Blogs by Shubham Korde

The First Job

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 22:12:03 GMT

Disclaimer: The purpose of this blog is to paint a picture of how the placements look like at IITK. The views presented are my personal experiences and opinions.

It is a chilly night, the first in December. Everything has been building up to this moment: all the anticipation and all the preparation for this day. Looking around, you will find that everyone is suited up in black or blue. But you could see clearly on each of those faces that they are stressed. It feels like that black blazer is covering up the real timid, self-conscious and scared person underneath. It is a high-stakes game. People prepare day and night for that one moment. It is the night when your destiny is decided. Careers might change in just a couple of hours. A life-changing opportunity could come your way, completely altering your financial situation and that of your loved ones. In just a few short minutes, you can go from feeling overwhelmed to overwhelmed with joy. You can also be unlucky. You can get dragged on for a couple of days without even knowing how and where things are going wrong.

The situation is tense. Every now and then, you see people nervous. Worried about their future. Many times you see people dejected. Cursing themselves after crumbling under the pressure of the interview. Sometimes you could also see numb eyes. There are many things at stake and a lot to win. A lot to lose. Placements are the truest depiction of life. It teaches you a lot. It moulds you as a person. It exposes your weaknesses and shows you your strength. It teaches you the importance of preparation and the value of excellence. Still, at the same time, it also reminds you of the importance of luck. This year, I got to witness the placement season firsthand. So let me first describe my journey.

INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE

I interned with ITC Limited during the summer season. I spent a few months in Bangalore working in the Foods Business Division of ITC in the chocolate category. Yes! You heard it right; I worked in a chocolate factory for two months. Every day at 4 pm, I used to get to eat luxury chocolates for free. No wonder I had put on weight during those two months. I was also away from home and campus for the first time. It was tough initially, but it became super fun towards the end. More about this in a separate blog. As it turned out, I lost interest in my internship towards the end for various reasons. I had made good friends, so I wanted to have more fun; I did not enjoy working in a factory where there were no people my age, and I had decided where I wanted to get my first job.

As it turned out, I did not receive a PPO from ITC as a result of candid communication with my mentor following a long workday. As a result, I needed to prepare for the placement season. Even before my internship started, I was sure I would target consulting during the placement season. I had built the profile for it, and I knew all the pros and cons of it.

WHY CONSULTING?

Here is why I chose consulting as a career choice. These are completely honest reasons (not the ones I told in the interviews, of course).

Firstly, confusion. When you do not know what you want to do, the best thing is to postpone attaching yourself to any particular sector. I did not know which sector I belonged to, so the sector-agnostic nature of the job was beautiful.
Second, there’s the tag. When interacting with people outside of campus, I realised that tags are essential. Getting into IIT is important because it adds the title “IITian” to your name. Similarly, joining an MBB adds a tag next to your name, which is extremely valuable.

Consultants live in really nice hotels

Thirdly, the seniors. I’ve always enjoyed tackling difficult tasks. Things that only a few people are capable of. MBB is only open to a select few. It is a very competitive field. Consider putting yourself in my shoes for a moment. Anirudh Ojha, Vasundhara Rakesh, Nikunj Kothari, Tushar Goswami, Vatsalya Tandon, and Yash Maheshwari were among those who entered the consulting industry in Y17. I knew a few of them personally and had heard much about them. It blew my mind when I stalked these people on LinkedIn. There must be a reason why they all joined consulting.
Lastly, I was pushed away from tech when I did not get a tech internship during the internship season. I would have worked my ass off converting it into a PPO if I had. So it was a significant bit of luck.

PS: I’d seen suits, and consulting seemed a lot like Harvey Specter’s job.

Everyone wears suits in consulting (I hope)

QUANT V/S CONSULTING

I did have doubts about choosing between quant and consulting. When a job pays in crores, preferring another job over it always raises doubts. Ultimately, I came to the logical conclusion that apart from my love for money, nothing in the job matched my profile or my long-term goals. It was more challenging than it seems now. I had to think for days before making this choice. In retrospect, it was the correct decision.

THE TWIST

The big story this year was that the three big consulting firms, Mckinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company, referred to collectively as MBB, decided to hire through the SPO rather than the President’s Office. It was significant because, unlike previous years, the final offers would now be made only on the first of December, rather than in September. I knew it was going to be a long race to the finish line, and I was prepared for it.

THE MCKINSEY MASTERPLAN

Mckinsey and Company, the oldest and most reputed of the MBB was the first release the shortlists. I had always expected myself to be shortlisted. When the shortlist came out, I was distraught to not find my name in the list. It humbled me. I was very high on confidence till then, maybe even a little bit overconfident. Although it lowered my confidence, it did make me realise that the process was not going to be as easy as I had expected. I learnt that life can always throw curveballs at you and you should always be ready for it.

But let us for a moment appreciate the intelligence behind this move. It was genius. They rolled out offers to 7 candidates within two weeks after shortlisting. To avoid any action by SPO, they gave verbal confirmations, which means that officially no one could take any action. Their giving offers to one of the Overall Placement Coordinators made things simpler. However, a partner was giving verbal confirmation, meaning that every 20-21-year-old kid would be convinced about its credibility. They got the candidates they wanted quickly without breaking a sweat. They did it on the correct campus because the SPO is totally student-run here, meaning that if you give the offer to one of the Overall Placement Coordinators, BCG and Bain cannot do shit. They did it correctly and put their reputation to the best use. They knew that people having Mckinsey offers would stop prepping for BCG and Bain, which automatically reduces the risk of them taking other offers. It was a very well-thought-out strategy. These are the kinds of strategies that make me love consulting.

