All is Well That Ends ...

Today I thought of writing my last post of this blog.

Well... It has been a week since I joined Amazon.com as a Technical Product Program Manager (TPPM). Salary is more than my ISB loan ... I have landed at my dream job.. I am very delighted ... Back at work I feel like a different person... I am not anymore afraid of jargons such as Network effects or Core Competence. The place is cool, informal and filled with a lot of brilliant guys ... We have guys from likes of MIT and Carnegie Mellon...

I have moved to Bangalore. The future looks bright. So atlast a happy ending to my MBA life and to my sweet blog. I thank all the readers for their encouragement. Best of Luck for future ISB aspirants !!

Note: I will be blogging on my work and software related topics at http://silicongods.blogspot.com/ Techies can catch me there ...

I would also be a part of http://weirdweirdblog.blogspot.com

I am at my home in Pollachi, reclining after the hectic ride for one year. I think I would be joining on April 11th itself and so the break is not for a long time. I might not join Deloitte. I will give other details after joining.

Well ... We have come to the end of our ISB life. Graduation ceremony was great with Dan, Anil Ambani, Kiran Mazumdar, Godrej, Rajat Gupta and other board members ...

Today we got the yearbook. It has come out pretty well and will definitely serve as a nostalgic memento...

I was busy today with packing stuff, getting no dues etc. I will leave the campus Tomorrow ...

Today we had the graduation rehearsal and group photos. It was pleasant to see the whole atrium covered with graduation gowns and hats. As usual, ISB event management is at its best and the decorations are mindblowing. ASA is putting a lot of efforts to avoid bad media reports on event management as it happened with IIMB.

My packing is done and I will courier them Tomorrow. I am not able to control the nostalgic feelings ... Its time to part ISB ...

Yesterday we had our Graduation party at ITC kakhatiya. It was good fun. finally we have become MBA Graduates ...

Yesterday Placom met with the entire CAS team to give its feedback. We also had a high tea for all the students hosted by CAS. Today we have a dinner at CAS Directpr's house and then PLACOM has a party at some pub.

I think we are closing the placement process Tomorrow with 100% placement. Around April 11th, we will have a national press conference to announce the figures. I think the average this year will be a digit more than last year's.

All my classes and exams are over. I am just enjoying the final week. We have parties daily and the grand finale will be at Kakhatiya (hope the spelling is correct).

So what else … I have to start packing things … I will not be staying for the orientation as I have to join work before that. Finally it looks like I will become an MBA.

Well… I have my last exam tomorrow. I am not in the mood to study so I am just browsing. I browsed through some ISB blogs today and am pleasantly surprised to see the increase in the number of ISB bloggers. Some blogs were simply superb. I felt that I didn’t do my job properly as a blogger reporting on ISB life. I have been lazy and my posts have been infrequent. Hope the next batch bloggers will be frequent and will keep the momentum going …

I was also going through the placement reports of other Bschools … Booming economy has spread positive energy across all the schools, even the second tier ones … I am happy about that … Being with mature students has given me the maturity to overcome the barriers of bschool brands and be happy for a student placed whatever may be the school he is from … Whether he is from top rung school or a third tier school … Pain of being jobless is the same for everyone … I know that feeling … though I was not in such a situation in any part of my life, I have seen my friends and relatives suffering …

Today I had the last class at ISB. Tomorrow I have a presentation and one exam on Saturday. With that, the academic life at ISB comes to an end. We have a week off and the graduation ceremony is on next Saturday.

I thought of answering two questions in the comments section in this blog.

Sujayath - do you think, at the end of it, the 15 lac investment was worth it?Sahil

I would say, definitely.

I wonder why this question is never asked to any IIM guy. I think ISB guys face this question just because the fee is high. Think like this – An average ISB guy gets around 10 L salary and if this is excluded from the fee to effectively compare with the IIMs, the course fee will be just 2 L and other amenities like laptop, hostel etc adding to 3 more lakh. So, the fee is out of question.

I don’t have to talk about faculty. If they are not the best, ISB has no reason to get them to campus.

Personally, for a person like me who has just around 2 -3 years of work ex, this is a huge leap, in terms of learning, designation, salary etc. Apart from that, ISB has refined my intuition process and I can take any work assignment confidently. I have learnt a lot from the experienced peer group, I mean it.

It doesn’t mean though, that every ISB student has been moulded into a great piece … You might find some guys not that promising … As I said already, ISB is a Gym, but not everybody works out.

