last date for receipt of filled in Application is 17.02.2010.
For more jobs log on to www.technofirstonline.com TF February 2010 63
Abhishek Dhawan www.askganesha.com Aries (March 21-April 19)
This month is seen to bring in new opportunities for you. You might get into a new venture. You shall be able to improve your position with the help of your perception and wisdom. Success would pave the way for career enhancement as well as in your financial position. Your calculated professional moves would show positive results as the month progresses. Lucky Color: Blue. Lucky Number: 2
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
There are positive planetary signs that a deep urge to explore new horizons will raise your career graph. During the mid of the month there shall be ups and downs in your financial position. Be cautious in during any kind of financial transactions. Making the fullest use of aspirations, supportive nature and an open mindedness would enable enjoying work besides giving a solid performance. Lucky Color: Green. Lucky Number: 7 Gemini (May 21-June 21) This month would require extra efforts. You could have to struggle in your area of work to attain success. It is time to use your communicative skills to tackle the situation. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take important decisions in a hurry. Those who are in research field will have to make special efforts to achieve desired results. Your reputation shall only improve if you remain persistent with your efforts. Lucky Color: Navy blue. Lucky Number: 5 Cancer (June 22-July 22) A promising month to look for a change. Viewing things with a different perspective could enable you to get better results. There shall be substantial progress in your area of work by doing consistent efforts. Your self-confidence and adaptability would help you. Well planned system of working should be preferred to get better results. Lucky Color: Red. Lucky Number: 1
Leo ( July 23-Aug. 22) This month shall bring general gains and better progress for you. A careful planning on your part would be required to bring success in projects already undertaken. Your hard work shall definitely yield positive results. Business professionals should avoid new partnerships. Systematic approach in financial matters shall prove effective and positive. Your focused attention would remove all hiccups. Lucky Color: Brick Red. Lucky Number: 8 Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) This planetary position indicates a progressive month for majority of you. Increased income with rise in the bank balance will be the hallmark. On career front, your hard work will pay dividends. You need to find time to sharpen your technical skills as this could help you in getting elevation at their job front. Consider a business opportunity seriously, which comes in your way. Lucky Color: Brown. Lucky Number: 12 64 TF February 2010
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Things at work would remain satisfactory throughout the month. Your fine display of creativity is likely to be appreciated. Colleagues will also support you to make dynamic and progressive changes at work. Good negotiation skills and perseverance will get you a lucrative deal. You might get opportunities to go on short journey in the later half of the month. Lucky Color: Lemon. Lucky Number: 4 Scorpio
(Oct. 23-Nov. 21) This is going to be a result-oriented month, in which much of your professional expectations are likely to be fulfilled. Self-confidence and discipline will be highly required on your part to bring expected results. Strong determination and decision-making trait will certainly help you in overcoming challenging situation. Lucky Color: Violet. Lucky Number: 10
Sagittarius
(Nov. 22-Dec. 21) During the month you will have to take a cautious approach, especially to achieve professional success. There will be new responsibilities on your shoulder. You need to plan your finances well in advances if going for a big investment. Setting off towards new horizons would help enhance career prospects. Lucky Color: Sky Blue. Lucky Number: 6
Capricorn
(Dec. 22-Jan. 19) This month would be better for you in all respect. Enjoying work to keep interest alive and at the same time keeping self-confidence high to handle the pressure would highly benefit. Your Positive attitude will be providing you benefit in your financial position at the end of the month. Your knowledge will give you advantage in your work. Lucky Color: White. Lucky Number: 9
Aquarius
( Jan. 20-Feb. 18) You shall have deliberations on long term plans in the beginning of month. You may have to put forth more efforts to achieve your goals. Your hard-work will help you to mark your place in the eye of the senior personnel. Chance of your promotion with an important position in the hierarchy is also possible. Lucky Color: Black. Lucky Number: 7
Pisces
(Feb. 19-March 20) This month is not very auspicious for your financial position. You have to be more careful in financial dealings during the month. You shall have to struggle to bringing improvement in your professional life. Avoid any kind of risky investments. Be sure to keep your seniors in confidence. Lucky Color: Orange. Lucky Number: 11
The “ I am an Entrepreneur” campaign
T
he “ I am an Entrepreneur” campaign is in its full swing visiting campus and spreading the word of entrepreneurship through social media. The best aspect about the campaign is the students interaction and the enthusiasm of the team and students alike. The event that was held recently is a perfect example of how interesting the campaign has become. This time around we had with us Sanjay Vijayakumar, CEO of Mobme Wireless. He was a total hit with the students , he was inspiring and at the same time his thoughts were clear. His story is a clear sign of how and what entrepreneurship is all about. He spoke of how his initial days were like, he spoke of how his journey is so far and citing examples from his own experience he spoke of entrepreneurship as a journey. There were interactive sessions with the students. The best part about this campaign is the initiatives taken by the students and amongst them the campus ambassadors. Looking ahead to more funfilled campaigns and regular radio and media updates will surely keep everyone posted. I am an Entrepreneur is indeed bringing in a wave.
1.What was the former, popular name of the Internet advertising company Overture Services Inc? 2.Of which global corporate is Christopher Galvin the Chairman and CEO? 3.With which Indian newspaper has Sify.com entered into an alliance for mutual promotion? 4.Xybernaut is a leader in which field of computing? 5.Name the President and COO of Microsoft who is to step down. 6. What is the concept of the `paid listings’ advertising business model? 7. Expand VoIP. 8. In e-mail lingo, if one said that he/she would respond FTASB, what does it mean? 9. Why will cyber-historians regard All Fool’s Day of 1976 as important? 10. In computer folklore, when was the `Stone Age’?
Answers 1. goto.com 2. Motorola 3. Hindustan Times 4. Wearable computing 5. Rick Belluzzo 6. A concept in which companies buy certain search terms to assure their name will appear when a consumer enters that term in a search engine. 7. Voice over Internet Protocol 8. Faster Than A Speeding Bullet 9. The first Apple computer was `born’ on that day. 10.An ill-defined period from ENIAC (1943) to the mid1950s.
66 TF February 2010
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