How NOT to BELL the (wild) CAT????

I have seen people slogging for CAT for months and years, solving all competitive booksand exams.Each year thousands of candidates appear for the CAT; only few make it totheir desired B-schools. I used to wonder, does solving CAT, getting to B-school makeone a good manager. But it’s my personal view point n don’t have anything about thosebanging the CAT.

Would like to present an interesting story of my friend and his tips on how not to prepare for the CAT !!!!

 Tip No 1: Join CAT classes

First step join a famous coaching institute which offers some 5-6 thousand pages of material and some 50 prep tests including mocks and other tests. Join weekend batch and pray for some good looking girls in your batch

Tip No 2: How to ensure the time spent in class is worthwhile.

On the first day of the class as soon as you enter scan for girls again and take a seat as near as possible to the hottest girl u find in the class and once done try to strike a conversation with the girl.. hardly people care for the class.. If the girl talks to u then u will be more than happy that the thousands u paid the for the coaching centers are not going to be wasted..

Tip No 3: Time Spent after class hours.

After the class, if u are lucky to have had the conversation wait for the girl to leave and follow her on the bike and offer her a ride... whole class goes on staring the girl and observing her tiniest moments hardly anything written on the book,

Tip No 4: First Mock Test

Weeks pass by mocks start; first mock would be a disaster at this rate of reading then get bit serious for 2 -3 days and then same time work increases at office and u end up staying late to meet releases deadlines, customer issues.

Somehow these things always come when cat is around.. When there is no exam there would be weeks at office when there was now work and suddenly whole lot of work comes.

Tip No 5: On Mock Test Disaster- Failures are stepping stones

You curse the coaching class for putting that hot girl in the same batch. You curse yourself for staring at her rather than not listening to the class and then you curse the coaching class again for not teaching well enough after charging so much fees and then u start to prepare and suddenly remember various online forums such as totalgadha.com or pagalguy.com which u never used for your prep. and then u realize just weeks before that it’s such a useful site where u would have got a lot of help and u again blame yourself for not seeing them earlier.

u see the mock scores of people scoring 120+ out of 180 and then feel bad that u wasted one year and still never crossed 60+ out of 180.

Tip No 6: Peaking at the right time as our Dhoni says!!

Rare mocks u feels happy when you clear the cutoffs for both the section. but in the same mocks there will be lot of people who would have scored almost out of out and even despite all this u convince yourself that anything can happen on the D-day. it all depends on that day doesn’t matter what u prepare n what u didn’t and then u also console yourself saying that AIMCATS are way tougher than actual CAT and thus your below par score in AIMCAT is equal to a par score in CAT finally Sept comes and then the forms are sold

Tip No 7: Some Time Pass to Relax already stressed mind...

Go to the axis bank on day one and think that by 9 if I go ill take the form n go to office from there but by 9 there will be a queue as long as one km in front of the bank waiting for the cat forms then call up your manager and tell him some reason that you will be late n will reach by noon. while standing in the line u count all the beautiful girls and wish that they worked with u and then scold your manager for not getting good girls in your team and once u get the form u book a last slot hoping that it will give u extra 2 3 weeks to prepare once the exam starts but essentially all those 3 weeks full end up reading the CAT experiences on pagalguy where people post their test experiences and invariably everyone who posts tells at the end 2 things

One that the CAT was lot easier than AIMCATS... Suddenly u feel happy that u had already came across that thought during your prep

Second that people who have not yet taken the test should not read the exam experiences

but invariably the only people who reads them are the ones who want to take the exam as the ones who finished with it will be either happy n partying that their exam was well or sad and still be partying that this would be their last party and that from next day they would start for the next season

Tip No 8: On days just before Exam

Two days before the exam the tension sets in and then u realize reading somewhere on the online forum that u should not read a lot just before exam so u stop it and then u start praying to all gods. Somehow people remember gods just before exams or when they are in trouble. u make all sort of offering pray to balaji that you will offer your hair if u get good score as if balaji would give u a better score for your hair..

Tip No 9: D-Day

And then on the exam day u go in eagerly and come back utterly disappointed. You come home after doing badly and eagerly see online if the exam was diff for others too.

Tip No 10:  Better Luck Next Time

Seeing others decent attempts one realizes that his exam was bad and that day u promise that the next year you will bell the cat. Prepare for the next week or so for the next year exam n then feel that u need break and stop it altogether.

Finally one last line is at the end of cat season neither one got the girl nor did he crack the exam except for losing the money 

So for guys all out there preparing for CAT, hope it was good lessons learnt J.. Good luck..