On : 3/24/2005 4:24:37 AM Truthringer (www) said:
I agree about ISB being pathetic when it comes to media-saviness. MBA is nothing but a perception game. Never mind if half the class get 5 L salaries. If u r able to successfully broadcast the one or two guys who got the big ticket jobs, that has the public flocking. Last yr, ISB had a grad picked up by GS for 150 K. But, hardly anyone knew about it. This time same thing happened in IIMA and the whole world knows... Sujayath, maybe ur bschool administration will do well to attend a few mktg classes from all those profs u get from Wharton....hahahaha

I would say the other way – ISB handles media more effectively than any other institutions.

The common question is why ISB is not making a lot of news (noise??) like other B schools. The reply from me would be that doing so will make ISB look like IIPM which dares to think beyond IIMs. Media is a dangerous weapon and I am totally convinced that ISB communications department is handling it in the best possible way.

Yes, last year GS picked up a guy for 150k. And publishing that news created a lot of problems to the ISB from recruiters’ side. I think they don’t want ISB to publish the figures as other institutions might demand more the next year. I don’t know exactly what the highest offer at ISB is but soon it will be published, if the recruiters agree. You should also note that this year 152k paid in IIMA was for a lateral, which is reasonable. The guy with good experience should be able to get good offers whether he is at ISB or at the top IIMs.

And again as correctly pointed out, MBA is a perception game. Don’t get carried away by the highest salary. What does it mean to us if we are not the ones who are getting it?

Go through this article which makes a lot of sense:

http://in.rediff.com/getahead/2005/mar/23rashmi.htm

Yesterday I had my International Finance exam and it was pathetic. Well, lets blame the prof for not having the courtesy of asking easy questions for us poor chaps in the last term :)

I am going to be busy till Friday – I have three presentations to make within Friday and an exam on Monday. Well, after then I can relax till Graduation day. Mmm … I am eagerly awaiting the demise of the Assignments era …

Just now returned from the section reunion. It was a great fun. We went to Dhola-ri-Dhani. They have actually created a Rajasthan Village setting. I had hookah for the first time (flavored) !! It was fun with rajasthani dance, boating, camel ride etc!!

Regarding placement report, as I said already, it will be published only in April first week. There are official reasons behind it and we cannot push the school to publish it earlier. It has been like this even in the previous years.

Assignments have started strangling me. I have to complete three projects with presentations and two assignments within next week. To worsen the situation, there is an exam this Friday and another one on Monday.

And at this situation, what will I say if someone asks about the life at ISB. Here I go for a yearbook survey “Life at ISB”.

Life? At ISB ??? Life at ISB ranges from small micro organisms to Dinosaurs. There are a lot of parasites who thrive on others for group assignments. There are cockroaches who survived amidst a lot of evolutionary changes. There are few butterflies but still in the cocoon stage. There are buffaloes that don’t care about anything. There are giraffes who stick their neck out to look at others' window. Lions are little different at this jungle. Usually lionesses hunt food for lions and here that’s exactly opposite. ISB is the Noah’s ark where you can find a pair of ALL the species. In modern terminology, we call it diversity.

And guys, take it lightly. Don't shoot questions asking me whether it is true that people override in group assignments at ISB:(

ISB is getting ready to send us out. We have been instructed on exit procedures. The first activity is submitting the “Student Offer Form” to CAS which should be done before March 18th. This exit procedure mail has sent alarm inside my body on the hell lot of pending assignments and projects to be done. Today for the first time, I didn’t watch TV from the morning (which starts at 11:00 AM for me) and am sitting before the laptop full day. Assignments are the most boring part of the ISB life.

Today I thought of writing about Negotiation Analysis class. I was not able to enrol in it in the sixth term and was regretting it. The same course was offered in the last term by a Permanent Faculty (Dishan Kamdar). I attended it without much expectation. Usually permanent faculty in the ISB lose their shine infront of the dazzling superstar faculties from Top universities. But Dishan is too good and I am happy that the quality of permanent faculty is building up year by year inspite of the initial staggering. The new professors who joined this year are really good both in research and teaching. Dishan was mentioning that he had very good offers from other schools and he joined the ISB only because of the environment that fosters research. He said that Ajith has promised him data from all top companies for his research.

Just 19 days for Graduation ...

I think my blog is spreading a view that ISB life (atleast in the last terms) is not as hectic as it is supposed to be. There are guys who are slogging like hell and they will kill me if I say life is not that hectic. The truth is that my character is such that I don't slog much. I am basically a lazy fellow and to add to that, I don't care about grades (doesn’t mean I am a poor student – never went below B grade :)).