THE PREPARATION MONTHS

Bain case workshop on campus

Once I was shortlisted, I knew the BCG and Bain rounds would be relatively easy. I prepared thoroughly, solved numerous cases, and put myself in the best possible mental state prior to the hotel visits where the preliminary rounds were held. A break during the exams and a pleasant trip to Roorkee helped me distract myself from the monotonous preparation. It allowed me to be fresh and ready when it counted. I was never overly concerned with the preparation. Consulting preparation is very relaxed. If you solve and analyze a couple of cases every day for 45 days, you will be as good as any other candidate on the planet. I wasted a lot of time last semester because consulting preparation isn’t difficult. I did nothing extracurricular, and my academic performance was also mediocre.

Taking regular breaks ft. Thomso, Roorkee

I was prepared when we were taken to Lucknow for a BCG lunch. I went through two rounds. Both went off without a hitch. The last round went so well that I knew I’d nailed it the moment it was over. During the Bain outing in Gurgaon, my meeting with Bain Associate Partner did not go as planned. That was the reason I chose BCG over Bain. I continued to prepare after the rounds. On the D day, I was prepared to give a few more rounds. I was also preparing my backup plan. Aside from BCG and Bain, I had been considered for positions at Arthur D. Little and Alvarez Marsal. I had also begun quant preparations near the end, just in case I needed a backup. Graviton and WorldQuant both had me on their shortlists. Aside from these, I was also considered for Apple. I felt pretty at ease with 7 shortlists in the 1.1 slot.

BCG SOFT OFFER

Consulting firms will go to any length to ensure they get the candidates they want. Most of them make soft offers before final interviews to gain the candidate’s preference. A soft offer is essentially a guarantee that you will receive the real offer if you prefer that company over others.

There were still ten days until the big day. Along with consulting, I was preparing for quant. The pressure was increasing. I had just gotten out of bed one evening when I received the call about the soft offer. I was overjoyed. All of the stress and tension vanished in a matter of minutes. I finally had an offer in hand. I paused my preparations. The only real question was whether or not I should prepare for Bain interviews. I also got a call from Bain a few days before the big day. However, it was not a soft offer. It simply meant that I had a good chance. But I had already decided to join BCG at that point. So BCG it was!

I will be joining BCG

TIPS AND TRICKS

I can go into a lot of detail about how to prepare for consulting but I am not going to. Here are the most important tips:

Practice a lot. The more you practice, the more confident you get. I solved 100+ cases and spectated/interviewed 80+ cases. Each case and each person’s solution teaches you something new. You will never be perfect; hence you will never stop learning.
The approach is more important than the solution. A clearly communicated and correct approach is more important to the interviewer than the final answer.
Do not be shy about solving cases with seniors. I solved around 20 cases with seniors. When I say, seniors mean all those who know about case prep and not just the company-assigned buddies. Feel free to contact anyone and request to solve a case. The worst they could say is no.
Think out of the box. It is challenging to take a step back and think about the case from an external point of view. The more you practice this, the more insights and observations you can make about the case.
Take regular breaks. Solving ten cases in a day will never help. It is not advisable to solve more than two cases per day. Your brain will become saturated numerous times. Take a few days off and then return to it.
Solve cases with a wide variety of people. Feedback often gets repetitive. Find people outside campus who are preparing for consulting.
Solve one book entirely instead of solving only simpler cases of different books.
Buddies can be dumb. My buddy from Arthur D. Little was super dumb. So don’t get disheartened.
Nail the cases with your senior buddies. Their feedback is precious while creating the hotlist.
Make a list of all the questions that MBB partners asked your seniors during the selection process. I also reached out to my juniors who had received internship offers from BCG and Bain. The cases will be repeated numerous times. Doing this for consulting is as important as completing the past 40-year papers for JEE advanced.
HR questions and resume preparation are equally crucial as case preparation.
Enjoy the process. I loved solving cases, and you should enjoy it too.

MY DAY ONE

On the first day, I was pretty relaxed. I had already accepted BCG’s soft offer. The only thing that remained was a formal interview with the partner. My interview began when the clock struck 12 a.m. It was more of a conversation about my internship than an interview. After a few questions here and there, it was over in 20 minutes. I thought I’d get another round, but that wasn’t the case. I was informed right away that I had received the offer. That was the end of it. That was my first day.

THE REAL DAY ONE

Day 1 Scenes

Although it was pretty simple for me, it was not the case for most others. With a recession around the corner, many big companies were laying off their employees like crazy. So naturally, the placements were going to be affected due to this. Some of the best companies that hired many students in the 1.1 slot did not even show up this year, like Microsoft, Google and Goldman Sachs. Some good companies, like Alphagrep, backed out at the very last moment. Many companies came to the campus and left without hiring a single student. The number of offers given per company was also generally lower. Even in consulting, the total number of offers was significantly lesser at 13 than 17 last year. Although Mckinsey gave 7 offers, BCG and Bain gave 1 and 5, respectively, less than 4 and 12 last year.

THE TRAP

Each slot lasts for around 7 hours. The trap is that even if you have been shortlisted by ten companies in a given slot, you can interview for only three of them. This means that people have to choose which of the three companies to interview it. Generally, people pick the top three companies and interview there. Now, if one is unlucky and does not make the cut in any of those three companies, the person is doomed. It is because, despite shortlists, the person could only interview in some other companies in the same slot. Add to it the physical and mental fatigue because of continuous interviews. Even the best and the most confident people can become miserable if stuck in this trap. Millions of thoughts storm through the person’s mind as they experience a persistent feelings of disappointment, rejection, sadness and self-doubt. You could feel they are stuck and tired. The drooping shoulders and the stress on the forehead is as visible as they possibly could be. You want to help them out, but there is only so much you can do. There is only so much in your control. A few more hours later, even people around start feeling slightly restless. Some moments cheer up everyone, but the happiness soon fades away as the fear and tension of the following interview set in, overpowering the laughter.