Work in Product Companies vs work in Service Companies

I started my career in a product company. After being worked for 3.5 years, I decided to switch job to a service company where I experienced shocking change wrt work culture, quality of work etc. Hence I would like to write down my experience of working in a product company to that of a service company. It would be helpful for those in dilemma while switching jobs.

First of all, there is a drastic change in work culture between two kinds of business.

In a product company, there is usually a team where there is already a defined process, tools, methodologies and experienced people to provide guidance. It would be lot helpful especially for freshers. When compared to a service company, there is no defined process as such (although many might claim to be a CMM level 5 company). Team members are not very cordial as there is immense pressure on each individual to a short deadline.

In terms of quality of work, there is deeper understanding of domain, technology in a product company where as domain knowledge, understanding of tools hardly matter in a service company. The Nature of work can be very stressful in a service company where one is expected to put in extended working hours during weekdays and weekends. Creativity and innovation in work generally tend to take a back seat in a service company due to work pressure and short deadlines.

But one can expect a quick vertical growth in a service company compared to Product Company.

Working in Service Company is like investing in short term stocks where you expect to get quicker smaller returns where as working in product company is like investing in long term stocks where one can expect huge benefits after long time of many years.

But one might tend to feel stagnated and at times frustrated due to slow nature of environment in a product company especially if one doesn’t like what he does. In those scenarios, one should take a right decision to switch job based on interest rather than points like money, level of experience and designation. It’s up to an individual where he is happy working and what his priorities are…..

Recycling for a Better Tomorrow- by Modhu

Eventually small particles of plastic become part of our soil and percolates into our water bodies. But what happens to the plastic that has not found a place in the land fill or in the recycling factory? They just drift around us. Get stuck in tree branches, swept into drainages to clog them, float on lakes making them ugly and find their way into oceans only to be confused by marine life to be food. To mitigate all these problems and the impact that plastic bags have on our environment, the local municipal bodies and Government has laid some regulations on the usage and kind of plastic that is to be used in the market. But is this enough? Do we need moral policing by our governing bodies to tell us about using plastic bags and its effect on the environment?

Here's my friend who is trying to do his bit to avoid plastic.

Me: Hi, Modhu.. What is ur prayaas all about? Could you  explain?

Modhu :

We at Prayaas believe that every plastic used suffocates our environment just that much more. Prayaas is an initiative of like-minded people. We aim to make the best use of available resources and be part of the growing pool of groups building a clean and green society. We believe that plastic can just not be removed from our daily life. We can make a conscious effort to regulate the use of plastic and hence generate less plastic waste. All we need to do is say NO to Plastic Bags and carry our own bags as much as possible when we go out shopping. In this effort we at Prayaas have bags called SyUta made from old clothes.

Me : How good are these bags?

Modhu: We have ensured that the bags are sanitized before being sold to citizens. Not only are the bags recyclable, but they last longer, are durable, can be easily washed and are compact. We encourage people to give away their old clothes in exchange for these trendy bags. The exchange achieves a dual purpose: Old clothes are given a fresh lease of life and people find another reason to say No to Plastic Bags.

We also create job opportunities for the unemployed by hiring them to tailor these bags.  So every time you buy a cloth bag from us you can feel proud of the chain you are an integral part of.

Me: What are your other activities?

Modhu : Well the buck doesn’t stop here with Prayaas, we have an artisan who can convert any household waste into attractive flowers, and we call as Pushp.

The flowers are made from plastic covers, recycled paper, cloth, invitation cards, sea shells, mango pips and other waste that generally lands in the trash. The flowers are crafted beautifully and arranged in Ikebana style. It is an apt answer to your general confusion of finding an appropriate gift or for home décor. One look at Push and you will be mesmerized by the craftsmanship and the materials that have been transformed.

Me: Your message?

Modhu: Join our movement in reducing the plastic bag consumption and in recycling old clothes and house hold waste. For a better tomorrow, let's recycle.

Being Spiritual

In today's fast pace world, we hardly find time to meet out daily chores. One word heard most often I hear from my maid to drivers to friends to relatives is that there is no time. Even waiting in traffic signals has become so intolerable that there is continous honking of horns the moment signal changes from red to green.This has resulted in change in lifestyle with the food we eat to the way we socialise and handle ourselves.

 

But have we realised the impact it has caused over a time. Most often, health problems occur due to stressful life. It also results in unsatisfied relationships, lack of social health, below performance and finally TOTAL BURN OUT.

My commuting time in bus from home to office gives me ample time to think about where I m heading to?I have to thank traffic jams because this is the time I get to watch people, observe them and have self realization.