According to me, Grades make no sense for guys aiming for a career in IT. I don't know about other areas but am sure grades matter for Consulting / I-Banks. In fact, I was pushed to my limits for the first time in the ISB but soon I learnt the techniques of leading a peaceful life amidst the hectic schedule. Some days I have missed my whole night’s sleep but mostly I sleep for eight hours. I know guys who sleep only four hours a day but I never wanted to disturb my sleep schedule. I do watch TV regularly and movies occasionally. I do have time to read some philosophy books and do have time to gossip.

All I am saying to guys who are afraid of hectic MBA life (especially after reading “ Snapshots of Hell”) is that we can survive in ISB amidst the academic storm.

And I cannot write much about Placements now. I have to wait till the official reports are out. I can write more about placements after that.

mmm… There have been a lot of complaints on my infrequent blogging … Not just comments but I also receive emails scolding me for not blogging regularly… Actually these complaints never hurt me, Infact I am happy that there are some regular readers for this blog …

I just didn’t blog because there was nothing significant happening here. Everything’s as usual - I go for classes, enjoy swimming, play snooker, watch movies and postpone my assignments … There are lot of parties … On Placom side, we have a Placom party and a dinner at the CAS director’s house …

And there’s something dramatic that happened to me. But I cannot write about that now (just to avoid unintended consequences …) I will write about that after graduating ( just three weeks to go … )

And it is true that I didn’t share everything I know about ISB … The only apprehension is that not all readers are mature enough to understand the issues clearly … You can always mail me if you want opinions on anything regarding the ISB …

He identifies and forwards good ads 

From Chait Spam Works ... 

Chait Spam works

Writing about ISB life would be incomplete if I didn’t mention about Chait Spam works .. Chaitanya is the one who supplies spams frequently and keeps our mailboxes vibrant … Else guys like me who don’t have many friends to keep mailbox alive would have no reason to check mail every one hour … To honour him, other ISB students who send spam mails occasionally, dedicate them to Chait Spam works … I will give some of his forwards here … Hail Chaitanya …

The last month at the ISB ... Gym is full ... Swimming pool is crowded ... Snooker table is always occupied ... Faculty are considerate on the workload ... Mails are floating around requesting for batch photographs and comments on friends for the yearbook ... I have started receiving mails from alumni associations … Everyone is talking about joining dates and place of work … The last month at the ISB ...

As I already said, any admitted student interested in taking this blog can mail me at sujayath@yahoo.com … I will also blog on my post-MBA life but that may not be frequent ( I know … I was not frequent even while blogging on ISB life) …

I wanted to do a lot of things in this weekend such as finishing the assignments beforehand so that I am not pressed for time in the weekdays but as usual nothing happened ... Just slept and watched TV … Nothing else …

Campus has come to life again … with parties … with students running for assignments … with the preparations for yearbook … with Goa, Dandeli, Vizag tours … Just one month to go …

BTW, the admission results for Round II will be out Tomorrow … Heard that Round 2 was very competitive and the quality of applications was great …

And … I am planning to pass this blog on to a next batch student … If anyone is interested, just mail me …

The Economic Times Article 

I have included the article that came in ET. It is not well written but may be because they didn't get much information.

This week I am spending in dinners. Two days before, I went for dinner with my core group mates and today I am going with my project mates. Courses are also good and so life is very peaceful.

I have preponed the Deloitte joining date to 25th April. I have to start looking for some apartments.

Two days before, I went to Economic Times office with three other PLACOM members to have a chat with one reporter. We were instructed not to give any figures or any company names. The reporter was interested in knowing the companies visited and the type of salaries we are getting. It was very difficult to convince her without giving company names and figures. I think the official reports will be out only in April first week and till then no figures will be given to media.

While going to the office, we were discussing about the international placements. ISB is uniquely positioned due to its experienced students profile and we felt that this could be utilized in attracting companies with leadership programmes. For example, this time we had BP, Carrier etc. If we take BP, they need people with considerable experience and they recruit in Harvard, Wharton, LBS etc. They recruit only 10 students worldwide and they have recruited from ISB. This is the kind of roles that ISB should be gunning for, because ISB would be the only school in India that could provide these companies with the experienced students.

Exams are over. So I can relax for next three days. From Tomorrow there is a 'Macroeconomics and Policy Instruments’ session by Dr Rangarajan. This will be for three days and will be a half credit session. I haven't decided whether to attend it or not.

Yesterday I evaluated some more applications. Application evaluation by students was completed yesterday. I think interviews will take place till next Wednesday.

