Arbit CP

WTF!

2009-05-28T16:08:00.003+05:30

I was appalled to see this appear in today's newspaper. If you did not figure out what I am trying to point out, it's the details of the student's caste next to one's name.

I am not sure whether the esteemed IIT coaching insti thought atleast for a sec that this is supposed to be a personal (and confidential) fact as far as the student is concerned. If the head of an IIT coaching insti is unable to sensitize himself on this issue, god only knows whats in store for us.

Help!

2009-05-22T10:02:00.002+05:30

I have a yahoo email ID which is now totally junk that I do not even want to open it these days. I also have a gmail ID which is more sane, thanks to gmail's much better spam protection algorithm. The problem is that I login to orkut using my yahoo ID and somehow I have a google account, the username of which is "rpradeephere at yahoo.co.in". My orkut and this blog is associated with this account. However my saner google account rpradeep.kumar at gmail.com is associated with my picasa and email stuff.

I want to shift or change my yahoo-google account's orkut and blog to my saner google account so that I need to just login once. Every time I login to check my gmail, my orkut or blog will sign off since I cant keep two google accounts open at same time. Also the computer is confused over which password to save and crap and hence everytime I end up typing my username password. I am going bonkers coz of this!

Office timings

2009-05-12T09:29:00.003+05:30

Before liberalization offices worked from 830 to 1730 hrs.

After liberalization most work from 1030 to 1800 hrs.

"Synchrony 2009", IIMA's Annual Alumni Meet

2009-04-29T21:30:00.004+05:30

"Synchrony-2009", IIMA's annual Alumni meet is happening on May 9th. We are actively looking for sponsorships. It will simultaneously take place at 8 cities across the world.

Sponsorships start from Rs 20,000-Rs 25,000 and extends upto Rs 150,000. There will be just 2-3 companies sponsoring the event and hence brand visibility and brand recollection will be very high among the audience. There will be 150-200 Alums participating in every city and many senior alums (CEOs/MDs/Sr VPs/Partners) would be coming. Hence its a great opportunity to showcase your product/brand.

Please do get in touch with me ASAP at +91 96502 75308 or rpradeep.kumar@gmail.com for further details.

JK on Schools

2009-04-26T20:47:00.002+05:30

"Surely a school is a place where one learns about the totality, the wholeness of life. Academic excellence is absolutely necessary, but a school includes much more than that. It is a place where both the teacher and the taught explore not only the outer world, the world of knowledge, but also their own thinking, their behavior."

-Jiddu Krishnamurti

Read it somewhere and liked it!

I strongly believe schools have just become machines which churn out students ready to join college and eventually the corporate world with absolutely no focus on morals and ethics. Schools have commercialized to such an extent that it just means business, a view we had on colleges 6-8 years back when engineering boomed. If students by any chance get to inculcate good habits and character in the future, its going to be inspite of the school and not because of it.

2009-04-01T03:01:00.003+05:30

Quote

2009-03-31T18:49:00.001+05:30

You must not let your life run in the ordinary way; do something that nobody else has done, something that will dazzle the world. Show that God's creative principle works in you.

-Swami Paramahansa Yogananda

The Genius called Ilaiyaraaja - God of Music

2009-03-29T14:20:00.005+05:30

Ilayaraja - How to name it

Music Composer: Ilaiyaraaja
Violinist: VS Narasimhan
Album: How to name it?
Year: 1986

Film: Johnny (1980)

No words to say

2009-03-29T07:54:00.003+05:30

The paper 'you' and the real 'you'

2009-03-29T03:26:00.003+05:30

At NIT Trichy, CV making was more of creating a 3 page "I did all these in life. Hopefully I would not have forgotten most. And yeah, I don't think adding deleting a few details here and there matter much" affair. I remember making my CV then in 6 minutes flat and never modified it even once. However, at an MBA institute, its an altogether different ball game. The reasons are obvious and I would not dwell upon it*. We end up spending too much time making the CV perfect.

However, this post in not on CV making. It is to do with how a person is in real life and how he comes across based on his CV. There have been many a times I have been surprised how those two don't match even remotely. I wonder how. I see really intelligent and smart people with very average CVs and I also see extremely average junta in real life having super CVs. Sometimes it makes me wonder is it the same person represented on paper? They are like split personalities in a sense.

The other aspect about CVs is that it does not tell anything about the 'person' as such. I mean, you can have a superb CV but can be a jerk to work with.

The reasons the above two became observations is that, during initial days, sometimes or many a times, junta here are judged based on their CVs i.e. based on shortlists etc during summers. But as days pass by, the impression one creates in the batch overshadows the information in CV by a large margin. The information asymmetry no longer exists within the batch and each is judged based on the real 'him' rather than the paper 'him'.

___________________________________________________________________________________
*However, for the benefit of all, 2 reasons why they are more important in MBA instis:

1. There are no written tests. You get shortlisted for the interview based on CV for almost 100% of the jobs. Whereas in engineering, most companies had written tests and many did not even collect the CVs before that. Shortlisting was based purely on performance in written tests. And the interview is mostly technical and less to do with your CV.

2. The variability of pay packages and job profiles is pretty high in IIM A/B/C and hence the opportunity cost of making a bad CV is pretty high. In engineering colleges (non IITs) where there is not too much variability in job profiles and almost all land similar jobs (3-6 LPA for 80% of the batch). Hence the motivation is also pretty low.

And its all over..

2009-03-27T15:19:00.003+05:30

Attended the last class of 1st year, WIMWI. I had absolutely no senti. (who would get senti on submitting 1 assignment almost everyday for 6 weeks or giving 5 surprise quizzes in a row?). I would not say it was that horrible as I had thought. Some slots were tough. Overall it was manageable.

Chetan Soman took the last session and ended it in style. Awesome session it was. He had modeled a funny quiz in KBC style with the same music and stuff. A memorable last day.

We still have a memorable 7 exams left to officially end 1st year.. With 4 exams being 'globe' (which means the question paper would be a case and we write as much as possible like 12h standard kids hoping to be randomly allocated some grade!). My internship starts immediately after that with a 3 day break in between.. aargh.. no time for rest..

They should not have made this slot so hectic. I am tired and don't feel like working my ass of during internship.

Snapshots from hell!

2009-03-27T05:32:00.002+05:30

Just finished reading the book. Someone who is already doing an MBA wont find it very interesting. The only reason I found it way too interesting was that I initially (and seriously)thought US MBA is way too different from the Indian ones and the junta who end up studying there exactly know what they want out of life and yada.. yada...

After reading the book I was seriously surprised. Almost everything written there has happened here. I mean the dark underbelly of an MBA. I idealistically thought only we guys end up frauding a lot and all these top US educated b school junta would do the course a lot more seriously. But I was proved wrong. This book was an eye opener in that sense. Its the same everywhere.. :)

Boston Post's wonderful photos

2009-03-24T05:59:00.000+05:30

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/signs_of_spring.html

Just amazing!!

Slot system

2009-03-21T13:24:00.002+05:30

There has been a change in the academic system at IIMA from our year. 3 terms have been converted into 6 slots to increase course flexibility. There has also been a change in the subjects handled in each slot/term.

1st slot - Enthu levels are high. Workload is relatively less. The pressure from the PGP office is limited. But students put fight and most work hard.

2nd slot - Tougher than 1st slot. But students start making CVs and getting a hang of things at A. If I am not wrong, endless hours spent on marketing assignments in groups. Slot ends with tnite. :)

3rd slot - Very tough. Summer ppts + CV making + Summer preps + Class assignments. In addition, marketing assignments and OM assignments. Life was real tough.

4th slot - Post summers slot. Chillest of all 6. Nothing much to do. Most subjects had no quizzes.

5th slot - A tough slot definitely. Enthu levels are low. Assignments are more in number. Sub groups within groups are formed to handle assignment load. Some groups start meeting less since it may be inefficient at times. A lot of fight compared to previous slots.

6th slot - Hell. You don't know what hit you. Everyday there is an assignment which is graded and assignments are there in almost all subjects and range from simple ones to extremely complex. Very high workload. However you are better equipped to handle it since you are used to case studies and know how much and what to prepare, if at all you decide to prepare!

4 stages of life

2009-03-20T09:44:00.002+05:30

Case Methodology of teaching

2009-03-19T05:48:00.002+05:30

It has taken me almost 9-10 months to understand how to make the best use of business cases! The case methodology is extensively used at IIMA. On an average if we have 18 classes/week, we do almost 10-12 cases. i.e. reading atleast 2 cases per day.

I have gone through different thought processes, not necessarily progressively, while reading cases.

a. Read each and every point in the case to answer the questions effectively: This methodology was the norm in the 1st 1-2 months. The thought process was that every point given in the case is important and one must know all points to "answer the questions" effectively. The end objective was satisfactorily answering the key questions.

The following 2 methods are used regularly based on time constraints or prof constraints.

b. Browse through important case facts: The objective behind this method was to survive through the class and also minimize input (time given) and maximize ROI, not by maximizing output.This was the usual objective when time available was too less or motivation was at an all time low (which is the case 60% of the time ;) ). This method of reading is the most used and abuses case methodology of studying to the core.

c. Read case as fast as possible by skipping the boring theory part and attacking the crux (which means concentrating in the crucial 2-3 pages out of the 15 page case): This method was at times used when one is a bit more serious about studying or the prof is someone who will not listen to arbit CP or this method of studying has become a habit. This method is used 30% of the time. (All numbers have been statistically arrived after cross tabulation multi cultural analysis).

The 4th method of studying cases is I believe a very good method and something which I am trying to do after a revelation when chatting with a prof. He commented that "Case method is an extremely good method of teaching because you read and learn about more than 100 companies within one year and how they function". I have never read a case passionately to understand what a company did! The objective was always to analyze the problem facing the company. The objective was never to learn what all the company has done and why they did so.

i.e. for example, if I was reading a case on Toyota in Operations, I would have usually skipped through the marketing part, company history etc to go to the core Toyota production system and see what problems are there in it.

There is a significant difference in the "problem searching" approach and the "Understanding company" approach. The former method employs a "consultant mentality" and the latter, "entrepreneurial mentality".

Reading the case as an open ended experience of an entrepreneur gives so many insights about the business that a problem searching approach misses out on. I have nowadays started reading cases with such an objective i.e. reading the case as a story to know what all the company has done. It is like reading a biography of many companies and I am enjoying it a lot more.

And no, this does not take much time also. It maybe takes 25% more time than (b) or (c). Note that this method is very different from approach (a). (a) cannot be sustained due to the efforts which we need to put in. In (a) one approaches the case with "what all did the company do" and one tries to remember each and every fact whereas in (d) one reads the case with a "how and why did the company do these" where case facts are less important.

The method (d) requires a bit more effort than (b) and (c) but the learnings are much higher. I anyway skip answering the case questions while following approach(d) since its anyway discussed in class and also would require too much effort which I cannot sustain!

Method (d) is best for those courses with bad profs but good cases!

Aargh.. Bad day.

2009-03-17T17:05:00.002+05:30

845 to 1:10 - Three 75 minute classes
2:30 to 3:30 - Surprise quiz in a predictably boring Information Systems
3:30 to 4:45 - Extra class

Shucks! Why have they become so sadistic in the last slot! I don't remember us having any classes in evenings during first 5 slots!

Evening classes are against fundamental rights.

Short Story - 1

2009-03-17T02:41:00.002+05:30

“Yes Madam, Your name please” asked the beautiful girl behind the ticket checking counter. “Ms Anamika” said I, curtly. I wondered how long she will look beautiful enough to continue in this job.

“Yours?” I though she will ask my spouse. Surprisingly she did not. Rita still looked as beautiful as she was when we got married 11 years back.

The girl looked at both of us and she was trying to hide a smile. I felt I could read her thoughts. I know these people. She was thinking how we managed it. She was wondering how we had sex and whether we did not have the desire to have kids. She must have also wondered what we would do in old age.

I was used to these. They are always there wherever I go out with her. Rita smiled at me. We collected our boarding passes. After walking a few steps, I turned back to see her. She was whispering something to her colleagues. I was visibly upset and was going to bitch about her, when Rita spoke.

“Gita, my daughter. Long time since I saw her. I guess you are seeing her for the first time. Harish and his relatives have warned her against speaking with me since I left home. He does not want her to become our type.”

I looked again at the girl. She was issuing the next pass. I somehow felt her eyes were wet.

I bow to thee - ARR's rare interview

2009-03-16T15:22:00.002+05:30

I have learnt something in management called level 5 leadership. He comes across as one. Truly great personality.

Superb song!

2009-03-16T05:25:00.004+05:30

I love this song. What a sexy voice!

Could not find a good audio+video version for this song though!

About options and life..

2009-03-16T04:02:00.004+05:30

What is the cost you pay to get options in life? What is the cost of having choices?

There are always two lives I think of. The first one is the life I get. The second one is the life I make it out to be. The first one is relatively secure and a good life. The second one is an insecure and a tough life. The first one comes on your way. The second one, you search and fight for it.

For time immemorial, I have faced situations when I has to make a choice about the life I want to live. There have been few instances when I chose the former and there have been many instances when I chose the latter.

These days I think more often than not about these choices.

People are not your most important asset. Right people are.

2009-03-15T04:47:00.003+05:30

In determining "the right people", the good-to-great companies placed greater weight on character attributes than on specific educational background, practical skills, specialized knowledge, or work experience. Not that specific knowledge or skills are unimportant, but they viewed these traits as more teachable (or atleast learnable), whereas they believed dimensions like character, work ethic, basic intelligence, dedication to fulfilling commitments, and values are more ingrained.

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Aah.. I am getting Senti now..

