Quitting Project

I asked for a release from my project a few months back. Am getting released next Monday(28th). Was thinking of going into Telecom. These were the guys who had offered me an onsite for a year. Guess 28th will be a turning point for me. It is the day when ISB results would be out and it is the day when I will be quitting my Project of three years and moving to a completely new domain. Creepy . . .

Hit ya Miss (Continuation of the ISB saga)

Had my interview yesterday.
Venue : ISB Hyderabad
Duration : 4:30 - 5:05
Panel: Mr Menon and Manu
To tell you the truth, I don't know what to expect.
The interview started with Mr. Menon and Mr. Manu greeting me and asking me to get seated. The questions were -
1)Tell us something about yourself, your family and what you would like us to know about yourself. (Was interrupted time and again during this)
2)O.k. , what exactly is Bioinformatics?
3)Some question on clinical trials and FDA approvals.
4)What is a placebo and when is it used?(Didnt look quite convinced with my answer. I am into bioinformatics and not clinical trials. I could answer that because I had done some reading.)
5)Why do you think you were made a team lead in six months(Cross questioning on that one)
All this while Manu was doing the talking while Mr. Menon was staring intently and scribbling things on a sheet of paper. Finally he spoke.
6)There are 3 stations A, B and C. Trains leave from A to C and from C to A at regular intervals. A guy at B boards any train that comes to B at any time of the day and heads to either A or C. But on analysis it was found out that 75% of the time he lands at A and only 25% of the time he lands at C. What could have been the reason.(I thought about it and couldnt find any reason as to why that should happen. Because his taking a train was a random event and in no way what happened could be explained. I said I dont know the answer. Mr Menon smiled and told me that he didnt know either. He told me to send him an e-mail if I ever found out what the answer was.)
7)Any questions about ISB.(I asked one and Mr. Menon gave me a convincing reply.)
At this point Manu intervened, just when I thought it was over.
8)Why do you want to do an MBA?(I gave him my reasons. Some cross questioning on that. I told him that technology was my hobby and I wanted to keep it separate from my profession, because I wanted to enjoy my hobby and not do what other people told me to do about my hobby.) 9)But, don't you think if you are doing what your hobby is, you are the happiest person?(Cross questioning on that. Didn't look convinced.) 10)Any more questions on ISB?(I declined saying that I had already asked my only relevant question. On second thoughts, that didn't sound polite on my part.)
11)Goodbyes and Sionaras.
Say what folks? I think I screwed it. I felt that there was too much of cross questioning.
Another thing that I felt was that, the people who were interviewing me hadn't gone through my essays. If they had, they didn't show it. Is there a trick here? The result of this was that I had to build all those points and hence couldnt present to them more interesting parts of my life. Guess, no use crying over split milk. I would suggest all interviewees be prepared for this. On top of it I was offered an on-site for one year at Stockholm today. I had to tell them that I have to wait till the 28th. I guess that didnt go well with them either. I am so stuck up!. I wish ISB gives me a decision today.

Some useful information

Here is some useful information for ISB wannabees. This information is particularly useful for a case study question.
Here is the estimated market size for goods/services that are commonly used
PC Market – 12 million
Internet - 5 million
Cellular Market – 39 million
Primary Schools in India – 665,000
Secondary Schools – 220,000
Higher Secondary Schools – 135,000
General Colleges – 9000
Technical Colleges – 2500
Also of use is this particular link from the Finance Ministry, that gives very useful statistics regarding the country as a whole.
http://indiabudget.nic.in/es2003-04/tables.htm Will keep adding on.

The wait is over

Dear Mr Som,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been short listed for an interview by the ISB Admissions Committee. The schedule is outlined below:
Date: 17/02/2005
Time: 16:30 - 17:00 hrs
Venue: Admissions Office, ISB Campus, Hyderabad
Please bring a copy of your resume to the interview. Confirm your attendance at the interview by return e-mail. We look forward to meeting with you.
Regards,
Have to start my prep immediately. Am planning to take two days off from office.

ISB fever worsens

Called Adcom today. They said that a one week wait is to be expected. Was going through interview questions posted by R2 candidates in the isb-pgp group. These are questions that can be asked to someone with my profile.(IT/3+/Team Lead) Take them with a pinch of salt........ Questions from R2

1. Please feel free to drive the show and tell us what you want to say about yourself, about yr family, yr expectations from ISB etc.
2. Do you see that television set over there? How many inches do you think it is and how many such sets do you think can be sold in India this year? Give me a number finally.
3. How would you increase the number of applicants to ISB?
4. What kind of a manager are you?
5. How/What would you contribute to the ISB?
6. Why does a ship made of steel float whereas a piece of steel sink in water?
7. How has your career progress been at work?
8. Have you done any estimation as part of your work?
9. Do you have an idea of how projects/clients are won by your organization?
10. Do you know how your company quotes for projects? What is the rate?
11. Most of the applicants are from IT background and are engineers, what differentiates you from them.
12. Did you work on RFPs?
13. Whatz your companies turnover and how much growth are you expecting?
14. Career Progression in your company?
15. Post ISB what ?if not this profile then what ??? So told them Plan B. cross question - if not plan B then what ??