Six weeks to Go

As expected, ITES exam was fun. Except for the fact that the time was not sufficient, the questions were really enjoyable. At least in seventh term, I can afford to enjoy the questions despite the fact that I don’t know the answers J

And six weeks to go for graduation. Graduation is on April 2nd. We have Daniel Vasella, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Novartis AG as our chief guest. The preparations have started. The invitations are getting ready. We are expected to vacate our rooms by April 6th.

For alums who are asking for placement details: Please note that I cannot give any figures in public before ISB releases the figures to the media. I would be more than happy to share it with you in mail.

Exams on Monday

Exams start from Monday. I have only two exams and there is one day gap between the exams. In addition, one exam is on open book one and so I don’t think I will have difficulty preparing for the exams. I expect ITES exam to be fun as the model questions were interesting. It doesn’t mean that I am confident of good grades. I have somehow managed to become detached from grades.

Today, I thought of moving to Blogger comments from CommentThis.com as I could have the option of hiding unwanted comments. But later on decided not to do it. Please feel free to leave any comments, but please refrain from using offensive language.

I respect the apprehension that my blog could be considered an official one. I have added a disclaimer stating that this is not an official blog. I have also removed the logo.

I evaluated some more applications yesterday. I selected one for interview inspite of his low GMAT score as he was an avid quizzer and his essays were creative. Someone asked about the selection process and let me give a brief overview. We evaluate on three parameters – Analytics, Leadership and Personality.

Analytics comprises of academic performance in high school, college and GMAT. Low academics could be offset by good extra curricular activities in school/college or workplace. We also see the reputation of the undergrad college and how competitive is the company he got into after graduation. We will also look for analytical evidence from workplace.

Leadership doesn’t necessarily mean managerial experince or leadership in work. In fact, I gave good marks on leadership for one applicant just based on his experience as a head-boy in his school.

And Personality has weightage for experience, integrity, maturity and managerial ability.

A selected candidate should have a good mix of all these. Sometimes one might be a superstar in two of these three factors and might be poor in third but we could still call for interview and probe him on the third factor.

It hurts to see such comments in my blog. I don’t know whether anything is wrong in my part. Anyway, let’s move on. We should not allow these things to affect us.

Our exams start on Monday. I have only two exams this time. I have bid for five courses for the next term. I will drop one course after sampling. I will be majoring in Technology & Finance. Though finance specialization doesn’t seem to be relevant to my job, I have that just as an entry ticket to my prior company. iNautix requires specialization in Finance to get in as a Program Manager. Right now I am not thinking of going back to iNautix but in future I might.

Deloitte arranged for another party with senior leadership (That’s how they call them). The leadership was keen on knowing about what we think of Deloitte and on building good brand name for Deloitte at the ISB. One of them asked us whether we would redo this course if an opportunity was given. My answer was “No”.

Life has not become that hectic as it was before placements. Still I get time to read books. I guess that the next term will be turbo-hectic as all the subjects I have taken are intensive ones.

Two good books I read recently were Fountainhead and Alchemist. Both books are advocating the same concept – “Live for us, our dreams and not for others”. Professor Ravi Aron also raised the same topic in the last class and advised us that there are unlimited opportunities if we could deviate. I think he is not happy with the fact that many students are going behind brands and prestige rather than really figuring out what their dream job is. I am right now trying to find out what my dream is.

I think I should have been more careful in the usage of words ... My previous post sounds as if I am unhappy about the quality of current batch. All I meant was that the new batch should set new benchmarks which would surpass that of the current batch.

Infact, I am proud about the quality of the current batch. Especially, consulting placements have been a lot better this time and almost all the big consulting firms have hired more than what they initially expressed. I strongly believe that the placements in big firms are a matter of student quality rather than the school reputation. School just provides the opportunity and it is the students’ quality that converts this opportunity into offers.

Actually I don’t want to argue in favour of the ISB and I think doing so would be immature in my part. This blog is also not for that. All I can say that I have joined after tremendous research and am happy about my decision after my one year stay. I don’t expect anything more from any school.

Today I was going through MBA forums such as Cool avenues, Pagalguy, Testmagic etc. It reminded me of my position last year. I was almost living in these forums, checking frequently for updates and posting stupid messages (or atleast they look stupid to me looking them after one year). These forums always excite me. They have some kind of energy and vibration that makes U feel as if getting into MBA is like placing your foot on the moon. But I do feel that MBA is represented more of a Gimmick in these forums and I don't think many of them think of what to get from MBA. Even I was like that.

Most of them want to do MBA just to associate themselves with a premiere school brand. They think that MBA is going to change their life completely. MBA is not going to change anything. It is U who have to change while doing MBA.