2009-03-15T04:34:00.001+05:30

http://aparna-a.com/2009/02/10/in-love-with-madras/

http://dandilsa.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/the-r2i-conundrum/

http://aparna-a.com/2007/08/23/madras/

I love Chennai :)

Ideal life

2009-03-15T03:38:00.004+05:30

My definition of ideal life:

I just thought how would I define my ideal life to be and came up with this:

I should be staying in Chennai or Bangalore with my family (spouse et parents). I would not like to stay away from my parents.

I would want to stay in a place where there are a good mix of middle class and upper middle class makkal (Interior T Nagar, Mylapore, Triplicane too). I would not like to stay in a high class society like malabar hills or Adyar in Chennai.

The society in which I am must be simple. I would definitely not like to be in a society where one is measured by what one wears, what car one uses and how big one's house is.

I would like to have priory of pie, trichy day scholar gang and other close NITT makkal within same city or nearby. (The friends I made at NITT were awesome and I would never get bored cracking vivek and vadivel level jokes with them).

I would like two other friends, sid and charu to also be nearby. We get along very well and my sense of humour matches with sid's. We all also seem to have similar outlook towards life in general.

I would like my relatives in Triplicane to be accessible and close to us. I believe they are the ones who truly care about our family. They are honest and extremely simple people.

I would like to make enough money such that I don't have to bother much about money in life.

The job I am in must be exciting and most importantly the people must be fun to work with. I would like to work from 0830 hrs to 1900 hrs and the weekends must be free. The weekends must be free for friends, family and self.

I like eating good tamizh brahamana saapadu and hence that is a must. :)

In simple words to sum things up: In a society of simple makkal, best friends staying nearby, decent amount of money for an upper middle class lifestyle, nalla saapadu, staying with family and finally a good work life balance to enjoy all these.

Am I asking for too much? ;)

My first and last WAC run...

2009-03-14T17:51:00.003+05:30

..We had a WAC submission today. I always complete them well before time. Today we had the last submission for the year. And as they say, No one gets out of WAC alive. The final submission was preceded by a printer jam, printer ink over, stapler unavailable, a paper missing in final report, 9 minute 50 second delay and everything else possible!

And yeah, a reduced sub grade too!

I'm luvin it!

Make your own road - Good post

2009-03-12T11:49:00.003+05:30

I liked this a lot! Inspiring in these tough times.

http://youthcurry.blogspot.com/2009/03/make-your-own-road.html

First year courses at IIMA

2009-03-12T01:36:00.004+05:30

I received a mail asking for the list of courses in the first year over here. Its as below (Read as subject; credits; slot in which course is offered):

The total number of credits is 24.5 in 1st year. Each credit involves 20 classes of 75 minutes each.

Hence total number of classes in 1st year would be 490 and equivalent class hours is 612.5. I understand this is approximately 40% more classes than equivalent other MBA courses. But I understand from seniors that it helps a lot during the summer internships.

We usually have 3 classes in day. 845 to 1000; 1020 to 1135; 1155 to 110. The first 20 minute break is for snacks/chai. 2nd break is timepass break. By 130,we get to know whether there is any surprise quiz for the day. If there is one, it will be at 230. 130 to 230 is time spent mugging for quiz. :) Quiz duration is from 20 minutes to 30 minutes, rarely touches 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Will edit again and update.

Sidenote:

I would prefer comments to mails. Please mail if you need any personal help and comment if its a general request.

Identifying "Globe"

2009-03-12T01:04:00.005+05:30

I would say this is the single most important takeaway I have had at this place. :)

"Putting globe" refers to making global statements i.e. putting together a stream of jargons which do not make any sense.

In MBA courses, there are usually CP components. CP refers to class participation and usually the weightage is 10% though sometimes it is as high as 40% in select courses. I strongly believe that 10% is the ideal weightage since at that %age, the incentive to put CPs is less and hence only genuine CPs are made in class. Moderating CPs in class is a very important skill the prof must have. The following simple formula holds true:

High CP component + Bad prof/Non moderating prof = Class discussions suck!

The more the weightage given to CP, the more Arbit CPs are made. If the prof is good or shrewed he can cut the crap. There are some profs who rip a student apart if an arbit CP is made. :p

Now coming to the point, most students here would have come to the point where they can differentiate between an Arbit CP (tangential to the topic being discussed), Globe CP (jargons put together) and a Good analytical CP. This is an extremely important skill according to me. Many senior people get away by making global statements with no information content. Initially I used to think I am the one who is unable to understand what these people are speaking. But now I feel there are many who speak without knowing what they are actually speaking. Unfortunately doing an MBA also contributes to the ability to put globe and many a times this ability develops more than the ability to identify globe and hence eventually the end result is disastrous. :)

However, these days the moment a student puts a Globe CP, the whole class starts murmering "Globbbeeeeeeee" and its fun. :)

There are also many authors who put major globe in their writings and it does sound good while reading and its even more difficult to identify them in writings.

Sidenote:
Among the many authors I have read, someone who actually has been able to write sense in his articles in an area which can be considered "globest" is Michael Porter. His writings on "Strategy" are very good to read. I was really surprised to figure out what "Strategy" actually was through one of his most famous HBS articles, "What is strategy". This article was way focussed when compared to many other crap we read as strategy. I am not sure whether any background reading is needed before reading the article.

Moving

2009-03-11T03:30:00.002+05:30

Blogged at:

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/one-more-reason-to-be-nice-to-your-children/#more-4491

I’m reading a biography about Buckminster Fuller written by Lloyd Steven Sieden.

Fuller had a 4-year-old daughter Alexandra who caught the 1918 flu, later got meningitis, and finally was afflicted by polio. Though frail, she managed to survive all these illnesses until the age of 4. It was the fall, and Fuller headed off from New York to Boston by train to attend the Harvard-Yale football game. Fuller walked with his daughter and wife, using a cane both because canes were in fashion and he had suffered a knee injury playing football earlier in life.

As Sieden writes:

Before he got on the train, little Alexandra looked up and asked, “Daddy, will you bring me a cane?” Bucky [Fuller’s nickname] promised he would bring back the souvenir as he set off for an enjoyable day of football and friends.

Harvard won that day, and Bucky spent most of his time lost in drink, camaraderie, and parties, forgetting his troubles as well as his family on Long Island. When he arrived in Pennsylvania Station in New York the following afternoon, Bucky telephoned Anne [his wife] who could barely speak. She told him that Alexandra had suffered a relapse and was in a coma. Stunned, Bucky caught the next train to Long Island. Arriving home, he found Alexandra still unconscious and a doctor doing all he could to save her life.

Bucky could only sit near her bed looking on helplessly as the doctors and nurses continued their work well into the night. Eventually, the situation calmed down, but Alexandra’s condition did not improve. Then, in the early hours before dawn, she opened her eyes and smiled up at Bucky. As he bent close to his daughter, Bucky heard her tiny voice ask, “Daddy, did you bring me my cane?”

Fuller could only turn away in shame and agony. In the furor of drinking and celebrating, he had forgotten his daughter’s simple request. Following her question, Alexandra closed her eyes for the last time and died in her father’s arms a few hours later. Bucky never forgave himself for that incident, which, even in the last years of his life, would bring tears of remorse to his eyes.

Will there be students who now think..

2009-03-11T03:21:00.003+05:30

...doing an MBA from IIMs is not useful since it anyway doesn't assure great jobs?

Just came back after..

2009-03-10T15:57:00.003+05:30

.. a bad surprise finance quiz. Life Shucks! :(

My post in Pagalguy.com

2009-03-10T04:10:00.003+05:30

I made this post in PG.com loooong time back. At a point in time when I was depressed and bugged. It became some major thing and stayed so for quite sometime. I was extremely happy after making that post. Here it is.

Link

When I made that post, I had a different set of worries. I have a different set of worries now.

I wonder.

Guess there is some message in that.

I don't exactly understand when..

2009-03-10T03:14:00.008+05:30

..someone tells me at IIMA that they learnt a lot more speaking with other students and interacting with them than from studying. I believe it is a way to justify what one is doing is correct. I feel that way since I used that excuse way lot in engineering.

I am reminded of Rene Descartes quote:

“It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.”

Usually those who make that statement never put in much efforts behind studies. So technically, yes, one did learn more by interacting with others than from studying since the time put for the latter was bare minimum and hence the chance to learn was also very less! Now justfying that it was the "better" thing to do can be argued upon, but I cannot win that argument since "better" depends on how one wants to spend his or her time. But I do feel its not the best use of time at IIMA.

Technically one is using only one set of resources ("peers") and believe he or she is making the best use of it. Whereas I believe this place has atleast equally, if not more, to gain from the other set of resources ("profs/books/learning atmosphere" and what not).

One who makes the best use of both the resources has ideally taken out the maximum out of this place. The one who has only studied or the one who has only spent time chit chatting has missed a good opportunity and more importantly, taken away an opportunity (a seat) for someone else who could have made a better use of this opportunity.

Attended a very interesting session today..

2009-03-09T18:06:00.003+05:30

by 2 of our reknowned profs; Jayanth R Verma, also known as JRV and Sebastian Morris known as Seb on the beaten to death topic "Financial crisis". Everytime I attend a session on this topic, there is something new I learn. But today I learnt "many new things".

Today was the first time I sat through JRV's session and it was just amazing. The way he explains complex happenings in an easy to understand manner by building each and every point logically is just amazing. He is considered one of the Gods of fin here. T T Ram Mohan is another one in the same league. JRV blogs here and TTR blogs here. JRV is floating a course in 4th term on Modern Investment and Portfolio Management. I hope I get it through bidding. Seems to be a high demand course. TTR too floats a course on Managing financial institutions. But I guess I would be on exchange then during 5th term.

The year that was... Part I

2009-03-09T03:28:00.002+05:30

I almost did not realize that 'famed' first year at IIMA is going to come to an end ! It has been a wonderful journey till now and the learnings have been tremendous. Even now I cannot exactly tell how it has made a difference to my life, but I am extremely happy that I have actually learnt so many things in the last 1 year.

The reason I am enjoying my MBA a lot more than engineering is primarily to do with the fact that one need not memorize for 80-85% of the subjects. The papers are conceptual and usually tests one's understanding of the subject. In equivalent words, the paper standard oscillates between the CBSE level and the JEE level. It rarely touches the State board level. This also ensures that one need not be over tensed before any exam that one will forget something. Yes. Last day preps do matter ! But just that isnt sufficient to score well. Also one is thought by proper professors whereas in engineering 50% of courses were taken by MTechs, sometime BTechs!! Yes, some profs may not teach that well. But most know the subject matter really well and are extremely knowledgeable.

Another reason I am enjoying the course is because I genuinely enjoy learning about management. I seem to be enjoying all the courses!

Unfortunately most students when they come to do an MBA, they think about specific sectors where they want to work in and concentrate only on those subjects and do not bother about the rest.

I remember an advice from an NITT alumni before joining IIMA: "Do an MBA assuming you are going to be an entrepreneur 10 years down the line". A very good advice indeed!

The first year rigour of IIMA is well known. In fact, it has reached the peak this slot with one assignment every other day. Before joining IIMA, I somehow did not appreciate how this system would benefit anyone. However, towards the end of the year, I strongly feel that the system works! The system does not make you study the whole day (baah! - average study hours now is 1.5-2 with minimum 0 and maximum 4-5 for a few). But it introduces constraints, the kind of constraints which one will face in real life and challenges you to adjust to it. You need to take a call. There are always trade-offs.

Eventually one becomes efficient under time pressure.

Will try posting more.

The blog is not dead!

2008-10-19T04:40:00.001+05:30

I know I owe a hell lot of updates! Will do an update soon.

Off to WIMWI

2008-06-21T15:42:00.004+05:30

Would be reaching Ahmedabad tomorrow. Some serious packing going on. :)

I think I have packed stuff 'for good' quite a few times in my life.

Chennai->Trichy->Mumbai->Chennai->Gurgaon-> Now Ahmedabad (-> ??)

I definitely wont miss Gurgaon, but yeah, would miss the home though. Long time since I stayed in hostels.

As a side note, am horrified seeing the flight fares. I booked Delhi -> Ahd in Spicejet a month back for 3k. But now, after the steep increase, the cost of tickets 1 month down the line is 5.5k !! (check at www.cleartrip.com). Thats a freakin 83% increase. The news article linked above, I feel, has downplayed the hike. Its around 2-3k increase in all sectors.

Hmmm.. Guess its back to www.irctc.co.in :(

Vetti Thandhai Maargal (Tamizh)

2008-06-20T13:13:00.004+05:30

Adhu enna'nnu theriyalai.. Neraiya appa'galai paarthutten recent'a.. Avanga payan/ponnu enna padikkanum'nnu avanga appa romba kaarara mudivu pannaraaru..

Ennada'nnu visaricha peter engleesh'la "I know this is corracttu for him'nnu vera.. Pasangalukku vayasu 22-24 irukkum.. aargh..

Eppo thaan indha bucket feeding'a stop panna porrangalo..

Hippies and their business model

2008-06-20T00:52:00.002+05:30

Fortunately or unfortunately I stayed at a hotel in Nepal, which had, according to the 2003 census, around 37 bars around it within a radius of 1 Km. These bars were frequented by a set of people whom I could not relate with. The only things they were seen doing was getting up, smoking, reading a complicated convoluted philosophical book, sipping some coffee, gang up with 2/3 of the same type, remove slippers, start walking on the roads and understand the 'Asian culture', have some sex somewhere, hit the pub at 6, dope a bit, kiss a bit, headbang a bit, walk on the roads at 2AM with similar types and then start chatting at some place and at times, start singing too. This is usually their routine.