THE BLESSING

Having friends is like a blessing when you’re in a hopeless situation and need a reason to keep going. Friendships are strengthened by placements. I’ve witnessed a large group of a person’s friends waiting outside an interview room to offer moral support while he gives interviews inside. Interview scheduling becomes more crucial in the later time slots, and you’ll require your friends to help you out.

THE BLISS

Sooner or later, everyone gets an offer. It is a moment of bliss. The tension is gone. You can finally remove that blue blazer which has been a heavy burden. You can finally cry. You can finally call your parents and tell them it is all sorted now. You can hug your friends who went through the entire journey and felt the same emotions alongside you. Some of them might be crying even if you are not. You can finally get some sleep. You finally have your “first job”.

You finally have a job

People are not paid what they're worth: they're paid what they're able to negotiate.

—Nick Hanauer

The magic of a place

Sat, 17 Dec 2022 22:12:03 GMT

The magical place

I was going through the toughest and most emotionally challenging phases of my life when I had to start the last year of my undergraduate degree at IIT Kanpur. I did not want to leave home. I did not want to go back to campus. All the good things had suddenly stopped, and it felt like life, for a moment, had zero inspiration. It was plain, uninteresting and boring.

I don’t generally cry while going away from home to go to college. I did not shed a tear while leaving home for the first time in my fresher year. I did not cry while leaving, even after I had spent 18 months at home due to the pandemic. This time, it was different. I cried. It was not visible, but I did. I did not want to go back. I did not want to meet anyone. Did not want to talk. I just wanted to stay alone and knew it would not be possible back on campus.

Have you heard stories about magical places? Something like Hogwarts. A place where only good things happen, a place which makes you stronger and happier, a place which heals you? I was going there. I might be dramatizing a bit, but if I had to write it again, I probably wouldn’t use any different words.

There is a good chance you have heard me say this if you have met me in the past year., “It’s not about the place, money or things; it’s about the people. It is always about the people.” So I think the title of this article is misleading. The article isn’t about a magical place. Instead, it’s about people who are magical. People who might look like just you and me but in everyone else’s life but in mine, they are magical. People who are my real friends. People who would listen to anything I might want to share. People who would come running when I needed them. People I could let go of all my worries and cares with. People with whom even a short amount of time could make you feel better. I met such magical people in this magical place. The experiences I had here were therapeutic; they helped to heal me. The people who did this may not even realize what they were doing. But they did; little by little, day by day, they made everything better.

It's not about the place, money or things; it's about the people. It is always about the people.

—Me, heard somewhere

The place I am talking about is the place where I stay. The place where all my friends stay. The place where we all belong. It’s only been 4 months, but I’ve made memories that will last a lifetime. I’m only halfway through, but I’m convinced that the next few months will be the best of my life.

Diwali ft. A Top

In a few years, I’ll probably be swamped keeping up with the rat race. All of us would be busy in our own lives. Most of us won’t even think about this time or this place. It’s improbable that we’d all get together and experience the same moments in precisely the same way. But we certainly won’t forget. We will look back and remember these good times and then maybe ring each other up and cry again?

Random terrace hangouts

Looking back

Tue, 03 May 2022 22:12:03 GMT

Three years back, when I was studying to crack JEE, the parties and the fun stuff at IITs attracted me the most and motivated me to study. I had come here to make memories and boy did I make memories in the last few months.

So what is this blog about? I have just completed my 6th semester in IITK. People are going back home, and I have nothing better to do. I spent this complete semester on campus. As I move on to the next phase of my journey, I will try to highlight how amazing the last few months have been in this article.

The night view from Technopark Rooftop

What is different here?

It is very convenient to be carefree on campus. One of my seniors had advised me- ‘You should try as many different things as you want while here, be it hobbies, interests, substances, relationships, etc. You will never be this free in the future. You will never have so little responsibility once you graduate’. Things could never go horribly wrong here because the only person/thing you are responsible for is yourself. No one will stop you from doing whatever you want to do. You probably cannot find a better company anywhere else doing what you want to do because people do everything here.

Being Carefree

So many activities

A typical semester at IIT Kanpur is filled with a plethora of activities. Imagine all those events spaced out throughout the year, crunched into four weeks. That’s what happened this year. There was a lot of partying this semester. On three consecutive weekends, we had our fests, Techkriti, Udghosh and Antaragni. Although the fests were not as grand as they used to be a couple of years back due to restrictions, they still were pretty enjoyable. The entire campus was lit up, and events were organized. Academics were put on hold, and everyone just enjoyed their time. We had terrific pro-nights organized this year as well, with entertainers like Ritviz, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shaan performing on different nights. After each pro-night, we had some of the best night outs of the semester. Most people were drunk or stoned, some totally wasted, others just tipsy, everyone having the time of their life. I had never been as drunk as I was on one of the night outs. The fun part about drunk stories is not remembering anything and getting to know about it from others.

Techkriti

Antaragni

Amazing poses

Even after the fests were done, we had other events like Music and Dance Extravaganza, SnT Code and many more in the next week. Even when there were no fests or club activities, there was something or other going on. In DebSoc, we had our first offline debate of the semester and had 3 rooms running parallelly. I had never thought we would ever have such massive participation. We had two treats, one which we gave to our juniors and another our seniors gave us. Obviously, the second one was way more fun. These things were happening with the constant pressure of offline end-semester exams. Immediately after these super happening four weeks, we had our offline end-semester exams.