I was reading one message and was disappointed to read about one ISB guy not having a good reputation among his team. Though this is not going to affect ISB in anyway, I can see that this guy has failed to change himself during the one year. MBA is something like an entrance ticket to a Gym. You have to work-out or it is you who is wasting the opportunity.

Well, Today I went to evaluate some admission applications. The applications are evaluated on three parameters - Analytics, Leadership and Personal. It was good to see quality applications and I feel that next batch will surpass the quality of current batch. In fact, IT SHOULD. Else, no way is ISB going to grow, especially with more competition like IIMA'S one year course.

Classes are restarting from Tomorrow. It really seems difficult to get up after the long hibernation. :)

Today I was thinking about my ISB life. Apart from the salary increase, role change, better future and the prestigious MBA degree that ISB has offered me, there had been a lot of learning for me that tailored me as a better Manager. I have understood not only what is happening in the world around me but also my inner side – my strengths and weaknesses. I was elated some days and depressed some days. Some days were real confidence boosters and some days my ego was beaten down to earth. It was like an iron rod beaten vigorously to from the desired shape.

Well, MBA doesn’t seem like an achievement to me, but as something essential to every human being. Those who have read my initial blogs could see how much my mindset has changed throughout this one year.

Campus is lazy ... So lazy that I haven't seen the campus as lazy as this before ... Interviews are going on ... Not many are left and this time there are a lot of non-IT companies too from a diverse set of industries ...

My next class is only on Monday and I didn't have any classes from Tuesday. I am enjoying this holiday by relaxing ... I get up at 12:00 PM and have lunch ... read some fiction and watch TV till the dinner and then watch some movie till 2:00 AM. This has been my routine for the past three days. I didn't even bother to dust off the course materials.

We visited Deloitte last Friday and were taken to Dinner by the Senior Management. I am pretty impressed with the down-to-earth Senior Management.

Ok, I have accepted Deloitte offer and am formally out of the placement process. I enquired about Deloitte and got a positive response from people working there. So, decided to accept the offer. So, now I am out of this placement tension and can blog regularly. I will visit Deloitte on Friday to see the infrastructure and get a feel of the type of work I will be doing. My joining date is fixed as May 9th.

Today I met Jaideep from Xansa, whom I met during preplacement talks. He told that he was expecting me in the interview. I explained to him that once we accept an offer, we cannot sit for further interviews. We had a small chat and I said to him that I might think about Xansa once Chennai center grows big. Really I don't want to settle in Hyderabad though it is better than Chennai in terms of water problems, temperature etc.

I got my first offer from Deloitte Yesterday Morning 4:00 AM. Big disappoinment was Amazon. Actually I cleared all the three rounds of interviews but finally was not given offer due to my low product experience. I attended Deloitte interview immediately after Amazon disaster and thought I wouldn't be doing it well. Somehow the interview panel was warm and extended me an offer as Senior Analyst. I wanted Asst. Manager role but it looks like they are not going to give it.

I bailed out of NIIT interview and will bail out of other interviews also where I expect the pay to be lesser than what Deloitte has offered. I will attend interviews selectively as I have to opt out of the placement process after the second offer.

Thanks for all the encouragement you guys gave me.

ISB placements started yesterday ... I really don't know whether I can give the numbers before ISB releases it officially ... As of now all I could say is that there were great consulting offers yesterday ...

Coming to my story ... I am still Jobless ... I was not blogging last week since I was preparing for Microsoft interview. It was a great disappointment that MS didn't even shortlist (resume - based) me. I was not shortlisted for CTS, Yahoo & Fidelity also and I think there is a major problem with my EOI/resume. Another reason could be my relatively low experience. Mostly students with 5+ exp are getting shortlisted.

I was shortlisted for IBM yesterday and cleared the GD part. The interview was very short (10 to 15 min) and I was asked fin questions. I had to explain them that I am a techie ( but have taken fin as second concenteration) and not that good in Fin. Somehow I screwed up the interview and was not given an offer. They have given double digit offers but I think acceptance will be very less as salary levels are very low.

Today I had Amazon interview. For everyone except me, it was very technical. But for me, there were not much (or should I say "no") tech questions. The interviewer was really good and said that it doesn't make sense to ask Java/ C++ questions to a Mainframe guy. The first shortlist would be out by Tonight. Then the shortlisted students have to fly to bangalore and there will be four or five more interviews. I am waiting for the results !!

I have also been shortlisted for Kanbay, whose interview is scheduled on Tuesday.