I thought they were what people call hippies. They looked like 'em. Nothing against them. In fact, they are doing what everyone would love to do during their rest time. But I could not figure out how they had 'rest' throughout the day. They definitely did not even look like types who would run some business for 10 months and take a 2 month off. Those type of foreigners were there too and they looked obviously the english types. Pretty sophisticated. These hippies looked very different.

And from what I heard, they are anti business and types.

Can someone explain how they make money to pay off all those expensive lunches and dinners and more importantly, the binges?

Post MBA Careers (Will be updated regularly)

2008-06-19T01:44:00.003+05:30

This post would be updated regularly over the next 2 years as and when I find something interesting to share on this topic. I have done some very basic research (which might even be wrong!) on the various career paths. Will post 'em here in sometime. I see few guides available in the internet, but then figured out that they were US centric and the way it works in US is not the way it works in India. Will dwell more on these soon.

From GMATClub: Amazing post - Guide to Recruiting and Schmoozing

2008-06-19T01:30:00.002+05:30

This post is not mine and I have cut-copy-pasted this from a forum. I am not sure how many of you visit www.gmatclub.com. Its a wonderful website for those aspiring for a US MBA. Good thing is there is a separate thread where all the MBA's discuss about their B School life. I find that very interesting.

These are the threads. Probably one may have to register for free to see the actual post.

http://gmatclub.com/forum/108-t58003 (source-1 of this post)
http://gmatclub.com/forum/108-t59520 (source-2 of this post)
http://gmatclub.com/forum/108-t59520 (source-3 of this post)

This post does not apply to Indian yem-bee-yays. But a good read nevertheless and it would be pretty immature to just read this as a "guide to get a job" stuff. There are a lot of things discussed which would help us in the long run.

QUOTE:

This is the first of a 20 part series on recruiting and schmoozing (just kidding, it will probably be 3-4 parts but I don't know yet). These are based on my experiences, so people with different backgrounds, different career goals and at different schools will certainly have different things to add. I attended mostly IB events so I'll try to point out areas where this guide may or may not apply to certain areas (for example, if something applies to IB recruiting, but not other job tracks), but others should definitely jump in with their own insights and experiences. The topics I'm planning to cover include recruiting strategy, etiquette at events, manners and procedures for sit-down meals, proper attire for various events (guys only, unfortunately I know nothing about what women should wear), follow-up, and various other items as they pop in my head.

Part 1 - the early days

The following advice generally applies to firms that have a regular recruiting process on your campus, and are based on experiences with IB firms. These firms generally come for an initial presentation, followed by some type of open invite event (cocktails or something) and then 1-3 invite only events. For Darden this usually culminates with our Week on Wall Street where 20-25 firms host us in their offices in NY; finally there are two rounds of interviews, generally on campus. I must stress that if a firm does not recruit on campus, or if they only visit for a general presentation and do not have follow-up events that you must use different strategies.

So, at a lot of schools, recruiters will start showing up as soon as 2 or 3 weeks after you start school. For these schools, you can really understand why schools really want you to think about your career goals during the application process. You really need to be able to hit the ground running. I know that at some other schools, recruiters are allowed on campus until later or perhaps after the 1st quarter, so people at those schools should share their experiences. I didn't attend any conferences or anything like that, but I know that some people had success at such events.

The first thing you should do, perhaps even before deciding which school to attend, is to see which firms recruit on campus. This will be your best way to gain access to firms that you are interested in. Be sure to distinguish between firms that only post job listings (basically any firm will be willing to post jobs at any school) and those that actually invest their time, effort and dollars to recruiting on campus.

Typically, the banks start showing up first, followed by the consulting firms and then the others. The first event a particular firm holds on campus will generally be a briefing or presentation open to all students. Then main presentation is usually followed by some type of networking where you'll have the chance to speak with firm representatives. The early events will be madhouses because lots of students will be eager to start with recruiting and a lot of people don't really know what they want to focus on yet.

The best advice at this point is that you absolutely cannot win an interview invite at this point, but you might lose one. Don't be one of those people that makes a beeline for the most senior person from the firm and monopolizes their time during the event. There's just nothing positive that can come of this. You aren't going to impress them with how smart you are and how much you know, and the people that barrel to the front and try to hold off people with their sharp elbows will be annoying to the visiting firms as well as fellow students. You don't want to be that guy/gal.

Usually, the firms would introduce their people at the event and I'd pick out a few that I'd like to speak with; generally this was not the most senior member or the head of the recruiting team. There will be plenty of time to get to know these people later on, and it's just not necessary to rush things at this point. At these events, as the main presentation ended and the group broke up for networking, I'd generally like to stay back and have something to eat or drink while others crowded around the firm representatives. As things thinned out, I'd look for the people that I noted earlier, just to introduce myself and say hi. This is absolutely not the time to tell them your life story and take up a lot of their time; it's just plain annoying to everyone around. I think the best strategy is just to have a brief conversation and talk about something that might be memorable to the person you are speaking with. If that's not possible, then just understand that firms aren't making any decisions at this stage.

One piece of advice I have is to avoid traveling in packs. One of my good friends is from India, and he actually pointed this out to me; the Indian students tended to move around as large groups of 8-10 and surrounded one representative after another. This is just a terrible idea; leaving aside everything PC, it's just really tough for people to distinguish a new face from 10 other similar faces, who all happen to have similar accents and backgrounds. There's no way this is any good. Firms will also start to question whether you can adapt to other groups and cultures. This is not exclusive to any one group or culture, but I'd definitely avoid it if possible. It might feel like there is safety in numbers, but at a recruiting event it just doesn't make sense to go out of your way to make yourself blend in; try to move around and stand next to different people throughout the event. You're less likely to blend in, and you'll get to know some new fellow students.

I'd also advise against being a loner. Firms are watching; I don't mean that they're actively taking notes on you or anything like that, but over the course of many events, they will start to notice whether you get along with your fellow students. This is really important for them because they want to find out if you'll be able to adapt to a new situation and work well with others. If they start to notice that you spend a lot of your time at events off in the corner by yourself, that's not going to work out in your favor. You definitely shouldn't spend all of your efforts monopolizing the time of firm representatives at events, but move around and spend time talking with fellow students, 2Y reps that might be around, and so forth. This will be viewed favorably by the firms, and you'll also build a network with your fellow students that will help you throughout recruiting.

Something else I would recommend is to put effort into your learning team, study group, whatever it's called early on. many schools have a formalized process where students are assigned to learning teams when they get to campus. At other schools you must set up your own study group. I would highly advise putting a lot of effort into gaining the trust and support of your learning team early on, because you will need their help later. This could mean spending extra time putting together spreadsheets that the team can use, or doing extra preparation so you can lead team discussions. As recruiting picks up and you start having events 3-4 nights a week, you'll be glad you have them to lean on.

OK, so I guess that's it for Part 1. The basic advice is that it is a long process and to not be too eager early on because nothing good can come of it. I think in Part 2 we will cover dress, etiquette and manners. I'll start giving specific examples next time as well.

OK, first let's start by saying that what you wear to events does make a difference. Most of the advice in this part is standardized across most businesses, and is a 'best practices' kind of advice. Some people will have differing opinions on some of this stuff - for example I know that some people insist on wearing a black suit. I'll cover it later, but standard business attire does not include black suits; but people can apply other standards at their own risk.

My experience pertains only to men; I have no clue what is appropriate for women to wear at various events and there seems to be a lot more flexibility. I do have one suggestion though; I think women shouldn't have bare legs at business attire events. That's all I have to say about that, and it's just my opinion. The other stuff isn't my opinion; it's the rule (or at least think of it that way). My training and experience comes from two years of law firm recruiting, 2 years working at law firms on both coasts, close contact with lot's of bankers and consultants, and probably most importantly, a sorority house mother that instructed our chapter on etiquette - this was particularly important because failure meant not being invited back to the sorority house. Failure wasn't an option.

Before we get into specifics, just keep this in mind when deciding on what to wear to recruiting events: there is absolutely no reason why anyone should ever remember what you wore to a recruiting event or interview. That's rule #1 I've heard this many many times, most recently over a chuckle with a guy from a top bank. This applies on all fronts; you don't want to dress poorly, but you also don't want to be the best dressed guy in the room. You want to look a little hungry.

OK, on with the show.

Suit

Your suit should be charcoal gray or navy blue. If you don't know what this means, charcoal gray would apply to the 2-3 darkest shades that you can find at a suit store and navy blue is the shade that looks black under dim lighting. It does not mean any lighter shade of gray, it definitely doesn't mean royal blue, it doesn't mean brown or olive or anything like that. If you want a pinstripe or pattern, make sure it is really subtle. Really really subtle. Let me say that again, extremely subtle. Do not get chalk stripes, or wide pinstripes, or some type of noticeable plaid pattern on your suits. Just don't. I'd recommend getting at least two suits. Keep it simple and get one charcoal and one navy, one with a pinstripe and one without.

Some people insist on wearing a black suit. Black is generally not considered business attire. GQ says no. I have heard from many different people that it makes you look like an undertaker or a G-man. Not everyone thinks this way, but please refer back up to the part where it says 'you should never be remembered for your clothes'. A lot of people won't care that you're wearing a black suit; a few people will. The few people that do remember may ding you. Yes, it's true. I have a friend who's been in consulting for about 9 years now. He dings people that wear black suits - they probably don't even know why.

Your suit should be of high quality material, and should be tailored to your size. A good quality material is wool, that's it. Don't be the guy wearing a velvet jacket (yes there was actually someone that did this a bunch of times). This doesn't mean it has to be really expensive - I've seen good discounted suits for $250. Try to avoid 'fashion' cuts, and unless your European (or in Europe) avoid those types of cuts as well. Make sure you get it tailored so that it fits properly and looks good. If it's cut and tailored properly, it should feel very good when you put it on. Your pants should be cut so they don't drag on the ground, but don't show off your socks when standing. A good tailor will take care of this for you. Don't get mohair or sharkskin (shiny types); those are for throwing down on the dance floor, they aren't for recruiting.

Unless you're close to 7 feet tall, your suit should have 2 or 3 buttons. In my opinion, the number of buttons should depend on how tall and wide you are. 3 buttons if you are tall, 2 buttons if you are short, and adjustments based on if you are lean or fat. Your suit should not have 4 or 5 buttons (unless you're extremely tall); your suit should not have 1 button (unless you're attending a black tie event because that's a tuxedo jacket).

You should never ever carry anything in the front pockets of your suit. This isn't a problem for many suits because the front pockets are not real pockets; but even if they are real pockets do not put anything in them. Speaking of pockets, if you have a huge wallet or phone, put it in the interior pocket of your jacket. Don't have a huge bulging wallet on your @ss (consider taking some stuff out).

Shirt

I'm going to give you my personal advice on this subject, and it's something that has evolved over the course of the fall recruiting season. I would suggest sticking with basic white, light blue, ecru and other solid, basic colored shirts. I used to think it was OK to wear a striped shirt and the occasional French cuff, but I've come to believe that these are best avoided during recruiting. Save them until you've landed the job.

Note: there is no such thing as a short-sleeve dress shirt. OK, that's all I'm going to say about that.

Your shirt sleeve should be long so that 1/2-1 inch shows from beneath your suit. If you're getting ready to attend business school, I recommend getting measured - any decent department store or menswear store would be happy to do this for you. The neck shouldn't choke you, but if it's too loose it will look sloppy. Get measured so you can buy stuff that fits right. It will look a lot better.

Back to the colors and patterns. As recruiting wore on, it was really just a whole lot easier to stick with a solid shirt with basic colors. You can get away with wearing a striped shirt, but as I dressed up for event after event day after day, it just dawned on me, why bother? It's really not worth the effort trying to get coordinated and it's just easier to stick with basic white, blue or ecru. Frenched cuffs (with cuff links) are probably a bad idea for recruiting - they can draw attention which violates rule #1. DO NOT wear shirts with white collar and cuffs. I remember a briefing where a guy wore a royal blue shirt with white collar and Frenched cuffs; he also decided to wear some plaid pants and I'm not kidding, in a room full of peoplein dark suits he looked like a clown. Literally. People still remember it. You don't want to be that guy.

Tie

You have some flexibility with the tie that you choose. I have some tips that you might find useful, but it's up to you to decide.

First,
try to avoid anything that is really shiny. For some reason, people that don't wear suits often seem to select shiny ties. Don't do that. I'd also avoid anything that is really gold or predominantly black. They just seem to reflect poorly in recruiting situations.

The other basic advice relates to how you should put it together. There are 3 key pieces to business attire (suit, shirt and tie) and there are three basic patterns (solid, stripe, circle/dot). Generally try to avoid selecting the same pattern for all three pieces. For example, don't wear a pinstripe suit, and striped shirt and a striped tie. It just looks funny. If you're wearing a solid suit and shirt, go with a slightly (and I mean slightly) more unusual tie. If you're wearing a pinstripe suit, then go with a conservative tie. After you put it together, just ask yourself, 'is this tie making me stick out'?

The final thing about ties is that your knot should be tight and tidy. For some reason, people of certain cultures like to tie really strange looking knots. There's an Italian guy I know. I have no doubt that he's got a lot more style than me, and that his clothes are really nice; but he refuses to tighten his the knot on his tie. He basically just slips it through, and that's it. It looks really really sloppy, and I notice that when talking with him, it's impossible not to stare at his tie. That's bad. Generally avoid bid ostentatious knots like full Windsors. Just go with your basic four-in-hand (I think that's what it's called) and put a dimple in the middle. You'll look classy, neat and tidy. That's exactly how you want to look.

Shoes/Socks/Belt

Wear lace-ups. Do not wear loafers. Again, this seems to be a cultural thing, but some groups really like to wear loose fitting loafers. I really really really advise against this. It looks really sloppy and not business-like. Certainly, there are some loafers that are tight-fitting and classy, but I've definitely seen more mistakes than hits with people that wear loafers. Unless you're a managing director or law firm partner, do not wear tassled loafers and for the love of god, don't wear shoes with buckles.

