Interviews are stressing, and I did find this out the hard way. It took just two interviews to flush out all my energy and concentration.
The night before, on the 30th of November, the shortlists for Microsoft and Fair Isaac were put online. I was selected in both. The interviews were to start early morning at around 8 on the 1st of December. I couldn’t sleep. I lay in my bed, body tried, but mind racing. I was trying to anticipate all that could happen the next day. What things could go wrong, was I unprepared, did I forget to revise something, and so on. Finally I fell asleep at around 3 in the night, only to wake up 3 hours later.
Although I had slept less, I was feeling awake. The thought of interviews got me out of my bed, and pretty soon I was dressed up in the formals, ready for my first interview. I just had a single banana for the breakfast, and was on my way to Takshila.
The first activity scheduled for me was a group discussion for Fair Isaac. Unfortunately, the very thought of group discussion unnerves me. It were one of the worst 30 minutes of my life. However, I was selected for the next round of interviews at Fair Isaac.
But after the group discussion, I headed off to the main building TnP office for my interview with Microsoft. The first round went well. I was asked a simple enough question and was required to produce a bugless code. Also I had to propose a few test cases that I could use to test the function. I did so. I was cleared for the next round.
A sadist man welcomed me for the next round of interview for Microsoft. He asked me to code a threaded program. Not having studied threads, I wasn’t able to do anything. Next he asked me if I could code the implementation of databases using B+ trees. No again. Next I was given a simple enough algorithm and was required to analyse its average time complexity. Failed again. And that was it, the end of the road for me at Microsoft.
Though disappointed, I refused to let it kill my spirits. I had interviews with Fair Isaac pending. I decided to go for it. It was already 2 in the afternoon and I had not yet had my lunch. But strangely enough, I wasn’t feeling hungry either. So I went back to Takshila once again to appear for my Fair Isaac interview.
I shall never be able to explain the next half an hour. It was completely reverse of what I had prepared for. My interviewer, an alumni of this institue, Kashyap, was a cool person. He greeted me with a smile and tried to make me feel confortable. He let me know that he wanted interview me for the RnD profile. I couldn’t have believed my ears! This was what I was hoping for. He proposed a few questiones, 4 to be exact, of which I think I was able to answer just one. Its bad, but he was convinced that I could be the right person for this job.
I met Pooja next. She was from the HR department, and she let me know about my chances of being selected for the RnD profile. She also explaned to me in detail the pay structure as listed out for the RnD profile. Half the things went over my head. I need to get used to things now. Talking to her felt more like chatting with a friend than being interviewed for a posiiton. At this point of time, it was almost confirmed that I would be selected. I was happy.
I am not yet completely clear about the kind of work that is done in the RnD department at Fair Isaac, but I had been told it was a good challenging task to take up. Positive feedbacks from seniors convinced me that this is probably what I wanted to do. And then Kashyap told me more about his work, mentioning graph theory, clustering and something else which I always keep forgetting. It sounds pretty interesting, and I am now looking forward to joining the company in a few months time. I also spoke to the head of the team, Naveen is the name I believe. He also briefed me about the activities in the group and what I could expect to be working at as a part of this team.
The official confirmation was relayed to me just before the start of Yahoo’s written test. I skipped the test, as I didn’t have to write them anymore. The next hour was the best of my life. Telling everybody that you have finally been employed and hearing their reactions is heartening. Everybody in the wing was ecstatic. Lots of treats to follow.
And now, I am feeling exhausted. I want to sleep for hours together. I want a rest. And I definitely don’t want this day to come again in my life, ever again. Trust me, getting yourself a job at IIT is no joke, at least not if you are aiming at the hot shots. You need to be mentally and physically prepared for long stressful hours. I am glad things are over. They finally turned into my favour. All’s well that end’s well.
PS A: Raunaq Tambi, my wingmate, also from Hyderabad, has also been selected at Fair Isaac. Yipee !
Ps B: Perhaps this is the best performance by our wing in placements – two job offers on the first day. Yo !
PS C: Only 19 have been placed this year compared to the 77 last year. Yup, I am one of the 19 to have been offered a job position. Now thats something !
PS D: The first thing that came to my mind when I read the official confirmation was – blip.
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