The good old practice of getting up early, eating at home and on time,and having family dinners together and sleeping early used to be stress-free. But now, working different time zones, different cultures and different technologies, and companies, have disturbed the whole fabric of a routine life.

One simple remedy can be to go spiritual.
Spirituality is not about knowing few mantras , dressing in conventional style or reciting few slokas. Its about connecting with one's innerself.It makes life more meaningful and one can understand the bigger picture instead of struggling in narrow mindedness.

Meditation provides inner strength and it rejuventes the mind.

I used to do Yoga as part of my corporate tie up. It was very relaxing and enrgising at the end of the day.This idea of having corporate tie ups is a good idea and it helps in creating a positive workforce and healthy individuals of sound physical, emotional, social, intellectual beings.

Chocolates , Chocolates, Chocolates!!!!

Its hardly rare to find someone who doesnt like chocolates. For those in the software industry , foreign chocolates are almost common. I would like to mention about a place in Cologne Germany where is a museum dedicated exclusively to Chocolates.

From cocoa cultivation to the finished chocolate, from its climatic conditions to geographical origins, to making of chocolates from Cocoa one can experience all the aspects of Chocolate at  Chocolate Museum in Cologne.

Some of the pics shared below:

That Cool Guy on Bike

Its night 1AM.

(Scene: A cop in night duty has held a guy and questions him about his late night drive)

Cop : Hey Why are you driving at this time?
Guy: Friend's birthday party.

Cop : Are u drunk?
Guy : No

Cop : Blow
Guy : Ugh Ugh ... see i havent drunk

Cop : Give me your dad's phone no
Guy : xxxxxxxx

Cop : Dialled and ringing, no one's answering..
Guy : Who will be in office at this time?( That was Dad's office number :D)

Cop : Lets go to station.
Guy : Yes Lets go

On the way,

Cop : how much money u have?
Guy : No money.I m ready to go to station

The Cop eventually gets fed up and let the guy go.

This guy keep getting caught in such situations because he goes around 70 kms in bangalore everyday just to meet his friends and keep everyone happy..!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He isnt worried abt his time or money.. All he wants are good memories of days spent together with his friends, for trying out all weird stuff so that he doesnt regret later that he didnt enjoy life as he wanted.

Sometimes I think its good to be like him-> carefree and merry go lucky guy.
After all , what will you achieve by working crazily and being perfect.. Only Stress related diseases.

 

The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment.

 As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans". 

Its Appraisal Time!!!!

Its that time of the year where colleagues visit cafeteria more often. Its that time of the year for gossips, comparing and taking a tough decision of even quitting.

For those who dont know about it ,let me introduce it in a briefly.

Once a person joins an organisation, He/ she is responsible directly or indirectly forthe business and revenue of the organisation every year. At the end of the year, the organisation does share its profit based on one's contribution which is reflected as hike.People's contribution vary in different measures at different times.But who is to decide if one's contribution is significant or not? its all about doing one's job in the

 best possible way.

For engineers, its about innovating process, algorithms and technical concepts which contributes to the organisation.As an engineer , one is expected to be fundamentally sound in what one does and he executes the assigned job as expected.For leaders and management, its about providing direction to engineers. Its about giving guidance and expertise so that the goal of the organisation is met.A performance appraisal should be the opportunity for a leader in an organisation to set the development opportunities for his team .It should be an invigorating, refreshing occasion.But most of times it becomes a critizingsession and employess take extreme decisions.

Performance appraisal systems which are conducted just for routine sake , where the employee concerns arent given weightage, he/she is not provided with any direction are a failure and should be stopped for the good of the organisation.It should

 create an atmosphere where it brings out the best in them by identifying defects and providing a corrective action.A leader should posses the communicative skill to get the new joinee/experienced employee to believe his logical conclusions abt his/her performance is correct.

The forced bell curve; expecting in any group that there will be some poor employees and some great employees is a common bias.A leader should always be unbiased and supportive to the team. Most of the times, employee decides to quit not because

he isnt happy with work , but he isnt happy with his boss.

On the other hand, engineers  need to take responsibility for their work and put in efforts to improve continously. Ideas should be put forth and executed to improve the current job.Because at the end of the day, its all about engineering and we are bound

 to identify problem areas and provide solutions.

A good performance system should have structure that fits the nature of the business.Whether an employee's performance is below where it needs to be or above where we expect it to be, a leader must give immediate feedback.Not only do the leaders

should be a coach he also need to be able to take criticism from subordinates and peers and deal with it.

On the whole, both engineers and people playing leadership roles should ultimately work to meet the goals of the organisation rather than finding faults with each other and

creating a negative ambience at work.

Best of Luck for Appraisals!!!!