For lace-ups, avoid fancy patterns like wingtips. Go with a plain toe, capped toe or perhaps split toe. Make sure the leather is high quality and shines up nicely. Make sure your shoes are shined and polished regularly; it really does make a difference. Your shoes should be black. Let's just leave it at that. You can wear whatever you want once you have the job, but for the purposes of recruiting and interviewing, just wear black shoes.

Your socks should be black. Really black. In fact, if your socks are faded from washing, get some new black socks. They should go far enough up your calves so that when you sit down and your pants ride up a little, you do not bear any skin. Black, long, that's it. No more talk about socks.

Your belt should be black. It should have a plain silver or gold buckle. By plain I mean really basic. Your belt should fit pretty snuggly; you definitely don't want something that flops or shifts around. OK, that's all there is to know about belts for recruiting.

When to Wear What

Okey dokey, so now you know how to put together some effective business attire. The next question is, when should you use it? At the early on-campus briefings and presentations, you don't need to wear a suit. Wear a nice shirt and slacks and try not to stand out too much. Later invite only events will often specify what you should wear. If they don't say specifically, make an educated guess based on the type of event, time of day and who you anticipate will be attending. Here are some terms you'll likely encounter:

Casual - this doesn't really mean wear whatever you want. It's a recruiting event so wear slacks and and a nice (clean and pressed) shirt. If it's really hot (and it could be early in the recruiting season), a nice polo shirt should be alright. It depends on the event, of course. If you're playing golf, be dressed for that, etc.

Business Casual - these days, this seems to mean suit and coat, but no tie. In a broader sense, businesses generally think of business casual as slacks and shirt, and possibly even polo shirt, but for recruiting events, business casual really doesn't mean polo shirt.

Business Formal - Generally you'll get this for sit-down dinner type events. This means suit and tie. It's really important to look business-like when this is specified, so don't get cute.

Business Attire - Kind of between business casual and business formal. I'd just go with suit and tie in most cases. If the event is in the afternoon or in a very casual setting, I might go without the tie.

Any events at the firm's offices - wear a suit and tie. This applies even if you're invited there for lunch, or if you're just doing informational interviews.

What about firms that are casual? - You should always, at minimum, wear slacks and a pressed shirt (or polo shirt if it's really hot). It doesn't matter if you're interviewing with Apple and Steve Jobs doesn't wear socks. That doesn't mean you should go without socks. I was reviewing for an interview I have with Google - their website specifically says that while their dress is casual, people interviewing should wear business attire. Once you become CEO, you can wear your underwear outside your pants if you want. Until then, keep it basic and tidy.

Alright, that's about it for what to wear. I know I'm forgetting some stuff, so I'll add it as it comes to me. Everyone should add their input as well. Remember, we're talking about recruiting and schmoozing, so it really doesn't matter how you, as an individual, likes to dress for your job. Remember rule #1.

Next up, I think we'll cover etiquette, manners and respecting your classmates.

So, as I see it, this is probably the most important aspect to successful recruiting. Etiquette includes not just manners when you sit down at dinner, but also how you act at company presentations, how you behave at events, and perhaps most importantly how you interact with fellow students. So, let's try to look at each step of the recruiting process.

Your first encounter with firms that recruit on campus will probably be at a company briefing or presentation. (note: I met some students from Fuqua and they had their Week on Wall Street at the start of recruiting season before any briefings, while we had our Week on Wall Street as the last event of recruiting season). Early on in the recruiting season, many events will be overflowing with students. The first recruiter on campus this last fall was Lehman Brothers, and I'd say about 150 people (about 1/2 our class) attended; later in the fall, there were 50-70 people that were really interested in banking. Someone from Wharton told me they had 4-500 people at some IB briefings.

The key thing to remember at this early stage is to not do anything that gets you thrown off the list. Firms usually brought lots of people for networking after the general presentation, and a lot of students felt the inclination to charge up after the presentation and pepper the representatives with questions. I'll just say that I don't think there is anything that you can possibly do at this stage to help you. Students that were really aggressive only succeeded in hurting themselves. My strategy was generally to hang back, have a drink or something to eat while people rushed up and surrounded the firm representatives, and then after the crowd started to thin I approached 1 or 2 people I thought I could connect with and tried to have a few words with them. Trying to talk to every single firm representative probably isn't a good strategy.

I'd always try to follow up with a thank you email that would help them remember me. This is a two step process. First, you need to say something during the original conversation that they might remember. Second, you need to reference that in your email. But you need to do it all without coming across as being too pushy or aggressive. So, try to find some things in your background that are hooks that will help people remember you. So for me, I was a lawyer working in real estate and CMBS, I was an entrepreneur working with factories in China and I collect wine. I tried to speak with representatives that had similar backgrounds, and most of all I didn't offer up any information until prompted. Again, don't be pushy. After the event, send an email thanking the people that you spoke with. Many times firms will provide a list of people attending an event; otherwise try to get a business card from the people that you spoke with. Don't rush back to your computer/blackberry and shoot of emails. I actually had a chuckle with a banker who was laughing about a thank you email that hit his blackberry 30 minutes after a conversation. Wait until the next day, after they have had a chance to get back to their offices.

Now might be a good time to talk about interacting with fellow students. Nobody likes pushy classmates at recruiting events. People with sharp elbows definitely didn't do well during recruiting. People that shoved their way into groups and tried to take over conversations were not invited to subsequent events. Firms absolutely definitely notice when people are too pushy, and they don't like it. I have many many examples of people who are plenty smart but just didn't have any self-awareness and ended up making no closed lists. I suggest supporting your fellow classmates, introducing them recruiters if you are able, and complimenting them if you are able. The dynamic will vary at each school, so you'll each have to judge for yourselves. Darden tends to be very collaborative, and those students that displayed teamwork during recruiting did the best; and those students that were most selfish did the worst. I found that recruiters really responded positively when I told them I had a great learning team and that I really gained a lot from working with them; and they were visibly turned off by people who were know-it-alls and discounted their classmates.

Also keep in mind that firms are always watching. When you are moving between groups or just taking a break at an event, don't stand off in the corner by yourself. Even if they don't note this overtly, they will start to notice as they get to know you. Try to engage other students while you grab a drink or some food. Firms will also notice is your fellow students drop their heads in annoyance as you approach - yet another reason to make nice with your fellow classmates.

After the initial presentation, many firms will host some open invite events for all students - usually for cocktails or something like that. There are some basic suggestions for these types of events. Hold your drink in your left hand; that way your right hand won't be wet and icy cold when you need to shake hands. Dress appropriately for each event. Refer back to part 2 for details, but the basic thing to remember is that you should never be remembered for what you wore. So, don't be the only one in jeans, but also don't be the only one in a suit, and definitely don't be flashy. Watch your breath - it's pretty basic but I got a tip from a 2Y to always carry some mints or gum just in case. Don't drink too much, obviously. It's definitely a good idea to have a few memorable conversations with firm representatives at this point, because they are about to start cutting. A little self effacing humor is a great tool. Tooting your own horn too much is not.

At this point, if firms return, they will start doing invite-only events. Some firms do just one invite only event while others will do 3-4. It may be cocktails, but more likely it will be dinner. We also had things like golf and wine-tastings. My best suggestion is to start working on dinner etiquette skills as soon as you can so you are comfortable when the situation arises. If you are uncomfortable and thinking about how to eat and drink, you definitely won't be at your social best - so practice. Eat with your mouth shut; this should really go unsaid, but it seems to be tremendously challenging for some people. Practice, now, every day. Your bread plate is on your left, your water is on your right. BMW (bread, meal, water from left to right) is a good way to remember. Don't be the guy that uses the wrong plate or drinks from the wrong glass and makes everyone have to pass stuff around the table; that sucks. If you get butter for your bread, use your knife and take some butter and put it on your own plate. Do not butter your entire roll all at once. Tear off a bite-sized piece of bread, butter that from the butter already on your plate, and eat. After you have used a utensil, do not put it back on the table. After you use your butter knife, put it on your plate. Don't plank your knife (lean it on the plate onto the table), or any utensils for that matter; place the whole thing on the edge of your plate. When you use your utensils, start from the outside in; the if the restaurant is any good they will take away utensils you don't need, and add ones you do as you proceed through your meal. In the US, you should hold your fork in your left hand and cut with the knife in your right hand, then switch your fork to your right hand to deliver food to your mouth. Generally, you don't want to 'point-and-shoot' by keeping the fork in your left hand to deliver food to your mouth. Only cut with your knife, no matter how soft the food is. Don't use your fork to cut any food, even if it is fish or anything like that, use your knife. Cut off a single bit at a time. Do not cut up your entire meal all at once. I'd also recommend taking really small bites when you are at recruiting dinner because you want to be able to respond to questions without choking on your food. Try to order as many courses as everyone else is ordering. You don't want to be the only one to order an appetizer while everyone else watches you eat; but you also don't want to be the only one that doesn't have soup while everyone else is eating. It may be obvious, but don't order the most expensive thing on the menu, and don't order anything that is market price. Unless you are at a rib joint, don't order ribs or anything you have to eat with your hands. Unless you are very comfortable at the table, don't order anything with messy sauces (like spaghetti). If you are at a loss, ask your host for a suggestion.

These are just basic tips, but I'd definitely suggest picking up some kind of etiquette manual and getting in plenty of table manners practice before recruiting begins. The people that were most comfortable with this definitely did better during recruiting. So, that's what I can think of for now. It's really a combination of knowing what to do, and also being comfortable in each setting. Don't just read a book though; practice, practice, practice. I'm interested to hear comments from people at other schools and looking at other industries, and I'll try to add stuff as I think of it.

UNQUOTE:

I guess we in India would not have experienced this kind of stuff for recruiting. I guess we get it a bit too easy. ;)

Good old marketing: Where are thou?

2008-06-18T19:03:00.003+05:30

I recently visited Pantaloons to get some dresses. They were running a sale or something which sounded like "buy for Rs 1000 and get a 7.5% discount voucher". I knew these discount voucher scams. Unless one reads the fine print you can assume its a lost case. Some usual '*conditions apply' are:

1. You may have to buy from 22nd June to 26th June (meaning a very small window and probably one would not notice that)

2. You have to buy for Rs 2000 minimum to avail the discount (which effectively means you have to buy for Rs 1000+Rs 2000 to avail the discount)

3. You cannot use the discount coupon to buy t shirts, shirts, peter england ties, levis jeans and excalibur suits (self explanatory. Closes off many obvious purchases)

I was aware of all these tactics and thought let me read the fine print at Pantaloons to make sure of what I am getting into. And boy! I was shocked!

Good thing was that it was not technically fine print. They had put up a large poster with the rules for using discount coupon which went something like this.

1. For every 1000 Rs purchase one would get a 7.5% discount coupon which can be used in the next purchase
2. One can club 2 discount coupons maximum for buying red tagged dresses
3. One can club 4 discount coupons maximum for buying green tagged dresses
4. One can use only 1 discount coupon for buying yellow tagged dresses
5. One can use 2 discount coupons maximum for buying deos, belts, ties, handkerchiefs and other accessories
6. Irrespective of number of discount coupons maximum amount to which discount can be applied is Rs 10000
7. However, no grey tagged dresses can be discounted using the discount vouchers
8. 4 more points of the same order

I was reminded of those puzzling questions which used to come in CAT Data Interpretation section and also of those good ol' George Summers puzzles.

I could not figure out what the marketing manager was thinking when he devised this "ingenius sale". Did the marketing manager actually think that some 40 year old auntie will go through this whole thing, figure out the convoluted 12 point rule book and then understand which dresses she must buy.

Ridiculous. I can actually imagine a few MBA's doing an all nighter coming up with these "smart" sale strategy and making a nice PPT to the senior management. I guess they would have also used some complicated regression analysis. It all sounds so dilbertish. :P

Interesting Quote-1

2008-06-18T19:02:00.000+05:30

"When building a team, I always search first for people who love to win. If I can't find enough of those, I look for people who hate to lose."

- Ross Perot, founder of Electronic Data Systems

Dasavatharam: Where is the story?

2008-06-14T23:38:00.004+05:30

1. The first thing which I felt after the film got over was "When he had spent so much time on make-up and graphics etc, he should have pondered a bit more about something called the story"

2. I really felt sorry for Kamal. The movie genuinely sucked after all the hard work he had put.

3. No story + Bad humour killed it

4. This hopefully must be Himesh's last Tamil film. He did not get the pulse of the audience one bit. I don't expect him to either. Anyway, I don't know whose pulse would have found the music good.

Watch the film as a normal time pass film and not with "the" expectations one usually has for Kamal films.

Where is the Business Sense?

2008-06-13T10:56:00.002+05:30

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India_Business/Ranbaxy_sell-off_a_shock_for_industry/articleshow/3121585.cms

As one of India’s earliest entrepreneurial companies to stop the march of multinational drug companies, does the sale mark an end of era in pharmaceutical industry.

I don't understand this whole "patriotic" angle to Ranbaxy junta selling of their stake. The media has made it into a "Indian MNC" is "bought out" by Japanese firm and its a "Blow" to the Indian Industry.

Yeah, we do feel proud when our Tatas bought out Corus and likes. Somehow we likened it to the kind of frenzy we have for Cricket. The way our people were happy when we won Pakistan in cricket when the Kargil war was going on.

But how stupid can the media get? I thought its a blow to the Singh's only if the valuation they sold it for or something like that did not make sense.

