In this section the alumni and the students, who have been through the mind-boggling rounds of interviews and numerous placement exams can freely share their experiences with NSIT community and with the entire web community. So, feel free and submit your side of story..

Class of 2010

 Class of 2009

 Class of 2008

Class of 2007

Lokesh Jain, currently placed at AVAYA GLOBAL CONNECT, is a passout of the 2010 ECE batch. Well, for most of us, his is another success story. But was the journey so easy? Let us have a look at what the man himself has to say...

The placement session for me was a roller-coaster ride. There were many ups and downs. No doubt I had moments when there were more downs than the ups but as is rightly said “All’s well that ends well”.The race for a good job begins with the decision of opting for a technical profile or a non technical one. In my opinion this differentiation of the job is a misconception and what a person really has to decide on is whether to go for a CORE company or a software job. All the preparation you undertake for a nontechnical job is required in the technical profiles too so it is taken care of by itself.

In my case, I can guide you towards an ECE core job. The fact is that I can only give you options and guide you through the procedure but it is YOU who has to make your schedule, do your analysis and the main part STUDY. My percentage was 78 and I had a keen interest in electronics, so my sole aim was to get an ECE core job. I also had interest in MBA so the nontech, i.e. consulting part was always there, by default, with me. I never studied for software, and to be frank I did not even do C/C++ and the regret still lies with me. From my experience, I would always recommend you to study atleast the basics of C/ C++, not to get a software job but to get a ‘back-up’ job. Don’t forget that whether it is hardware or any other technical profile, having little software knowledge (atleast YK of C and DS) is a necessity. I had C++ in 11th n 12th and I think that is what remained with me till the end, obviously with a little depreciated value, but nonetheless it always helped me.

Preparation:

In order to start preparing you should have an idea of what you are preparing for so begin your preparation by researching and narrowing down the companies you want to sit for. Pay nsitlounge a visit since it can provide you with lot of content about every company and test patterns.

Placement season 2010:

IOCL

ECE students were not allowed to sit for the company.

BHEL

It was scheduled to come two weeks prior to IOCL (where I was finally placed). With PSU’s not having written tests and my percentage being decent enough I got shortlisted for the interview easily which led me to prepare for my interviews and work on my resume. Speaking of resume, try to keep it in one page and be thorough with everything you write. It is also advisable to prepare a COVER LETTER since most of the nontechnical firms ask for it and making it on the last day reduces our chances of cracking a company. Coming back to BHEL, the interviewers discussed about JAINISM, Robotics (since it was mentioned in my RESUME), current affairs and sports. Inspite of a wonderful interview, I did not get through. Since the next companies in line were non technical I focused my preparation on reading Vault guide for case studies and guess estimates. The non technical firms like Deloitte, BCC, Dunnhumby, Future’s First, Nomura, Smart Cube have a standard procedure of written aptitude test followed by Group Discussion and interview which involves case studies, guess estimates and HR. They say blessings are in disguise. Looking back I can say that it was a blessing in disguise that despite clearing all written tests, Group Discussions and resume shortlistings I failed to convert my interviews into a placement offer. Nothing seemed to be going my way but the rejections made me strong and removed the fear of interviews. I now realize that I never analyzed my faults which led to me committing the same mistake again and again resulting in repeated failure. With determination and certain amount of analysis of the previous interviews, I finally managed to land my first job at INFOSYS. Inspite of the fact that I was never ready for a software job, the moment was exhilarating.

AVAYA

With a job in hand and some newly found confidence, I prepared for ECE Core company Avaya. Since it was a networking company, I revised communications along with other favourites like digital, microprocessors etc. so that I could answer to the question “Which is my favourite subject?” The interview went on pretty smoothly with last question being,” what does J-K stand for in JK flipflops”. I did answer that and the reactions of the interview panel affirmed my result.

With only MBA and MS being the only future prospects in the mind of NSITians, I would like to make a special mention about my application to AIRFORCE technical. I cleared their written (EKT) and went to give SSB in Varanasi. I travelled through RAC reservation of train to Varanasi the very next day after Holi. It was a five day testing procedure involving group tasks, individual tasks, physical tasks, mental tasks and interviews. After the rigorous training programme, only 5 students were selected out of the 190 candidates from all over India. I was fortunate enough to be one among the chosen five. It was a very special moment since the training instilled a lot of confidence and will power in me.