Finally In-person Debates

Debsoc Treats

A new home

Generally, people shift to their parent halls in their second year and stay there for a couple of years. We shifted to Hall 3 right at the end of the third year just for a few weeks. Hall 13 was good, but Hall 3 has its own feel. Hall 13 is like a palace, where the freshers are pampered for a year before they experience the true hosteller life. Hall 3 is like a real hostel. The rooms, the architecture, the washrooms, the mess and even the people are old. The hall has its own vibe, very different from Hall 13. I had two roommates, i.e. triple sharing in hall 3, unlike 13, where we had double sharing. No matter how poor the facilities are in Hall 3, I learned to get used to it. Two weeks into my new room, I did not feel discomfort living there. It shows how much can a person adapt to surroundings. The only downside of shifting was that my friends with different parent halls now lived far away.

Vandalism in Hall 13

Friendships and More

When you have the time of your life at the fests, the people you spend this time with become your best friends. There are many things that I have learnt about friendships. The most important among them is that friendships evolve. No matter how much you want things to be the same, they change. I made new friends this semester and became even closer friends with some people. I also did lose a few friends. In all this, I have discovered many new things about myself, making me more mature in dealing with people.

I have become a lot more emotionally mature during the last few months. People are more than just mere pixels on your screen or participants on a zoom call. There is a different personality behind every smiling face. People are more than just what they seem like when you talk to them in social settings.

Everyone has their own emotional baggage. When you talk to that person alone, make that person comfortable and allow them to open up, you realize the profundity of someone’s character. I learnt a lot talking to people and knowing about them. I have learnt to appreciate the people around me, especially my family and friends. I am probably a better listener now, and I better understand many things about people’s emotions.

I understand meaningful relationships marginally better. I have seen how much a person could change because of someone and how happy or sad they can be because of someone. I had never thought about it before I experienced it for myself.

My Friends

Academics

There is a point in each student’s life when academics no longer is the most crucial thing in your life. You no longer care if you perform well academically. The later this point comes in one’s life, the more academically successful that person is. Once you hit this point in life in your life, you stop studying like crazy and learn to be happy with whatever grades/marks you get. I have always kept academics as my top priority for as long as I remember. When I was a little, I wondered when this point would come in my life? It finally came this semester. Engineering finally broke me.

I cared less about academics this semester than in my previous semester. For the first time, I felt like I did not want to study anymore, and it was okay to not give my best. I eventually did study sufficient to get decent grades. To give context, imagine you are doing a heavy bench press. You have 3 more reps to go, but you know that you cannot do more than 1. You somehow push your way through to do it, but you know that you cannot possibly do another rep after it is done. It’s a similar story in academics; I don’t think I will be able to push for another semester.

Offline Teaching

The transition to the offline mode of teaching was excellent. For two complete years, I missed a lot of things, waking up early to attend the lecture, forgetting where the lecture hall was in the academic area, cracking jokes during the lecture, passing hilarious comments, falling asleep, and many more things which happen only in classroom lectures. I understood a few things in the few lectures I attended offline, even though I had no idea what was taught before. Asking doubts in lectures was so easy, and the interaction was so helpful in learning. I really feel that I would not have lost interest in academics so soon if things had not shifted to online mode during the pandemic.

Offline Lectures after so long

Not all things went right

As far as productivity is concerned, I have been way less productive this semester. There used to be a time when I worked more than 12 hours a day, handling DebSoc and AUV simultaneously and still managing to study for academics. Such things are simply impossible on campus. I often didn’t even realize how quickly time passed when with friends. Those night outs and hangouts took away a good chunk of my time and disrupted my sleep schedule. Sure, they were fun, and I loved hanging out doing nothing, but it consequently meant I could not be involved in DebSoc or AUV to the same extent.

My debating form has definitely been poor this year. I have not even broken at a single tournament this year. I have been out of touch for so long that it will be challenging to get back in form and start breaking again. I also did not get much time to contribute to my team this semester. My physical fitness also worsened this semester with gyms staying closed, poor Hall 3 food and lack of proper sleep.

IIT Kanpur Parliamentary Debate

Although I did not debate much this semester, I had to spend a lot of time on IIT Kanpur PD. It was my dream to make this happen, and this semester it finally came true. I had dropped a course to keep my semester light, just in case I had to give more time than expected to IIT Kanpur PD. I also had to give up participating in Inter IIT Tech meet because Inter IIT and IIT Kanpur PD dates were clashing. Although IIT Kanpur PD was not as grand as I had imagined it to be, it still is a significant achievement for our society. I learned a lot of things in the process. I had to manage everything, finances, marketing, design, tabs, etc. I better understand what it takes to conduct an event. I also learnt a few things about leading a group of people. It was a great experience despite all the hiccups that we had to face. I hope that a few years down the line, IITK PD becomes one grand event in the Indian Debating Calendar.

Goodbyes are never easy

The last few months have been so wonderful that I could not possibly point out a better time in my life before it. It is so heartbreaking that it is ending. I won’t be able to meet my friends for three months from now. All of them will intern at different locations in India and abroad. It will be tough to catch up, but we will surely plan something. Anyways, I still have one full year with my batchmates. The final year is the year to make the most memories in college life before it ends. It will be so much more exciting than the last few months.

Our senior batch is leaving the campus. One could easily find them on campus in those cool looking shorts and blazers, shooting the farewell video, hanging out with friends for one last time. When the time comes, all that will be left behind is that small empty room, a packed suitcase, tears in their eyes and loads of memories in mind. When we see their Instagram stories with “See You Again” in the background, we will know. It does not just make me feel sad that they are leaving; it reminds me that we will be in their place next year.

Seeing off friends is hard

Goodbyes are hard. I will be seeing my batchmates three months from now, and I will probably never see some of my seniors again. I will miss all of them a lot. As they say,

It's never Goodbye.