Firstly, Malvinder's logic was simple. He did not see how the firm will grow comfortably beyond 2012. He was not confident. Now this logic must have been attacked. Maybe one could have thought if Malvinder was not the CEO and someone else became, can it add more value to the shareholders and likes.

Secondly, there should be more discussion on the price paid.

Instead there are really stupid ideas given by these newspapers as if the owners committed some crime and let down India in the global arena.

Yuck.

Gurgaon and its advantages

2008-06-12T22:40:00.004+05:30

Going on 12th June to PVR cinemas to book 4 tickets for Dasavathaaram for a Saturday afternoon show (14th June) and the guy at the ticket counter asks "Is the last but 3rd row fine with you"

Its bliss. :)

CFA Level-1 Part II

2008-06-12T09:33:00.002+05:30

I posted this in an Orkut community. I hope its useful to someone here.

I attended the exam in Nepal. Exams started and ended sharply at correct time.

I feel I have done well. Lets see.

I would say they tested the basic fundas to the core. They did not touch advanced fundas much. If one had read the books well and thoroughly, it would have definitely been easier. Solving a few qp's would have given an idea. CFAI mocks for 100$ resembled the main exam though main exam was easier than CFAI mocks. Schweser mocks were unnecessarily tough and did not focus much on the "basics" part whcih CFA tested. Numericals were very less in main exam. Second session was slightly more difficult than 1st. I found ethics tricky in 2nd.

I would definitely say that if one prepares and is willing to slog (to remember the many concepts) it is a passable exam. If one takes it lightly and skims thru the text (schweser), you may lose out on a few qns.

I thought the most deadly questions in ethics were those were we have to identify the type of violation. 4 options were given and one of them least likely violated it. One really had to know the fundas in ethics to crack those. I already am discounting 10/36 questions in ethics since they were awesomely tricky.

I felt schweser Q Bank of 3300 questions is a much better practice ground. It tests your basics in a much better way than the book 6/book 7 exams of schweser. Book 6/ Book 7 is olympiad type of stuff which will help to understand concepts if you have time to spend on those. If one does not have time to study and does only book 6 and book 7, opportunity cost is too high. Its worth spending 100$ on the mocks. But if they dont give the mock papers to review after completing exam (they dont give as of now, so there is no way you can see the questions once test is over,only solutions can be seen), its a bit futile.

Some more points which I did not post in Orkut for PG junta:

1. Be patient while reading the questions. Dont rush thru it. Some are deceptively easy and are easy except for a word or 2 in the question. Like "annual" instead of "semi annual". "This year" vs "next year". Assuming this wrongly will give wrong answers. I made some 5-7 mistakes like this.

2. Don't skip any topic unless you don't have time. They more or less tested everything.

3. As engineers, sometimes we may concentrate more on formulas and look at theory as cut-the-crap. Dont do that. If reading from schweser, better go thru the whole text book, each line. Its just 5 books and not too tough.

4. Also, remember things these way: There will be many things in schweser which would be like: There are 3 types of .... There are 5 reasons why.... There are 6 types of risk. They are.. There are 3 types of probability.. etc Or They may not specifically quote like There are n types of... But it would be implicit in the passage. There may be some 2-5 types of things.

Remember these very well. Each point you can remember thru some code word or something. EPS, FLISKKS or whatever/however you feel like. But dont just skim thru those parts. You will find so many of those in each subject, including quants. Write them down somewhere in short form. It helps. We had many questions which were theoretical this way.

5. FSA: The SS8 and SS9 is considered tough. 2 days before the exam I made some notes which helped me.

SS9:

I drew some tree diagrams/flowchart kinda stuff. Like FIFO-> Less COGS-> More Net Income-> Better profitability. Also like DDB-> More depreciation->Less assets->Higher ROA and types.

This helped to understand how everything is linked.
I drew 1-2 tree diagrams for each topic like inventory, capitalizing etc

Also, next part is understanding restatement of financial statements when:

- Converting FIFO between LIFO
- Capitalizng vs expensing
- Operating lease was capital lease etc
- whatever to whatever

They will ask questions like if you change one from another how will it affect:

1. Balance sheet
2. Income statement
3. Cash Flow

Schweser would have given one paragraph which is lengthy while revising and you will forget soon. So, make notes of how they affect with 1-2 lines.

e.g. FIFO to LIFO for COGS (Income statement):

COGS FIFO = COGS LIFO - Change in LIFO reserve

(We got the above equation as a question but worded as a sentence)

It helps. Make such notes for each area in SS9.

SS8:

Same stuff. I/S and B/S may seem more easy when compared to Cash Flow. Please don't leave Cash Flow. Study that. There will be an example in CFAI books. Note down the formulas from that. Its very conceptual to remember too.

Would again re-edit this as and when I get time.

CFA Level-1 experience

2008-06-11T00:24:00.008+05:30

I had been to Nepal recently to appear for CFA Level -1.

This post is a bit about CFA exams and the course in general, what I learnt while preparing, how to prepare etc. I would like to share my experience and hope its helpful to a few.

CFA stands for Chartered Financial Analyst. You can know a lot more about it here at their website. The exam is mainly for those who want to enter into a career in Asset Management/Portfolio Management. Mutual fund is an example of a portfolio. One can have a portfolio of stocks, bonds etc. But the exam also covers few other areas which would help one get some idea about Markets in general.

This is the syllabus one would cover if one clears all three levels. The syllabus is broken down into many parts for each level. Since the Finance profession per se does not have too many exams like those in software, CFA is considered by few as an entry ticket into the world of finance. Its considered to be a respected course and is supposedly prestigious.

Some basic facts about CFA exam:

1. There are 3 levels to complete in it. CFA Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3.

2. Unless one successfully completes all three levels one cant become a CFA charter holder. However one can definitely write in his resume CFA L 1 pass etc if he has cleared only L1 till date.

3. Level 1 is held twice in a year. June and December. Level 2 and Level 3 are held only once in a year in June.

4. So technically one can complete all 3 levels in 1.5 years. Appear for Dec'09 L1, June'10 L2 and June'11 L3.

5. Its paper and pencil test as of now and not a computer adaptive test and hence is conducted in a single day across the world (2 days actually, due to time differences).

6. The Level 1 and Level 2 papers are objective in nature with 4 options per question. Level 3 has 1 objective paper and 1 subjective paper with 10-12 case studies.

7. 30-40% of those who appear for L1 pass. Similar, but slightly higher number would pass L2. Around 2/3rd's pass L3. And totally 18% who appear for L1 finally end up as a charter holder.

8. The seemingly higher pass percentages must not make one complacent. The test is tough if you have not prepared well (pretty obvious huh? ;) )and does not depend just on intelligence. A lot of hard work needs to go behind it since there are innumerable concepts which have to remembered. Also, in western countries a number of MBA's, people who are into equity research, portfolio mgmt and other related financial industries appear for it and it can be assumed they skew the curve to create a higher pass percentage.

9. Level 1 has 120 questions in a morning 3 hour session 0900-1200 hrs and another 120 question afternoon session of 120 questions from 1400-1700 hrs. All question carry equal marks and there is no negative marking. So everyone will technically attempt all 240 questions since there is no downside. One need not pass in both the sessions. Totally out of the 240 marks, one has to cross the cut-off. Also, each session of 120 question is split into 10 parts (Actually into 6 parts since they club 2 parts into 1). But one need not pass in each part. So, all that matters for passing is what score you got out of 240. That is the "only number" considered.

Syllabi for Level -I along with weightage (in terms of no. of questions) when I gave the exam in June'08:

I. Ethical and Professional Standards - 15%

II. Quantitative Methods - 12%

III. Economics - 10%

IV. Financial Statement Analysis- 20%

V. Corporate Finance - 8%

VI. Equity Investments - 10%

VII. Fixed Income - 12%

VIII. Derivatives - 5%

IX. Alternative Investments - 3%

X. Portfolio Management - 5%

Preparation (specifically for Level-I) :

When we for the test by paying the 1000$ or whatever fees, we will get a set of 6-7 fat books from the CFAI institute. This can be used for preparation. The books are really conceptual and do a extremely good job of explaining the concepts etc. However one disadvantage with the book is its the typical "foreign author" book of engineering days. Like taking 6 full pages in size 7 font to prove Kirchoffs law. So, yes, one will definitely understand better if one reads from the CFAI books but will take hell lot of time. The other set of books is from Schweser. There are many more, but usually Schweser is good enough. Schweser does a wonderful job of cutting down the crap and reduces the size to almost 1/10th to 1/15th of the original CFAI books. This book, I would say, is not a typical "local author book" of engineering days, but one step above that. But still, the purpose is the same.

Usually the argument or discussion is whether to prepare from schweser or CFAI. My suggestion or study plan would be as follows.

I would not recommend studying entirely from CFAI mainly because

1. Will take 4-5 times more hours of study time than from Schweser.

2. One usually needs to revise the syllabi 3-4 times before the main exam. Revising from CFAI books is too painful

3. Too much of information. One needs to exactly know which line is important or which concept is important in an explanation or derivation running for 4 pages. i.e. The gist is not presented clearly

The way I went about it is as follows:

1. If you have an idea about where you want to end up in (say Fixed Income, Derivatives or M&A etc), based on that select a few topics which you want to read from the CFAI books for better clarity. I studied Fixed Income and derivatives from CFAI since they are usually tested during the summer placements.

2. Some areas which are not very conceptual (Set A):

a. Ethics
b. Quants
c. FSA (Financial Statement analysis)
d. Derivatives
e. Alternative Investments

Some areas which are moderately conceptual or very conceptual are (Set B):

a. Corp Finance
b. Equities
c. Portfolio Management
d. Fixed Income (pretty conceptual)
e. Economics (pretty conceptual)

If all areas are equal to you, reading from CFAI books for Set-A does not make much sense. Reading d. and e. from SET-B makes some sense. However reading economics from Set B will take lots of time.

I, most of the time, used to go through 3-4 initial chapters from CFAI to get a hang of the subject and then shift to Schweser.

Finally, all said and done, if you are planning to pass the exam with good/decent grasp of fundas, Schweser is more than enough. Reading only from CFAI, that too just once, wont ensure a pass. You would know some concepts, but cant answer the questions!

I am planning to head to Schweser only for Level II and wont touch the CFAI books unless I am stuck up somewhere. I am planning to use CFAI books only for reference. And yeah, 98% of questions in CFAI main exams can be answered by studying Schweser thoroughly (I mean there was no need to know stuff from CFAI).

Solving questions is a must. That is the best practice ground. I would suggest working hard on the 3300 questions schweser q bank. I did only 10% of the questions from that, that too in the last 2 weeks. But would suggest one to finish reading a topic and take a test in Q Bank on tat topic and keep doing the q bank now and then to strengthen the concepts. Start with Basic and Moderate level and then slowly shift to advanced levels. Would suggest one to complete all 3300 questions before L1. You would definitely be in a very good position.

Time required:

It depends on your background. Putting some 250 hours would be ideal. I would suggest targeting to complete the entire syllabi once some 6 weeks before exam. I completed just 2 weeks before and it made me jittery and I felt under prepared. Then, after that it has to be 120Q tests from Q Banks + revision of syllabi. Then, slowly start getting used to 240Q tests in a day.

Passing marks:

Target 80%+ in Schweser Q Bank tests (85% if you need to feel happy about yourself) and 65-70%+ in Book 6/7 of Schweser and 75%+ in 100$ CFAI mocks.

Target 70%+ in main exam for a pass. 65-70% range is a bit dicey and may fall in the "just pass" category of school exams. 60-65%: Pray to God

Unfortunately most of what I have written above are things which I did not do and learnt it the hard way. Hope I do a good job when appearing for Level II or god forbid, reappearing for L I.

Also, what I mentioned above as a schedule/advice etc is not to "just pass" the exam or "scrape through" it, but to get a good grasp of the subjects and also to feel very confident before the actual exam. There is a difference between being uncomfortable and passing the exam and being comfortable and passing the exam. I was definitely very uncomfortable before the exam.

Why Nepal:

There are certain issues with CFA in India. I am talking of the CFA from US. Till recently we could not give the exam in India due to some court case etc. I did not follow it much. But I knew we could not give it in India. A week before the test, they allowed the exam to be conducted in Mumbai and CFA did a wonderful job I heard by conducting it at a short period of time. However, I was from Delhi and canceling ticks to Nepal and booking again to Mumbai did not make much sense since I had to anyway spend a lot re-booking. And also giving in Mumbai this year had some risks. There were enough disclaimers from CFAI which made me a bit uncomfortable. One of the disclaimers were like "If the court rules against it the exam conducted in mumbai becomes null and void" and to that level. I was like WTF. So did not take any risks. From this December, I expect the exams to be allowed in India and no more Nepal, Bangkok, Sri Lanka trips for Indians.

Update:

*I passed CFA L-1 with 70%+ in all areas! :)

*Visited my blog after almost 6-8 months. 1st year at A was the culprit. Sorry for delay.

* http://www.analystforum.com/ is a good website for discussions on CFA. The forum junta would keep you on toes.

The famed query and the Telecom Revolution :P

2008-06-04T21:36:00.000+05:30

I am running short of time. Hence cant come up with an original update. :)

Heading to Nepal for a week. Will be back on 10th June.

Till then, an interesting read.

2-3 years back, one fachcha (junior in IIMA parlance and nowadays, MBA parlance itself) asked the following query. Read 'em and most importantly, read the whacky reply she got from the senior. Hilarious. :)

Query:
: i need a cell cuz i want to stay in touch with my guy. also i may not be in my room/ be able to come to my room to make/take calls at all times, but i can always carry my cell with
me anywhere!!
ofcourse i will get std activated... but messagin u can do only thru a cell...

i get teh point abt matchin networks to reduce cost... n here is my dilemma

my guy has an airtel connection
my dad has a reliance phone
my brother has idea
and our home phone is a tata indicom.

now what???

i need to have teh most cost effective way out... which wd be covenient fr my parents, bro and guy too!!

help!!!