Straight from the heart...

Now, some gyan that I want to share with you guys, some things which you should always keep in mind.

• “Never get disheartened”. Although easier said than done but it’s extremely important to say motivated and focused and not feel dejected with failures. This will help you in placements as well as in life too.
• Preparation is where hard work meets luck so for the ones who do not believe in god all I can say is have some faith. Interviews will test your skill and confidence but whether you crack them or not will also depend on luck. Many a times you might feel that people whom you did not consider fit for a xyz company will crack it. Do not despair.
• Success does not require only hard work, it requires smart work. Believe in yourself and maintain a positive outlook since being an NSITian, you will surely land up getting a job if you put in a little effort.I believe placements require constant effort rather than a day’s preparation. Whatever you did in your school and college life will reflect on your personality.
• To my friends who think that they have done nothing in their life, wasted all their time having the NSIT SPECIAL THASS, I would like to say that you just need to search within you for the one thing you did that differentiates you from the rest, you have it, as you are a NSITian and that’s my faith, I have seen it practically and you just need to sell that piece of yours.
• One thing that I forgot to mention was about the percentage, having a good percentage undoubtedly helps, but if you don’t have it, just prepare an answer to reason out, as to why it is low. Show them that you were not a useless chap who wasted all these four years and you have it in you.

For your placement procedure, don’t worry at all. It’s very simple, just like our end semesters just that this time the venue is AUDI and you will be sitting in AC. Rest you will come to know by your placecomm. In these 4 years, one thing that every NSITian learns is to “Never Say Never”.

Chill out and enjoy.

If you are in a fix and unable to make any kind of decision regarding placements, feel free to contact me. I can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . I will be more than obliged to help my juniors anytime.

ATUL BHATIA talks to ARJUN SINGH about his placement in JP Morgan Chase (which came for the first time to NSIT) and Deloitte, he also mentions about his experience as the placement co-ordinator and his internship with Microsoft.

Arjun SINGH:  JP Morgan Chase came to NSIT for the first time could you throw some light on its placement procedure?

ATUL BHATIA:

• Short Listing Procedure

The procedure for selection was common for both NSIT and DCE. Around 250-260 students from NSIT applied for it, and an equal number of students from DCE did too. The short listing did not happen on the basis of submitted resume rather what they took into consideration was their own Performa based on “name, percentage, stream, internship, the project in which you did it, the place where you live”. All this information was to be filled in the Performa. Around 60-70 students were selected from NSIT and so were an equal number from DCE, all on the basis of Performa filled.

• Group Discussion

The next round was Group Discussion. This is one area where I believe, we NSITians lack. We usually worry about GD in the third year or the fourth year when the axe is upon us, but rather one should prepare for it from an early stage, try inculcating an interest in yourself, improve your communication skills, there are various groups like the debating society etc, try taking part in them. A GD brings out your overall personality, how you behave in a society, how you talk to people. All this is something which cannot be inculcated overnight so start early I’ll say!

Out of the 60-70 around 20 people were shortlisted from the GD to the final interview round

• Interview

The VP of the centralised research group was one of the interviewers.

One of the most frequent asked questions is, “tell me about yourself?” I usually take a three pronged route i.e.

1. Background: You tell the interviewer where all have you studied, what is your branch, something about your father, mother, siblings, what all have you learnt and gathered from them etc.
2. Education: You tell about your education and awards, what all have you done in your life till now in backward chronological order.
3. Personality: You tell about your various plus points, this shows how you’d prove to be an asset to the organisation and help in its growth.

Basic questions asked from me during the interview were related to “What is the current sensex reading? How are companies listed on BSE? What is Sensex? Why companies actually enlist themselves? Etc”  They don’t expect you to be experts on the financial world rather they want you to be aware of what’s happening in the world and be interested in it!

I was given two investment strategies and had to choose the best. Precisely speaking it was told that I have ten million with me and I have to invest it to get the maximum return. In first investment strategy, I was getting 1 million every year for 10 years and in second investment scheme I would be getting twenty million (double the amount) at the end of ten years and nothing in between but the probability of getting it is 80% in the second scheme. I had to choose any one out of these to get maximum returns.

HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR PLACEMENTS I’D LIKE TO SHARE

• Here is a pdf which was written by one of my seniors’ Anubhav Aggarval. It is very good have a glance at it.
• I have seen students not preparing about the company. You should prepare properly for the company. Listen and understand the company’s presentation properly. Ask genuine questions from the presentation. There are always people who take note of it. This shows your interest and seriousness.
• After the interview the interviewee usually asks if you have any questions for them. At that point you should have some very genuine questions for them. For example in my interview with adobe I asked them why you guys don’t invest in mobile technologies, most products you develop are very heavy in size and PC based. So the interviewee took serious note of it.
• NEVER LIE OR EXAGGERATE things in your RESUME. Write what you know. There is no need to write 5-7 languages and all. I have seen people write C and DS in their resume and getting selected in ADOBE. Companies require quality rather than quantity.

ARJUN: Sir you got placed in Deloitte too?

ATUL BHATIA: Yes as a matter of fact it comes every year to campus and takes a good number of students. It was a two part test. First covering written aptitude test which is mostly based on CAT, for those who are not preparing for CAT, work on your math and data interpretation skills. Next was the interview round. I was mildly surprised as it was more of a general discussion; it was mostly based upon what you have written in your resume. In my case they mostly discussed about my internship I had done at Microsoft and questions were asked based on that.

ARJUN SINGH: Could you throw some light on your internship at MICROSOFT?

ATUL BHATIA: Microsoft came to campus to recruit people for their summer internship programme. A total of 100-110 people applied for it. They had a written test for one hour which comprised of three subjective questions. Two questions were related to coding and the third one was related to software testing. During the interview, a senior employee of Microsoft gave us 2-3 questions to solve. At the end of this interview, each and every minor detail of the final answer was taken into account.

My work at Microsoft included saving the standard’.ppt’ format of Microsoft to ‘.xaml’ a new web based format being developed by Microsoft and working on Silverlight platform for an analysis tool, an internal project of Microsoft.

ARJUN: Looking back, how do you think being a core member of the placement committee helped you in the long run?

ATUL BHATIA: I was the placement coordinator of NSIT’s Placecomm, during my final year. Though had started assisting my seniors with it superficially from the second year onward; and during my 3rd and 4th year I worked in it with all totality. I find it one of the most valuable things I did being in NSIT. I got to have an opportunity to be in touch with HR managers, VPs of various companies. It quite helped me in the long run. I never got any interview phobia which some get. It improved my communication skills.

There is also a myth that by being in the placement committee you can easily get yourself placed but it is all wrong no one is going to keep you as an asset in their organisation by knowing you for two days. You need to have those skills in you that company requires, failing which no one is going to offer you the position howsoever close you are with them.

ARJUN SINGH: You were obviously very good at your subject, computers, but you chose to sit for a finance company and a consultancy firm, how did this shift happen?

ATUL BHATIA: It was a very calculated decision on my part. I had done C language in my first year and Data Structures in my summers after second semester. Hence in the first two years including my internship, I had a technical profile but I did not see myself coding for a software firm 5-10 years from now. Although had I got a pre-placement offer from Microsoft; maybe I would have been in a different position altogether. But based on my decision I did not even sit for other software development companies that come to the campus.

ARJUN SINGH: What would your advice to juniors be?

ATUL BHATIA: Try interacting more with your seniors. Since the advent of affidavit I’ve seen it going on a decline, and where it is happening it happens mostly with the wrong people. You should maintain and be in touch with your seniors.

• Networking helps a lot. In my case I knew people from as far as the batch of ’99 it helps when you are in the professional world. I can often consult them while taking decisions. Your immediate seniors can guide you in a wide number of ways ranging from internship to placements. Try maintaining good rapport with good people. And you being as seniors should try interacting with juniors yourself.
• Try thinking about your college selflessly, you won’t realise it now but it’d be worth it later on.
• Try utilising your first year properly, I have seen people being guided as, “arey abhi toh first year hai, third year mein ja ke karna!” this is absolutely wrong. Try your hands at various avenues; start in your first year itself. Don’t assume that once you have got into NSIT everything is going to be a cake walk, and you’d get easily placed. In our year when recession was at its peak everything was not hunky-dory with things.
• Lastly and most importantly, taking part in extra-curricular and everything is fun, but nothing should come at the cost of your academics, which should remain your top priority. Try to maintain a percentage around 75!

Students from NSIT are the best in India, all they have to do is realise their potential. Once they do that all, sky is truly the limit..!

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