—Vin Diesel, F&F7

How Things Change

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 23:46:37 GMT

Every moment that passes changes something. We often don’t feel these changes, which leads us to believe that nothing really has changed. Only when you sit down and think about it after a lot of time has passed do you realize how many things have changed. I have always tried to keep track of these small changes in the past. It is easier to do so in a situation when not many things change, but this situation also eventually changes.

So what has really changed? A lot of things.

CLIMATE

Boy, it gets cold here! This was perhaps the most noticeable change coming back to campus from home. The unpleasant cold climate was the first thing I encountered when I came here. I was covered in a minimum of 4 layers of clothing for the entire January.

FOOD

The food here is better than expected. Maybe because I had set the expectations too low after my first year in Hall 13. The taste of water is also very different here. A matter of a few days, and then you get the hang of it.

EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES

The world here is real and not mere pixels on a laptop screen. The emotional experiences are stronger. I had read somewhere that people are perceptive to the change in emotional stimuli and not the actual stimuli themselves. I could feel it here. I have never been as happy, frustrated, anxious, angry, offended and jealous in the last two years as I have been in the last couple of months. There were instances when at one moment, I was super stressed about a project deadline or assignment, and just a few hours later, I was having the time of my life getting drunk and partying with my friends. Things change so quickly here!

Me getting offended

Happily vibing a few hours later

ACADEMICS

The academics here are totally different. I get much less time to study here with so many things going around. My performance has been pretty much the same (maybe a bit worse). The difference here is that it is way easier to forget a messed up exam. I can just go to the canteen and chill out as if nothing ever happened. It’s way easier to collaborate here on campus (wink wink)

Not an examination. Just three friends hanging out

PHYSICAL FITNESS

Due to the changed diet, unavailability of gyms and lack of motivation, I have lost most of the muscle gains I had back home. Now I have a larger tummy and smaller muscles (call it the cost of a happier life?). I have been trying to cover it up since last week, trying to work out daily.

The best picture we have managed to capture in the gym

DEBATING

I do not debate as much as I used to back home. Obviously, debating is not the most “fun” thing to do on campus. I did participate in one tournament, though. Performance-wise it was pretty poor, but experience-wise it was the most fun debating tournament I have ever done. With things going back to normal, maybe I can do an offline tournament soon!

EXTRA-CURRICULARS

Back home, I always tried to keep myself busy doing many things at once.x I tried to plan every hour of the day to get things done on time. I no longer do that. It means that I just don’t know what I am supposed to be doing a lot of time. Consequently, I am much more relaxed, but I have slacked off a lot. At home, I used to worry about forgetting to have fun when I was on campus. Now that I am on campus, I am worried if I will ever be able to work with the same intensity I used to when I was at home. My involvement and contribution to both AUV and AI4SG projects have been lesser since I have come back.

PARTYING

Friday nights have become special occasions and the end of exams: celebratory festival.

Although a lot of things have changed it is not all that different from what it was a couple of years back. Maybe it was meant to be this way. Do I like how my life has changed? Yes. Will this stay the same? Definitely not. Will I notice such changes next time? I don’t know.

Why is the lockdown not that bad?

Wed, 29 Sep 2021 22:40:32 GMT

Disclaimer: These are my personal views. By the lottery of birth, I was born into a decent middle-class family and had minimal responsibilities at home. My point of view might be narrow and non-generalizable.

The Covid 19 pandemic changed everything. No one had expected anything like this would have ever happened. Social interactions got limited to video calls, jobs went entirely online, and wearing masks in public became a rule. Many lost their lives to the virus, and many others lost their means of livelihood. We have been stuck in our homes for quite a while now. This new way of living seems to be the new normal. It is here to stay. I wonder if it is really as bad as it seems to be. What are the positives coming out of this entire situation? In this article, I will try to put down the positives coming out of this pandemic.

I have been very fortunate as the pandemic has not affected my family much financially. We have been fit and healthy. Although we all contracted Covid last year, we recovered within a week at home without much difficulty. So maybe thinking about the good things is much easier for me. However, the lockdown sure did affect my mental health. I have spent a lot of time alone, not meeting people. I have been in situations where I felt very depressed, and I have spent hours being sad, wondering what if it had never happened. However, when I tried to think of reasons why this entire lockdown scenario was good, the debater inside me came up with some good arguments. Here are a few of them.

More family time

If the pandemic had never happened, I would have never got to spend so much time with my family. I would have stayed at my campus in Kanpur, my elder brother stayed in Pune, and my parents stayed back in Mumbai. I am sure this would have been the case with many of you as well. I don’t think once this all ends and I go back to my campus, it will ever be possible to spend such a long time with my family. It is so much easier to stay at home. You don’t have to worry about food, clothes, snacks or anything. You can focus completely on your work and study. Now I know this might not be true for everyone, but I am sure even you must have got some more time to love your family. Isn’t this a positive?

Better food and fitness

I had become thin and feeble when I was on campus for four months. I never liked mess food. Being at home during the pandemic has allowed me to eat healthily and maintain a diet to complement my workout. It must be true in your case as well. The more you stay at home, the lesser junk you eat and the healthier you are.

Improvement in academic learning

I would have never attended all the lectures. In the online mode of the semester, as they are uploaded to be watched later, I am at least able to go through all of them. The quality of lectures is the same. The professors who do not give good online lectures would not have given good lectures anyways. If anything, professors can check and improve lectures while recording. Many times in a real-time class, a couple of confusing remarks disrupt the flow of understanding completely. I no longer have to cycle from Hall 13 to L20 at 8 am to attend the lecture. Some people say it is difficult to ask doubts and interact with professors. I think interaction is useful only when the student is up to date with lectures. It is much easier to stay up to date in the online semester because you don’t have night outs till 6 in the morning or wingies to spend hours chatting. It does not affect me much because I am rarely up to date with the lectures to know enough to ask doubts. I don’t remember many people asking doubts and interacting in offline classes as well. As far as theoretical learning is concerned, the online mode has been much better for me.