*Now below is the reply to the above post...*
* The reply was by a now PGP-4 or a 2007 IIMA passout and the query was from a 2008 passout when she was going to join IIM A*

This is a very good query. I also faced a lot of problems when I came to IIMA because I wanted to stay in touch with my guy, bhains and bakri (If I had an elephant, it would have been a simple matter of making a trunk call). Considering the reverence that Indian culture accords to the bovine and the divine, staying in touch with cattle is a very important issue. One needs to only read the Hindi stories of Munshi Premchand, such as Heera Moti and Godaan to realize the deep bonds that people in the cowbelt have for their livestock. Of course, calling Munshi Premchand a Hindi writer is slightly misleading
because his writings have a proliferation of Urdu words, reflecting the degree of intermixing between Urdu and Hindi in pre-independence Uttar Pradesh. The alphabet taught in schools during those days began with Aliph, which interestingly is a derivative of the Greek alpha,which had first made its presence felt in India during the times of
Alexander and Selecus Nicator. And perhaps it is divine happenstance that Alexander the Great had to retreat from the Ganges, thereby completing the UP connection. However the Greek influence in India did not die out with him, his generals if you are still reading this
then I can only wonder how exciting your work is established mini kingdoms from whatever they could salvage of his victories and particularly interesting is the case of the kingdom of Bactria (in present day Afghanistan) , a Greek island in a South Asian sea. The
great king Menander of Bactria is the same Milinda, the celebrated king who had a dialogue with the Buddhist sage Nagasena on the semantics of being.; But let me not digress from the core issue, which is your connectivity query. Well as you know, India has undergone a telecom revolution in the past 10 years or so. It all began with the reaking down of the monoploy of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)
and the establishment of quasi-autonomous bodies like the MTNL and the VSNL. For the purpose of cellular communications, India is divided into a number of contiguous circles, which roughly correspond to the boundaries of the states (which is very convenient considering that the states of India were reorganized on a linguistic basis in the 1950s, thus going to ahow how farsighted our planners and statesmen were at the time). Initially, for reasons of viable competition, each circle could have 2 private operators and one network from either MTNL or BSNL. At the moment, I think 3 private operators are allowed and plans are to allow a further private player in a circle.

So what you need to do is, locate a map of India, find the telecom cirlces and identify the players operating there. Formulate a matrix to display this information and then apply the concepts of cost minimization (modified simplex method) to identify the optimal network combination for your needs.

Cheers,
PGP-4

ROTFL. :)

The guy replied must have been one heck of genius ;)

I hope someone asks something similar next year and I get a nice time. :P

Or better, someone asks this year itself and a PGP2 sends a gem. ;)

Wanna become a CEO? Work on your hairstyle

2008-06-02T10:17:00.000+05:30

http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/may/14ceo1.htm

Indra Nooyi

What has hairstyle got to do with success? There is a hair raising observation among corporate America that most of the successful CEOs including Pepsico's Indra Nooyi part their hair to the left, says US business magazine Fortune.

Warren Buffett

Legendary investor and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett also parts his hair to the left. The report said that he comes across as the classic left-brainer: rational and assertive.

Jamie Dimon

Jamie Dimon of investment bank J P Morgan Chase also joins the 'left-parted' club of highly efficient CEOs who comb their hair to the left side. In recent years, a pseudoscience has emerged around the theory that left-partedness signals leadership potential, while parting on the right suggest something a little off-kilter, Fortune said.

Rick Wagoner

A look at the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies reveals only three among the top CEOs of 50 firms, part their hair on their right side. They include General Motors' chairman Rick Wagoner.

Lloyd C. Blankfein

Meanwhile, in the Fortune 500 there are highly successful chief executives who neither part their hair to the left or right. Such names include General Electrics Jeff Immlet, Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein.
According to the magazine, Walter is credited with the theory (of parting hair to left) three decades ago, after he discovered that only a few American presidents parted their hair on the right.

Rediff articles are hilarious and only thing to beat that would be the comments the readers make!!

One rare out of the blue sensible comment:

The author does not provide figures of the proportion of the general population which parts its hair to the left. One just needs to walk downtown and see for oneself the proportion of population parting hair to the left. Common... u fellas ... we all know that the default option is to part hair to the left. No doubt most CEOs are from that group. If i study the number of convicts on death row the most likely outcome would be 'Most part to the left', just as with CEOs.
So i suggest rediff ponders into the details of such research and provide evidence based findings rather than make eyecatching headlines. Unfortunately, eyecatching phrases seem to dominate and apear to be rediff's mantra on certain occasions. Isnt this daft....

And oops! I part my hair right. I just lost a easy CEO berth. :(

IIMs vs US B schools

2008-06-01T00:26:00.000+05:30

I had posted a reply to this query at GMATclub/PG. Standard disclaimers apply.

Query Post:

It will be great if some of you guys can share your perspective/suggestions on my quandary.

1) Is IIM better than top US Bschools in terms of prospects?

I know it depends on a plethora of variables, especially boils down to 'where' I want to be.
Lets just say that I am equally open to continue in the states or pack my bags to India. In terms of ROI, you can repay the loan ~3 yrs out of an ivy league.

2) What can IIM actually do to your career?

Well, I am not talking about the few outliers who make ~$400K straight out of IIM. Where do average people land up? I am frankly concerned about making ~12L p.a after two years when my current pay is way ahead (even after taking the geographic variation into consideration)

Ultimately, I want to transition from tech to management oriented roles (strategy) and I am looking for a MBA to open those doors for me. So the question comes to - Which MBA will make more sense at this point in my career! I really wish I knew the answer to this. But the good thing is - I still have ~2 months to decide

My Reply:

Views are strictly mine. Biased and whatever. I thought of chipping in from whatever research I had done.

1) Is IIM better than top US Bschools in terms of prospects?

We need to look at this from a different point of view. If you can get an admit from the top 7 (HSW, Chichago GSB, MIT, Kellogg, Columbia) I would say its much better to do from there, mainly from the experience point of view. Whether you will get a better job is a difft issue (it depends on your relative standing in class in terms of profile). But it will open more doors in terms of intl network, alumni being in senior position etc, reputed brand names internationally etc.

From 8 to 15 rank: Tough to say. One needs to take a call. Very very subjective. Though I would still say do an US MBA mainly for the experience and not in terms of prospects. Prospects are again relative. If you have a wonderful profile and can get a I Bank/Mgmt consulting shortlist (which is very competitive in B Schools ranked 8 to 15) do from US. Else, chances of getting a shortlist from I banks/Mgmt consulting in IIM ABC may be higher.

From 15+ rank: IIM ABC would be better in terms of chances. i.e. If you have a very good profile, getting into I Bank/Mgmt consulting from IIM ABC would be easier than from those instis.

But remember one important thing. From IIMs most students join an I Bank or a Mgmt consulting firm as an analyst and after 2 years automatically become an associate. A few firms like LB, DB and Barclays have started giving associate positions. But if you get a job in an I Bank or Mgmt consulting firm from US B school you will join as an associate. Only if you have relevant work ex would you get to join from ABC as an associate whereas in US, relevant work ex is not necessary.

2) What can IIM actually do to your career?

IIM ABC: If you want to work in India, its very good to do from these since they are wonderful brand names in India and will open doors. Basically, whatever door a HSW will open in US, similar doors will open if you are from ABC in India.

If you want to work in US, ABC gives an opportunity to get a front end job there which is otherwise not possible from India. But thats it. It may still take sometime for ABC junta to establish themselves there and the brand becoming well known. If you want to make a shift away from the typical firms from wall street which recruit at IIMs, it may be difficult to land a shortlist in US since the brand name is yet to become famous.

In ABC, if your profile is good, you can make a 20 LPA+ to as high as 30-35 LPA (including bonus) in Indian I Banks. I am not considering the outlier 50 LPA+ jobs which 1-2 get in PE firms.

If you end up in tier-1 consulting, its 18 LPA-20 LPA.

General mgmt firms, tier-2 banks, non i banking banks, tier-2 mgmt consulting etc from the industry pay less. 10-16 LPA with 10-14 LPA being the norm.

I have written above mainly from career perspective since that was your question. Learning environment in top 15 US B schools would definitely be better than from IIM ABC due to the fact that most students would have work ex and discussions in class will be better and more insightful. ABC is also slowly shifting towards people with more work ex. A few years back, 60% of a class were freshers. These days its dropped to 30%. However, it will still take a lot of time to catch up with the methodology of US B schools.

In Each of the IIMs, ABC, you would find top 30-40 students who, if they had maybe worked for 3-4 years, can get into HSW. The stud profile guys. The ones who topped their schools, got offers from MIT, Stan for MS, Represented India in olympiads at Russia and types, State level sportsmen, started NGO's, 9 pointers out of 10, Worked at DB, LB, Mck etc in India (which is not easy), Full scholarships during college etc, top 100-300 JEE rankers. Whatever they have done, they have been really good in those. They usually join IIM ABC within 0-2 years of work ex. The topmost 1-4 of these guys join PE firms like Blackstone, Apax, Caryle, Sun group and likes these days and make insane money similar to PE firms in US.

However this group, once they work for 3-4 years, they don't apply to IIMs. They apply to HSW and usually are the desis who make to H & S and the remaining top schools. But the 3-4 yrs of work experience would bring in a lot more perspective and maturity towards life and hence the learnings would be better. But they join IIMs earlier and miss out on those.

Post made at Pagalguy about my GDPI's & my Profile

2008-06-01T00:20:00.000+05:30

Hi everybody,

Finally the devil gets its dew.

Here's My profile and calls:

Acads:

Xth: 86.7 TN Matriculation
XIIth: 95.1 TN State Board
Grad: 8.17/10
College, Year: NIT Trichy, 2005
Discipline: Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Extra Currics:

Pretty decent: College Placement rep, Many quizzes, Dance, Drama etc

CAT Percentiles:

QA: 99.00
DI: 95.64
VA: 99.73

Overall: 99.81

Work Ex:

L&T Design -> 6 months
L&T Sales -> 16 months
Milagrow, A mgmt consulting start-up, directly reporting to CEO, amazing work -> 7 months

Total work ex: 29 months (My strongest point and my differentiating factor)

Calls: BLACKI + S

Attended: BLACKI

Converts: ABLIK (WL 31 at A which got converted)
Rejects: C

Joining: A

A:

Essay: Pretty shoddy work
PI: Very mediocre
Verdict: WL 31
Did I expect this? : No. I was expecting a reject
What would have attracted them: Probably my work profile

B:

GD+Essays: Good job done. SOP/Form was very good.
PI: I would say extremely good. Spoke very passionately and convincingly. They looked pretty impressed. I had clear thoughts on MBA's, Career paths etc
Verdict: Selected
Did I expect this: Yes

C:

GD: Good
PI: Pretty good and chill.
Verdict: Reject
Did I expect this?: No. I thought it will be a easy convert.
What would have bugged them: I asked about culture at C and asked the reason why its pretty chill etc. They became defensive. I felt it was a bad move from my side. But still feel an interview must not have been judged by that. Rest of my interview was chill. I could not figure out any other reason for reject.

L:

GD: Crappy topic. All spoke non sense
Essay: Again crappy topic and crappy essay
PI: Boring and uninteresting. Fully on economics. But did okayishly on a few topics.
Verdict: Selected
Did I expect this? : Not initially. I was initially expecting a reject. Then heard students with high percentiles usually convert L. Then became optimistic and thought will convert L.

I:

GD: Business case study. My strong area. Cracked it majorly.
PI: On my L&T technical work ex and Tamil Nadu history. Did decently here for sure.
Verdict: Selected
Did I expect this: Yes

K:

GD: Fishmarket. Told some 1-2 good points
PI: Clean sweep. I almost interviewed them for our start-up. Too chill. They treated me like a mature guy and gave due respect to my work exp etc.
Verdict: Selected
Did I expect this: 100%. I had no doubts. I told my friends that everyone may reject me, but not IIM K.

How things went for me:

My strength was the forms. I had clarity of thought on what I wanted to do and my work exp etc was very good. So, where ever I filled forms, and more importantly the panelists read it seriously, I had good chances. They formed a biased positive opinion about me before interview started and it made my job easy. It happened majorly at K, to some extent at B and I. A and C, surprisingly did not bother much about the form and that was disadvantageous for me. L form was pretty useless for me since no qns had to be answered.

My 3 strong points:

-work ex (job profile: start-up, mgmt consulting, reporting to CEO etc + L&T work ex)
-Can speak very well. No problem in conversing/communicating.
- Very good idea about all post MBA careers, MBA life, types of schools, how I want to achieve whatever I have set out for etc. So, typically they would not have heard any kiddish answers from me. (I had worked on preparing for an US MBA. That requires a person to have a good understanding of all this.)

Mail on CAT preparation

2008-06-01T00:07:00.000+05:30

I received a mail from a close family friend as follows. Edited to protect privacy.

Dear Pradeep

X is doing his final year (2008 to 2009) in ECE, from PSG Kovai.

Kindly advise what he should do next and guide him to also to be successful.

Many thanks and kind regards,

My reply. May be beneficial to few.

Dear Uncle,

It is the right time for him. He can do the following:

1. First is to get a feel whether he wants to do an MBA. There are many who are interested in MS from US/MTech from IISc. He would know better. MS must not be done just with the idea of entering into US. If he genuinely wants to work in the technical sector, he needs to do one. GATE is a good exam to join IISc in India for MTech. But he has to secure in the AIR top 10-200 (depending on the course) to secure a seat at IISc. Its not as tough as it seems. Dedicated efforts can get him there.