ISB fever

Got a mail from adcom day before yesterday saying that my application packet was complete. Now begins the terrible wait. In other news, I got released from ATC and am on the lookout for projects that have an onsite promise.

Memoirs of n MBA

A really funny one. Read along. Memoirs of an MBA... July 26 Dear Diary, I can't hold myself down. My FIRST day on the job!! And I like it already. "Assistant Junior Deputy to the Vice Chairman - Manufacturing". My dad was thrilled when he heard my designation. "What the f!@#!!!" was his exact words. Oh I love it when my parents are happy... Need to meet HR in half an hour. I cant wait to get my first Employee ID Card and cubicle. I hope Parthasarathy Whatayblouse Crappers is the beginning of great things. P.S. I have brought my favorite textbooks back from the insti. OD, OM and HR should help me grow rapidly in the organization. And I WILL handle soft issues before facing hard issues here at PWC. July 28th Dear Diary, Had a lot of fun with HR yesterday. The guy who had recruited me had left a month ago. So they didnt know I was joining. We had a hearty laugh over that one. I'll get my cubicle in a few days time. For the time being I am sharing a nice one with Claire. She's with Corporate Communication. The phone doesnt work though... August 2nd Dear Diary, Met my boss today. He spend a lot of time with my CV and then asked me how I managed to get a job with them. (Even he knows how lucky they are to get me..) He told me to review our material ordering system in the err... umm... the... the "big yellow and blue noisy machine section" of the plant. Claire is working on an "Our Employees Love Us" campaign. The office boy had just resigned. So she got me to pose with an apron and a tray of cookies for a photo. They are going to call me Ramon and use it for ads. I am going to be famous. August 7th Dear Diary, My first breakthrough. I have decided to order nickel ball bearings using the EQO.. QEO... whatever formula. It takes into account item cost, holding cost and weight of ball bearing I think. The purchase guy gave me a funny look when he saw my annual requisition contract form. He is obviously not an MBA... Claire resigned today. She told me carry on with the "Our Employees Love Us" campaign. P.S. Lesson for the week. You cannot order 0.7564 of a ball bearing. It has to be in whole numbers. August 11th Dear Diary, I just got a shipment of 4384 ball bearings. I checked up with Engineering. They said that should be enough for around 14 years of requirement. I gave them 3 and stashed away the rest in a cupboard in my room. If prices of ball bearings go up, I see a lot of potential savings. I have decided to develop informal channels of communication. From tomorrow I will spend a little time next to the coffee machine to understand the unspoken messages within the underbelly of the firm. (That OD book is good) August 14th Dear Diary, I sent my first official letter today. It was to our Facilities manager Merry Le Bian. She is a hottie. I told her that the Coffee Machine takes too much time to reheat between refills. Wrote it in a WAC format and all with a table of contents and everything. She is sure going to impressed!! I spell checked it in MS word and emailed it to her an hour ago. No reply yet. They scrapped the "Our Employees Love Us" campaign. The photo shoot was taking up too much time, and people were being forced to stay late without extra pay. Someone finally went and vandalised the banner. It now reads "Our Employers Shove Us". I offered to model for all the snaps and videos. They called me a dickhead. I was delighted. Dickhead is internal slang for "Big Stud". HR told me. Everyone calls me that... P.S. One more shipment of ball bearings came. Again 4384. The contract can't be changed now. I dont have too much space left in my cupboard. August 25th Dear Diary, My letter came back. It had a pink post-it on it from Merry. "Please proofread" it said. It was CC'd to my boss. How was I supposed to know MS Word would spell check her name and change it to Merry Lesbian????!!!! Where's natural justice? Today five minutes before a meeting the cupboard door broke open. It took me ten minutes to pick up all the ball bearings from the floor. I had to run to the board room for the meeting and slipped on a bearing which rolled under the door. I fell on the coffee machine and tipped coffee powder into the polymer mixing maching tray. Noone saw anything. P.S. Sorry for the long break. My computer crashed. There was a mail from an old friend. She's now married into the Welchia family I think. Crashed after that. Strange name that Welchia... September 2nd Dear Diary, My boss told me I may not last the probation period. I was mighty thrilled to hear that. Imagine!! Permanent in less than three months!! That should be some sort of company record. I made a presentation to all the staff yesterday. Some 300 people were there. I think I sent good vibes. Everyone was smiling and nodding their heads during the presentation. Someone later told me my fly was open the whole time. But I don't think anyone noticed. The presentation was on "An Open Culture: Let the feeling show!!" p.s. 17156 ball bearings. I floated a scheme to give each employee a ball bearing for every year of service. The HR manager immediately convened a meeting with my boss. Every suggestion counts here at PWC. September 4th Dear Diary, I have been transferred to the office in Sub-Saharan Africa. I will be heading the Room Heater and Hot Water Geyser products division. They have also told me to pay for all the ball bearings I bought. I think it speaks much of the entrepreneurial spirit. I have been told to leave immediately for Kujumbinana. P.S. A foreign posting in under a year!!! September 5th Dear Diary, I am in Kujumbinana. We don't have a branch here.......