Reduced Exams Stress

It has become super easy in the online semester to score 8, 9 and 10 pointers if one is smart enough. No matter how much the professors try, there are always ways to get around and cheat in exams. Although there has been a drop in my academic performance in the online semesters as compared to the offline semester, I think this drop would have been even steeper if I had been on campus. If not, having online exams allows me to spend more time on stuff I really love doing, like robotics and debate. In conclusion, stress has definitely been lesser in the online semester.

That’s it. Maybe you have a couple of more reasons to think that the pandemic is not all that bad. I would love to hear them. If I were to start writing about why the pandemic is terrible, I could write a much longer article. But that would only spread negativity and pessimism. I hope thinking about these few reasons cheers you up!

My Internship Season Experience

Sat, 18 Sep 2021 22:12:03 GMT

Disclaimer: The purpose of this blog is to paint a picture of how the internship season looks like at IITK. The views presented are my personal experiences and opinions.

The blog is a mix of advice as well as personal experiences. I have tried to list the key takeaways after each section. If you are just interested in the tips and tricks, those will be sufficient.

PREPARATIONS

Many of my friends had started preparing for internship season as soon as the fourth semester was over. On the other hand, I was busy with Robosub 2021, an international marine robotics competition in which our team AUV-IITK participated. My focus for half of my summer was primarily on this competition and not on my internships season. It was only in the last one month before the internship season started that I seriously started preparing.

THE CONFUSION

I had the same confusion as many others: Which profile do I choose? Let me first describe my situation. I had many options open for me. I liked solving programming problems, and I was decent at it. I had done competitive programming for few months in the past, and I knew I could do better. Although I had not officially done the ESO207 DSA course, I had completed it online on Coursera. I am currently doing ESO207 in my 5th semester. My conclusion? It hardly matters whether or not you have done any university course on Data Structures and Algorithms as the interview preparation is very different. My next option was quant. I had done the Probability and Statistics course in my 4th semester, but I was not good at it. I understood the basics, but I was not good at problem-solving. I knew that some of the highest paying companies are in the quant profile, so I wanted to keep this option open. Being from the EE, core electrical was also an option for me. I liked the EE courses but never loved any. Electrical core was my fallback option. The techno-managerial profile that I eventually ended up in was not even in the top 3 on my list. I never prepared for it because there are very few companies that are open for this profile.

MY PREPARATION

I had exactly one month to prepare before the internship season was going to start. I was confused about what I wanted to do? So I closed my eyes, shut out all other thoughts and started coding. I started solving questions on InterviewBit. Every day I used to wake up, solve questions on IB, read articles on geeks for geeks and watch videos of different concepts on YouTube. I had to do things very quickly because I knew I had started pretty late. While I was hovering around 5-6K points on IB, some of my batchmates were in the high 50Ks. I used to target solving 30 problems each day. And no surprises, I never succeeded :(. In the next 20 days, I had completed 40 K points, and I improved quite a lot in the process. I felt that instead of starting to solve code forces directly, I should have started here first.

In the last few days, I focussed a bit on the quant preparation. I never thought I had a shot. I was just looking at the big companies and their stipends and thinking, what if I get it? I solved the 50 challenging problems and the brainstellar entirely in 4-5 days. By the end of it, I just knew the solutions to a lot of tricky puzzles. My problem-solving ability was nearly the same as I used to look up the answers for most questions. As the days passed and the internship season came closer, I started switching between software and quant more frequently. In the process of doing well in both simultaneously, I was doing well in neither. The pre-placement talks began sooner than I had thought. The preparation time was over!

Key takeaways:

It is best if you decide what profile you want to target so that you can prepare better.
Start with basics and focus on improving skills rather than knowing solutions to difficult problems.
It is better to start early. However, it is possible to prepare for the internships in a month if you have basic coding knowledge. It is all about momentum! One of my friends who also prepared just for a month got one of the best internships in our batch.

RESUME

Apart from preparation, I spent about 3-4 days preparing my resume. I had done multiple projects, so compiling them, writing them in the proper way and format, collecting proofs and getting every ratified was a bit tedious.

Key takeaways

Keep all your resumes in sync. I edited a lot in my one-page resumes and added new points there. However, only the master resume gets verified by SPO, so you cannot write anything not on the master resume on one-pager. It was a lot of trouble for me as I only used to edit the one-pagers.
Make multiple resumes. It’s better to have different resumes for different profiles. Even if you have the same work to show, you can focus on the technical part for one profile and the management for the other.
Other points are cliche. Ask all your seniors who know you to read your resume, avoid grammatical errors, prioritize properly, don’t lie on resume blah..blah..blah

THE MORAL DILEMMA

Some people call it cheating but let’s call it mutual collaboration for this blog. It is a tricky decision to make whether or not to collaborate with others during the tests to solve the problems. I faced the same problem. My gut feel was to attempt the tests on my own. I used to think,” If I am going to secure an internship, it better be because of my efforts rather than someone else’s. Even if I get through the initial rounds, I will get rejected later.” And boy was I wrong! Solving a question again by yourself when someone else already has, and the solution is available on the internet is like shooting yourself in the foot. Even if you write the code yourself, getting an idea or hint could be the difference between you getting shortlisted or not. I took a bit longer to learn this.

Key Takeaway:

Be smart enough to discuss the solutions and search the internet but not dumb enough to copy the exact code.