2. In case he feels MBA is something he wants to do, for e.g. he gets interested reading Economic Times or news related to business etc, then he can look at an MBA. He need not close GRE/GATE as options. But its better to decide earlier whether he wants to pursue a technical career or pursue a career in business related fields.

3. There is again the question of whether he actually is interested in higher studies. But then, I wont attack it here. He is in final year and will have an idea about these.

4. I am now assuming he is interested in an Indian MBA from one of the top 10 institutes and proceeding further.

5. The CAT'08 exam would be held in Nov 2nd week sunday. This has been the norm.

6. IIMs, SPJAIN, NITIE, FMS, XLRI, MDI Gurgaon, IIFT, IIT Bombay are some of the good colleges (in no particular order.)

7. He first has to get some books from some of his class mates/college mates at PSG. There will always be a bunch of people preparing for CAT seriously in the final year and who would have joined come classes

8. He has to join a Mock CAT series from one of the leading instis. 3 of the famous coaching centres conducting these are TIME, IMS, Career Launcher. I would advice to join TIME test series. If possible, better to join 2 test series if the time does not overlap.

9. Its important to understand where he stands in these tests based on his natural intelligence. There is no need that everyone from PSG/NITT/Anna will do well in these tests. But the chances are definitely higher since the students supposedly belong to better colleges.

10. He must average out in 4-5 tests and understand where he stands. That is judged thru percentiles. Percentile means what percentage of students did you beat. If one secures 99 %ile, then he belongs to the top 1%age of the test takers.

General guidelines (consistent performance is assumed) -

a. 98%ile and above in TIME test series with 95%ile + in each section (there are usually 3 sections) : Good score and student is already ready to get into IIMs. He has to just work harder and work on his strategy to perfect it

b. 95-98%ile or 98%ile+ but problems with 1 section -> Potential definitely there to get into IIMs. Hardwork is necessary and if he works hard can start touching 98+ scores. Identification of weak areas is crucial.

c. 90-95%ile -> Okayish scores. Definitely needs to work very hard for IIMs. More hardwork and dedication needed to crack it. Must improve on weak areas.

d. Less than 90%iles -> Less scores. Not easy. Though many have done it through hardwork. A lot of hardwork and genuine introspection needed whether he is capable of scoring a 98+. Else, need to apply to many other colleges if MBA is needed. IIMs are tough, but definitely nothing is impossible.

11. When starting to prepare, its normal for people to be in class 'd' as above and move on slowly to class 'a' with preparation and hardwork. Class 'a' means chances of conversion are very high. But luck plays a crucial role too. Its a 150 min test and every mark counts.

12. Not to get de motivated by low scores initially. It happens to everyone.

13. Read newspapers daily and keep track of whats happening around. Better to be smart and well read. Not to crack CAT, generally its high time one develops those qualities before entering corporate world. It will keep him in good stead.

14. For getting calls from all 6 IIMs, I think a score of 99.5%ile overall and a 96%ile+ in each section would be appropriate. Though people with lesser scores also get calls from fewer IIMs. Very few get calls for less than 98.5%ile. Sectional cut-offs are "extremely important". No point in scoring 99.90%ile overall with a less than 90%ile in one section. Probably no IIM will call him.

15. He would know what the 3 sections are etc from his class mates.

Once he gets IIM calls, we can discuss about Group Discussion/Personal Interviews etc. Good reading habits will help him there.

I hope it was helpful. Everyone will give many advices and "paths to get into IIMs" and all. Over a period of time, I guess he will become intelligent enough to develop his own methodology for this test.

Finally, many have a bad day in these tests. His intelligence need not be judged by this test. Its not a perfect test to measure that. There is too much of randomness involved in it.

All the best for him. He can contact me when any help is needed. Its important to give CAT'08 to understand where he stands.

Great Programs

2008-06-01T00:00:00.001+05:30

One of these 3 Programs which I may wish to do in my life at some point in time. More for the opportunity it gives to study in these great schools than anything else.

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/sloan/
http://mitsloan.mit.edu/fellows/
http://www.london.edu/sloanfellowship.html

Around 10-15 yrs work ex necessary for the 10-12 month programs.

Reply from WIMWI passout on my queries

2008-05-31T23:40:00.000+05:30

I have put this mail up here to the benefit of all. Standard disclaimers apply. Edited it to correct spelling mistakes and to make it more readable. Its not that this mail made me join A. I also edited it to remove certain very minor comparisons with other B Schools and have the part which only talks about IIMA.

I am posting it as a for-your-information-only. Hope it benefits few.

QUOTE:

Expectations out of MBA:

- Learning general biz stuff will happen in both A&B. However A has some fantastic electives in both finance and strategy and you can rest assured that you will have ample choice.

- Sitting in classes of superb profs in my view is the biggest strength of A. If someone asks me why is A so different from others enjoying such a brand value, I always say its because of the profs. I have never witnessed such genius personalities and trust me, You will enjoy the aura of intellect thoroughly in the classes. All brand value, placements, rankings...all of these are after effects.....the foundation is that A has some excellent profs in all fields who will simply blow you away with their expereience and depth of knowledge. Prof Ajay Pandey, prof Seb Morris, Prof Abraham Koshy, are just few examples u can search on the net about !

- Good CGPA.....IIMA is absolutely the place to come if u are interested in academics. Period. Acads is clearly the first preference here and everything else depends on student's enthu. You can do everything else as well but thats only after acads. The peers r simply brilliant here and hence the level of competition is absolutely unimaginable. But that inspires you to study harder and get good grades. Little bit of RG and all happens but that happens everywhere n you can't run away from that. In fact its good coz u will face such pressures in work as well n hence this is a great dress rehearsal ! IIMA is also known as IIM Acads. And if u have a good CGPA, well you are the bond then :)

- Get a good job---well, I need not say anything here. The variety is immense. You can check our placement report I posted on PG. Don't even waste a second having doubts on placements. It can get better than this place. Period.

- Learn 1-2 games/sports : Even though IIMA is lot about acads, the best thing is that the opportunities to do whatever u want to are infinite. Its all about managing your time. We have about 40 odd clubs ranging from lits to sports to bike riding to movies :) And trust me , we all do everything along with studies. It just makes u an all rounder :) Frisbee, Cricket, Badminton, TT, Football, Volleyball....All are extremely popular sports here....We even got a foosball table this year :) U can learn whatever sports you want :)

- Peer n/w : The junta in IIMA is the top cream of the country. The amount of intellect around you is mind blowing. And hence you need not bother at all about the peer n/w.

- Work Ex/Mature junta : See, in every institute, u will have a bunch of guys who just wanna pass 2 yrs, and get a good job and then there will always be those who are here for learning and chose courses seriously to gain the max out of the place. And finally there are those who want to do both. I was in the last category :) So the thing is that its completely up to what you want out of the place. You can take all fundoo subjects and you will get good junta to support you and have some intelligent discussions with u and if you get tired u can chose some easy subject to relax. The onus is fully on you. You will always find a sect who will be there to take and learn good course. So don't have any doubts on that.

As far as work ex is concerned I can tell you that the %age of work ex people is steadily on the rise in A and my junior batch has much more work ex people than my batch. Plus I have learnt that its not always true that higher no. of work ex guys implies higher level of intellect n maturity in discussions.

So don't go so much on the figures of no of work ex guys. The quality of work ex guys is more important and thats where IIMA scores above all instis.

Doubts about IIMA :

- Balance in both years -----Thats the biggest misconception people have. See, the thing is that since the first year is so grueling, that many people want to chillax in 2 year which u can afford coz theres no compulsion in the subjects u chose. However, that does not imply that u cant chose good subjects in 2 year and study with the same tempo in 2 year. I have known people who took equally demanding but good subjects in 2 year as well :)

Its simple - Its fully upto you. Both years can be academically demanding or 2nd year can be chill. Its completely a personal preference. Insti allows you to do both. And u should'nt worry at all !

- Profiling - As i said earlier, don't go on sheer nos. See the quality as well. Trust me, you will find the best of minds and personalities in A. And forget just acads, there are all rounders galore here.You will find swimming champs, national tennis players, Music band members, professional singers, professional bikers, debaters...you name it you got it ! Every guy in IIMA has a special talent apart from acads and am not kidding ! What more do u want in terms of learning environment !! Its all upto you how you harness the environment to gain max benefit.

Overall, whatever said and done IIMA's brand value is impossible to match and that brand value is the result of quality of faculty and students. Hence I would strongly recommend you to shed all inhibitions coz none of them hold good from my 2 yrs at IIMA and 2 yrs before that in preparing and comparing B Schools extensively :)

Congrats for your achievement and I hope you don't make the mistake of rejecting A for the doubts you had mentioned because they don't hold much water when you see how IIMA is in 2 years :)

Lemme know if I can be of any other help !

Hope to se ya in IIMA sometime in the next 2 years if I do make a visit :)

All the best !

UNQUOTE

Query in IIMA Yahoo thread :P

2008-05-31T23:38:00.000+05:30

Junior:

> Q. Is grass available in IIMA ?
>
> P.S. I dont smoke :D

Reply from Senior:

I hope you don't graze either. :-P

Once in 10 years change of Syllabi at IIMA

2008-05-30T09:09:00.000+05:30

AHMEDABAD: It's one big change effected once in a decade at the country's premier management institute. Now, even the first year students of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA)'s flagship post graduate programme in management (PGPM) will have to go
through an internship, and with a difference.

Unlike the usual eight-week internship with corporate houses that the students have to undergo at the end of third term, the new syllabus will ask students to take up a two-week internship with social organisations.

Among other things, the new syllabus will put extra stress on teaching business ethics and technological aspects of businesses. Ethics, business taxation, organisational leadership module and internet technology are the four new topics that the first year students are likely to study from this academic year, said chairperson, PGPM, Ajay Pandey.

The recommendations are on the agenda of the PGP review committee revising the IIM-A's syllabus to be introduced from this academic year. The exercise is taken up once in ten years to make syllabus relevant to contemporary scenario.

In order to highlight the need for coporates' social responsibility, the committee feels that students be given an option to join a social organisation for internship in their first year. However, students not interested in joining social organisations may opt for writing a case
study as an option.

"We bring about some changes in syllabus every year in consultation with area experts based on developments in the field. However, the exercise we are undertaking this year is once-in-a-decade where curriculum across all areas are changed to make it more contemporary
to new developments. While we have decided to drop topics that don't hold much relevance,
we have introduced several new topics. We are also discussing to introduce social internship and case writing as options," said Mr Pandey.

After introducing new syllabus from this academic year, the review committee will work on changing final year course. "However, we have decided to do away with compulsory topics in the second year as well. Now, students will be given the freedom to choose from the electives.
This will be introduced from the next academic year," said Mr Pandey.

Students take up summer internship after completing their first year. IIM-A syllabus usually sets benchmark for other B-schools in the country to follow.

Regarding Social Internship:

I feel its a good move. SPJAIN is already doing it. They don't have summer internships but autumn internships. During summers they do something similar. But I believe Summers must be for summer internship and the autumn period can be used for this CSR internship since then they can meet junta from other B Schools during internship and also it will be inline with the company schedule.

Regarding course change:

I am pretty excited. There will be an air of dynamism due to this course change. We would be the first batch to sit thru this changed course. I hope they have added some really interesting electives. But "Ethics, business taxation, organisational leadership module and internet technology" courses don't seem very exciting. I hope there are others too. I also hope they don't remove those old courses which are legendary in their own way.

Expectations out of an MBA

2008-05-27T08:36:00.000+05:30

- Learn general business stuff pretty well. I want to learn more on the overall functioning of business and not specifically specialize only in one subject. Though will take quite some electives in finance and strategy. I plan to take atleast one electives in each area.

- Sit in the classes of superb profs and enjoy the classes. I would never get such a chance again and did not get such an opportunity even at NIT Trichy (except for classes of Dr Karuppan Chetty and Dr Subbiah who were god level at NIT Trichy. Unfortunately both retired recently.)

- Good CGPA (I don't have any worthwhile academic achievement till date. Thought this is good time to try my hands on studies.)

- Get a good job. Preferably IBD (M&A) or MC. Not interested in IB-markets/structuring/Fixed Income etc and not interested in Sales and Marketing/Systems as of now.

- Learn 1-2 games/sports

- Develop a very good peer network

- Hopefully sit in a mature class with junta having good work exp and people who have fair ideas of what they want out of the course.

- Healthy competition amongst junta and not get into RGing and related stuff.

Not so interested in spending lot of my time on:

- Culturals and stuff
- Lits and stuff

Some logic behind above is I am trying to do all that which I did not do well during Engineering days. I was involved a lot in extra currics then and never bothered much about acads. I want to reverse that here.

These are my basic expectations before knowing what opportunities IIM A has to offer. Lets see how things move on. I will re asses these as and when required.

Converted IIMA

2008-05-27T08:29:00.000+05:30

I was wait listed at IIM A initially which got converted a week back. I was in some dilemma between A vs B. Some may ask why? As such, if one looks at just the brand, there is obviously no doubt that A is far ahead in it. But in terms of the 2 years which I will spend in the B School both offers its own advantages and disadvantages. I was also senti on IIM B since many friends are in Bangalore and Bangalore is much more happening etc. But thought these must not be a strong criteria to select a B School. Finally decided to join IIM A.

The reporting date is June 23rd. I will be leaving sometime on June 20th/21st.

The "ennakku mattum enda figure'ey matta mateengudhu" syndrome

2008-05-19T00:29:00.000+05:30

I had received this forward long time back. Its a wonderful forward created by some genius and meant only for a niche audience/makkal.. ;)

Its why "certain" types never get a girl. :P

Oh, before you start thinking, its not just another educational article swiped from TOI (which, usually, talks of six pack abs, 8 figure salaries, 9 bed room house and 10 course dinners as the "bare minimum" necessities to date a decent girl.)