CODING AND QUANT

The PPTs and tests started around 15-20 days before day 1 of the internship season. Most Day 1 companies like Google, Optiver, DE Shaw etc., had their PPTs well in advance. The PPTs were mostly useless. The openings started appearing on the portal, and schedules for the tests were released. Being from EE, most of the companies were open for me.

The first test I gave was Google’s coding round. I was able to solve one out of the two questions. However, I did not get shortlisted as the cutoff was 1.5+ questions correct for guys. It was more lenient for girls. Optiver’s cognitive test followed it. The first part had mental math, and the second was pattern recognition. I could not get to the third part as I did not do well in the second. It was another sign; quant was not for me. The next few days, there were multiple tests of different companies: DE Shaw, Alphagreph, Sprinklr, Microsoft and many more. I performed well in the Samsung test and a couple of other companies. I used to solve partially but did not solve in any of them. To add to my misfortune, I forgot to register on the portal for Microsoft, and they had the simplest paper of all. In the end, I did not get shortlisted in any of the day one coding companies.

The two companies in which I was hoping to perform well were GS and JPMC. I had prepared quant specifically for these companies. GS repeated many of the questions from its previous tests. However, I was got stuck in some coding problems. I was just not able to think that day. Although the JPMC test was a bit better, I could still not solve one of the problems. I did not get shortlisted for GS, and JPMC was pushed to Day 2.

Key takeaways:

It might sound dumb, but do not forget to apply to any company.
If there is a slot in which the exam is conducted, do not start until the very last moment. Many times you can get questions before the exams.
Partially completing a question is better than not completing it at all. A brute force solution that works is better than a DP solution that does not.
There are groups/discord servers where people from different IITs add questions that appeared in their tests. Many companies like GS did not change these questions. Joining such a group/discord server will surely help.

Find and solve past questions. Just like profs, companies don’t change their questions over the years.

TECHNO-MANAGERIAL ROLES

The first company to open for this profile was HUL. Although I applied for it, I did not have big hopes. I knew that HUL rarely recruits from the electrical department, and till then, I was hopeful that I would get into coding or quant roles. The selection procedure involved filling out a google form with questions about achievements, work experience and leadership roles. I just copy-pasted my resume into the form. Surprisingly, I got shortlisted for it. The next round was a virtual interview on HireView, where they asked case-based problems. Some of the problems were the same as last year. I had not prepared for it well. I was just happy to wear a tie and give an interview. Then came PnG, for which I did not apply. The reason? I again forgot to fill the application form.

Ties are love!

The next FMCG firm was ITC. I was a bit more serious this time as I was not doing great in the other coding and quant tests. The selection procedure was again the same, a form with multiple questions. The form also had questions like give an instance where you put mind over matter. I mostly copied my resume again, but I did put in some effort while answering the personality questions. I was expecting to get shortlisted, and I did.

Round 1

The first round was a Group Discussion. It is generally recommended that you do at least a couple of demo group discussions before you go for the actual one. I had done zero. I did not know what to expect. I asked one of my friends about the GD and the questions which were asked. It was a case study involving the allotment for a residential house to one of the five candidate employees. The task was to discuss who gets the house. The GD was department wise, so it was relatively easy as mechanical and chemical students prepare for such GDs. Although I had never done a GD before, I knew how to convincingly make a point, thanks to the debating society I had been a part of for two years. It went pretty smoothly, and I knew I would make it to the next round.

Round 2

The next round was supposed to be a technical round. However, it was more like an informal chat. I was asked about a couple of projects on my resume. Although my answers were fairly technical, there were no follow up questions. There was an elaborate 10 min long discussion on debating and activities of Debsoc. I was not asked even a single technical question throughout the entire interview. This is where a good CGPA helps a lot! My friend, who was interview by another panel for mechanical people, was asked some technical thermodynamics questions. After the interview, I was pretty confident about making it to the next round.

Round 3

The third and final round was the HR round. I was the only person shortlisted from Electrical, and I knew my chances were good. The interview again started with a discussion on debating society. They asked me to state two current global topics. It was followed by an elaborate 5-7 min discussion on the Israel-Palestine conflict. It went well as I knew sufficient about the topic. The interviewers were less friendly as compared to the previous rounds, and they tried to push me out of my comfort zone by asking questions like, “Why are you not applying for software or quant roles?”, “Why do you want to work in a factory in some rural location?”, “Why not research in robotics given your academic performance and interests?” and “Do you really want to join an FMCG firm?“. I was not well prepared for these questions. I gave barely convincing answers like improving leadership and management skills, solving open-ended problems, and avoiding working from home. Finally, the interview ended, and I knew it had not gone well.

Key takeaways:

Improving your communication and speaking skills will always help in an interview.
Start preparing for GDs if you are targetting such profiles(and not part of DebSoc XD). All you get is 2 mins to speak, and you have to make the most out of it.
Always come to a conclusion at the end of a GD, even if you have to change your opinion.
Prepare what you are going to say about each point on your resume beforehand. It creates a good impression when you don’t have to think a lot about your project.
Good PORs + Good Communication + Good CGPA is sufficient for techno-managerial roles without any preparations.

THE DAY 1

I had not been shortlisted for a single company on day 1. ITC interviews were completed the day before, and I felt it had not gone well. I was preparing for the Texas Instruments and Hotstar tests the next day. While people were busy giving interviews, continuously one after the other, I was watching cricket highlights of some match ten years back. It was not a great day.

ITC IT IS

ITC

Later that evening, the shortlist for the Hotstar test came out. I was surprised to not find my name in it. I then observed that none of my friends was shortlisted either. It was strange and sad. I then called one of my friends to ask how had the interviews gone for him. I was on the call when I heard a notification sound on my mobile. It was a mail from SPO stating that I had received an offer from ITC. It was a delighted moment. I hung up the call and ran to tell my parents about it. A few minutes later, I called back my friend. A few moments later, he received his offer and hung up. Then everyone started receiving their offers. Almost all of my friends received offers from companies like Google, Microsoft, Sprinklr, Quadeye, Uber, De shaw etc. Some of them even got international interns from Optiver, Jane Street and Samsung Korea.

Key Takeaways:

Coding tests are the bottleneck in the selection procedure for coding profiles. There are very few people (I know of who got rejected) after the interviews. If you make it to the interviews, you have a good chance of making it through.
Do not underestimate yourself. I never thought that I was good enough for some of the top companies. It kept me from giving my best shot.
Do not get disheartened. There are many excellent companies even after day 1.
In the end, everyone will be happy :).

People are not paid what they're worth: they're paid what they're able to negotiate.

—Nick Hanauer

Olympics from my perspective

Thu, 19 Aug 2021 22:40:32 GMT

In 2nd grade, my school sports teacher ran into the class giving sweets to all teachers. The news was that India had won an Olympics gold. I was thinking about a lot of questions. I did not know why it was such a big deal. What if someone has won a medal? People win medals all the time. Is shooting even a sport? What if someone shoots at their opponents? And so on. Until a few days back, I did not realise how big a deal it was!

I have loved sports all my life. Although I have never been particularly good at any sport, I have loved playing. I have asked myself this question multiple times, “Why don’t we win medals at the Olympics despite being such a big country?” I know the reasons now, but I want to refrain from writing about them in this blog. I would instead like to write about all the memories I have had of the four Olympic games I have seen and what I have learned from them.

I was in 6th grade when London Olympics happened, and my memory is of those times is pretty faint. I remember spending a lot of time playing Miniclip games (a broadband connection was a privilege back then, and I was lucky enough to have one). Although I never followed the events closely, I remember reading about the update in the newspaper every day. I remember Saina Nehwal won the bronze as her opponent faced an ankle injury during the bronze medal match. I heard people talking about it at least a couple of times in school the next day. I also remember we won medals in wrestling and boxing. I used to tell my brother jokingly; we Indians are only good at sports in which we have to fight each other. I remember seeing a news report about a small country named Granada, whose athlete won a gold medal. London 2012 was a great year as we won 6 medals but not even a single gold.

When Rio 2016 came, I hoped we would win a gold medal. I was in 10th grade, and my memories of that time are still pretty fresh. It was a heartbreaking moment to see the Indian hockey team lose to Germany or Netherlands. I had heard in the news that some Indian shooters have a great chance. However, none of them won a medal. I had seen many different sports like archery, boxing and wrestling throughout the Olympics. I was elated when we finally won a silver medal in wrestling. However, my best memory of Rio 2016 was the final match between PV Sindhu and Carolina Marin. We had our class trip to Silvassa, and in the evening, when others were getting ready for the DJ night, all my friends were jumping, shouting and cheering as Sindhu defended 4 or 5 set points to win the first set. Sindhu eventually lost, but it was such a fantastic match. India just won 2 medals at Rio, too far from that coveted gold medal.

I did not know much about the Olympics till then. In 11th grade, when my teacher tried to motivate the class during one chemistry lecture, he talked about two people, Bob Beamon and Heather Dorniden. Bob Beamon was a long jumper who broke the world record; he shattered it by 40 cm. He jumped so long that referees had to measure his jump differently, as their measuring equipment was insufficient for his jump. Heather Dorniden fell in a 600m race and still won the race. She said after the race that her stumble during the race helped her hit the speed she never had in her life. These were amongst the most inspiring stories I had heard during the gruelling so-called “JEE Preparation Days”.

Then came the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (although it happened in 2021). I learnt a lot about different sports. I knew about half the people in the Indian contingent, and I knew that we had many athletes who could potentially win medals this year. It all started in the best way possible. On the very first day, we won a silver medal in weightlifting. Mirabai Chanu, who could not make a single successful lift, won India its first silver medal. Indians were performing amazingly well. I came to know from my friends’ Instagram stories about the significant achievement of the Indian badminton men’s duo, who defeated one of the leading medal contenders. Then came the news confirming another medal in boxing where Lovlina B. had entered the semi-finals.

The best part of this Olympics was seeing the Indian Hockey teams playing. My brother and I were jumping up like crazy when Sreejesh made that last penalty corner save, and we won the bronze medal. At the same time were in despair when the women’s team lost in the semis after getting an early lead. The turnaround in the men’s wrestling semi-final by Ravi Kumar, where he won after trailing by 9 points, is a story for generations to come. PV Sindhu and B. Punia also won bronze medals. It was all pretty great till the last day. India had already performed excellently at the Olympics. However, it was yet another Olympics when not a single person from 1.5 billion people was good enough to win Olympic gold.

It was the last evening of the Tokyo Olympics. I was taking my evening nap when my brother woke me up. “We nearly have the gold”, he said. Indian Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was leading by a considerable margin in the final. “Is it really happening? Will we get gold?“. I was biting my nails as the throwers tried to beat the 87m mark. With every throw, India was inching closer to its first athletics gold in track and field events. I had heard about Milkha Singh and PT Usha, but they never won Olympic gold. I knew this was historical. And a few minutes later we won! Gold to India. All the memories from 13 years ago flashed. I knew why it was such a big deal this time! I later watched the medal ceremony and the Indian national anthem. Goosebumps!

I still think about various things, like why don’t we dominate a sport like other countries. The USA dominates swimming, Japan Judo and China Table Tennis. When will we start dominating any sport? Who will win the next gold medal for India? Can we ever win more than one gold in a single Olympic? Will we be able to repeat this performance in Paris? Only time will tell…