Anyway, here it goes.

· You always sit in the last bench with the other class comrades who feel that its possible to get marks sitting in last row. In case of workplace, no girls are there in your project and you have like minded ppl like you as colleagues and wherein your entertainment oscillates between
the bars and cinema theaters.

· You cant sing a Bryan Adams, Sting, George Michael's song. When someone talks about Linkin Park, you cannot even imagine who they are and the closest link you can associate with them is Cubbon Park.

· You perceive discotheque to be a place where you will have a chance to unleash your dancing potential (dappankuthu) and occupy the center stage with 10 other fellow rogues, immediately throwing out the babes from the vicinity of the dance floor. This automatically repels the
women from you (they consider you as out of civilization. But, unfortunately we think that we are the only ppl who can really dance)

· You cant eat Spanish, Chinese foods and your fav restaurant invariably happens to be Vasantha Bhavan, Anandha Bhavan, Shanthi-Sagar, types . Of coz we cant forget Karpagam Mess, Mami's kadai and Murugan Idly and max Anjappar, Ponnusaamy. We frankly are clueless as to what are Bella Ciao, Wang's kitchen and things like that, unless we happen to go an a treat organised by the other guyz.

· You dont see a reason why you have to go to Barristas or Qwiky's when the local corner "Nair Kadai Chaaya" tastes like nectar and satisfies you more than a Barristas. Lime tea is the best tea to have been invented by an human and you are thankful to nair for providing it to you.

· Most of the jokes you know are adult jokes which you can discuss only with your other fellow comrades and which again takes the oppurtunity from telling a joke to the girl and impressing her. But when you seriously tell very good jokes, the blondes can't comprehend. You have to tell some absolutely "Kadi jokes" (terrible bores) to make them laugh, which you try however, will never come close to.

· You obviously dont know how to make use of Yahoo Messenger, and you use it to scold your online friends with the best choice of invectives, spread rumours abt other guyz, and ask them to book the latest movie tickets. You unfortunately dont know how to flirt using Yahoo Messenger and are frequently at loss of topics when you want to chat with some girl. Whereas you are deluged with strange topics to discuss with your friend with whom you had lost touch for the past decade or so.

· While chatting in messenger, you seriously cant start a topic with a member of the oppoisite sex. I have seen guyz chatting with girls purely with emoticons for more than a hour. You can never do that. You will have to crack real dumb jokes to start the conversation or falsely extol
them. And bet, you can't do the following:

Boy : What did you have for breakfast??
Girl : I had idli ....
Boy: Is it??? Same pinch, no back pinch, I too had idli. (he slyly pinches her) and laughs.
Girl : Ouchhh (artificially). It hurts.
Boy: Ohh.. I am sorry and (tries to apologise).............then says "I had sambhar for idli."
Girl: (excitedly)..Sambharrrrrrrr............ i had chutney....and giggles...

I swear, I cant tolerate any longer than this................ And this is not a figment of imagination, by any means. I have seen this...Though I agree there may be exceptions..

· You seriously are clueless as to what rock music is.

· All through college life, you belong to this boyz gang and even in your gang, nobody has a girlfriend. So there is absolutely an absence of the inspirational factor.

ROTFL :)

Wondering...

2008-05-16T00:56:00.001+05:30

There is one thing about me which I don't understand.

I had this innate love for competitive exams. Right from the JEE, TNPCEE days to the CAT ones.
But I never used to put the same efforts once I got into an insti after cracking the exam. Actually speaking, "never" is a strong word since I have actually experienced it only once and that was at NITT. But I developed the same feeling about my next 2 yrs at IIM B too.

Why should I feel so motivated to get into an institution but not motivated enough to put in hard work there?

Hmmm.. I think I know the answer.

A complicated world

2008-05-16T00:45:00.000+05:30

I started reading a e-book called God's Debris by Scott Adams of Dilbert fame. Know more about it here.

Read this in the first few pages.

Quote:

My solution was to create smart-sounding answers using the skeptic’s creed:

The simplest explanation is usually right.

My experience tells me that in this complicated world the simplest explanation is usually dead wrong. But I’ve noticed that the simplest explanation usually sounds right and is far more convincing than any complicated explanation could hope to be. That’s good enough for my purposes here.

Unquote:

I sometimes thought simplification is very good in this complicated world. I am not sure how I developed that thought. To a certain extent it was because of the awe I had on people who could explain complicated concepts in a simple way. But I feel I did not understand many concepts in detail and in depth due to oversimplification of the concept. I guess there is a thin line of difference in explaining things "simply" and "extremely simply".

I was wondering why I had the urge to oversimplify certain concepts. The above quote in blue answered it.

Bias

2008-05-09T20:33:00.000+05:30

I was thinking about the kind of biases we have against certain things.

1. Intelligence - A measure of how sharp a person's thinking is
2. Maturity level (Attitude in general) - A measure of how evolved, tolerant, understanding etc one is
3. Experience/Age/Work exp etc - Age or no. of years working in some organization etc

Bias 1: We assume at times that Intelligence ensures Good attitude, maturity etc

This bias started with the "Ramu is a very good boy. He always gets first rank in the class" dialogue, which used to be dropped whenever a group of middle aged junta (mostly the moms) interact.

This bias gets inbuilt and I would go as far as to say that majority of decisions made to select someone for something in the corporate world do not consider attitude/maturity level at all. Its assumed that it would be in place.

I am surprised that when my dad sent a mail to all his friends that I got admits from BLIK, so many assumed and wrote how perfect an attitude I must have or similar things like that. They did not even know me and some were hearing about me for the first time!

Bias 2: We assume at times that age or amount of experience ensures some level of maturity

I was affected by this bias. I thought that if someone joins an MBA with maybe 2-3 years of experience, he "must" be mature. Though these days I have corrected it to "he must have got an opportunity to become more mature", which I feel is right.

Why this blog?

I have been reading certain mails from people who seem to have excellent credentials, very intelligent and what not. But the mails and the thoughts in the same are so immature and they highlight an extremely offensive attitude with dollops of ego. I am frankly surprised. I somehow unconsciously have been biased, probably because of my upbringing or whatever. I am learning slowly.

That way, I should definitely say, I have been extremely lucky during my engineering days to have got the chance to interact with extra-ordinarily talented people who were down to earth, humble, mature and with the right attitude.

NIT Trichy 2001-05 : What did I gain?

2008-05-09T01:57:00.000+05:30

I was just wondering today about the things which come to the top of my mind when I think of my 4 years at NIT Trichy and what did I gain. out of those 4 years.

1st year:

- I went to NITT along with 6 guys whom I knew before and we formed a gang there and had nice time ottifying each other and also others. Some of us were pretty merciless when it came to ottifying others. ;) [ottifying = pulling others leg]

- A lot of my nights was spent on 2nd time JEE preps with a very close friend, Madhu.

- I did not find any class interesting in first year. Not that I found classes interesting rest of the years. ;)

- I was from Chennai and we guys were considered to be "scene parties" by the other junta from places like madurai, tirunelveli and stuff. Even though we were the "local types" from Chennai. Not the DAV educated, Vidya mandir graduated, Bon jovi watching, engleesh speaking types. The best engleesh music anyone would have heard in our gang was "backstreet boys" . That too because every year in our school the dance junta used to dance for that "everybodyaaaaaaaaaaa" song for annual day.

- I hardly studied and somehow did not have the motivation to get a good CGPA. I remember Deepak/CD got 9.85/10 in the first sem and was highest in our chennai gang and somewhere near the top 3 in the college. Amongst the Chennai junta, in that sem, 9 was a low score! Almost all had 8.5+.

I scored a 7.85 :)

- I unfortunately did not feel bad about it. Maybe I thought I would crack the JEE anyway. Actually if i remember right, I felt that these exams were crap of the highest order. Too much to mug and a high score did not mean you were intelligent. I had no motivation. I just took maths as a challenge and scored a S. I scored S, A, B, C,D and left only E and F in the first sem.

- I nor Madhu cracked JEE finally. We both screwed it up.

- I used to attend the ragging sessions and became very close with the seniors. To some extent because I was one among the elite few who could "speak and describe things well" and matched the wavelength of some seniors. Badri and Hari were other two who were PhD's in the "necessary" stuff. :P

- We had many pazham's from Chennai. The fun part is many seniors were also Pazham's but acted like "kewl dudes". The ragging sessions were major fun.

Verdict at end of year 1: Great friends. Was enjoying life to the core. Sad that I did not crack JEE. Thought need to concentrate on grades from year 2.

Year 2:

- Made a new set of friends in year 2, mainly because of room allocation going haywire. Pretty unfortunate since I took the lead in 1st year to see to it that our gang all were together!

- Became close friends with a new gang of Trichy Day scholars.

- Out of the 4 years, 2nd year was "THE" year for me.

- We formed a film gang. Me, Krishna and Siva used to watch a hell lot of films. We were regulars. Many others also used to join us. I remember that we watched 32 films in Trichy theatres that year. Trichy theatres rock to the core. At 30-50 bucks, a decent film and the traditional dinner at Sangeetha's. That was life.

- I did not find any of the classes challenging. I wanted to maintain a 8+ GPA and that mattered to me. So, worked hard enough during exam nights to crack a 8+. Madhu was the guy to be with during exams. :)

still to be updated..

2nd year takeaways : Films, new

Milagrow meet and about my friends

2008-05-06T22:13:00.000+05:30

I had gone back to my office today to give sweets for getting into an MBA program. All were very happy and congratulated me. Felt happy. :)

Milagrow has played a really important role in my life. I did some really interesting work there and it was a exciting time. But frustrating too since work pressure was too high. :P

However this post is more about 2 close friends I got at Milagrow. Not necessarily close in no. of years we knew each other or the extent to which we spoke with each other. But we got along really well. I did not get a chance to interact with really smart and passionate people in L&T. Most had the "chalega yaar" attitude. These 2 were different. They were very smart, down to earth, had great pedigrees, intelligent and more importantly damn passionate in doing something different, something exciting. One of them was from IIT Kanpur and the other from IIT Madras. All were 2005 batch passouts. What was different was, they were not interested in doing an MBA. They were not interested in MS etc. They wanted to start something on their own in a non IT field and were getting damn passionate about it. They may start it anytime. I like the fact that they are not in the rat race. Not because they feel its too tiresome (thats the thought many normal engineering types may have) but because they feel they are destined to do bigger things. Flying in business class does not seem to excite them much. They want to go out and create a big businesses.

I will wait to see what happens. I am really happy to have got 2 such friends. :)

Good news. Joining IIM B as of now :)

2008-05-05T21:47:00.000+05:30

Life is funny. When I prepared last year like crazy, I did not get a single call from the IIMs for interviews. I had final admits from SPJAIN Marketing, NITIE and IIT Delhi and a Waitlist from XLRI BM which never converted. I had almost decided to join SPJAIN. But then, got an offer to join a good firm and also I was not so sure whether I wanted to do Marketing. I would have joined XLRI had it converted. But it did'nt. But all for good only.

This year I appeared for CAT with minimum preparation, but due to luck and God's grace secured all 6 calls. I secured a call from IIM Shillong too though was not ready to join and did not attend the interview. I finally converted BLIK and got Waitlisted at IIM A (no. 31). C did not convert.

The WL at A may not clear. But not sure whether to join A even if it clears. I am postponing the decision hoping it wont convert. :) I like IIM B mainly because its in Bangalore and I have some senti on it.

I like the selection process of IIM B, which is different from others and results in more experienced and a diverse set of people getting through,and I hear from B junta that they are more "pseud" and hence more business like than their counterparts. If I tell I am joining B for the above reasons, I will be acting as if I am rational.

But I hope I get to join IIM B finally. I don't have the mind to reject A for B or B for A. Both are great instis. :)

I am seeing the threads and discussions at the yahoo group. Pretty good discussions.
I participated in few discussions too. But really nice that the 2nd years are taking out time to reply to our queries. Replies are received within 4-5 mts. I guess our batch is slowly picking up. I hoped it would not be a very "senior junior" kind of relationship, the engineering college style. I am also in the yahoo group of an another college where I have been selected. Its primarily the same kinda relationship everywhere. The 2nd years thinking the "1st yr kids" have come and likes. It should slowly shift to the ISB style of interactions which I felt are at a more mature level. Its not do with work ex. Guess its because of the past precedence.

Our batch has considerable no. of people with work ex. I am pretty impressed.

Gut feel from orkut polls tells:

Freshers - must be 23-25%
< 1 yr - 8-10 %
1-2 yr - 33-35%
2-3 yr - 15%
3 yr + - 20%

The above is definitely a very impressive for IIM Bangalore since once upon a time, there used to be figures like 70% freshers in IIMs etc. Lemme see how the figures finally turn out. This is just based on some orkut poll.

But I guess some other IIMs have 50% freshers even this year. It should change slowly. Nothing against freshers, but having work experience helps in gaining some maturity and getting a feel of the real world outside, especially for a course like MBA. Anyway, that will be a different post altogether. Will post my views on that too. :)

You can expect this blog to be some sort of a chronicle of real life at IIM B. I hope I do not fall into the bandwagon of "My school is best" or the "B is B" kinda crap which is liberally doled out these days by many students. I hope to post my perspectives about things as they happen here and hence would be useful to future students interested in joining IIM B or any IIM.

Which is better?

2007-10-02T22:16:00.000+05:30

To exude extreme confidence to your seniors at work even when things are not going on well and get a good name that you are under control?

or

To go to a senior at your workplace only with your problems and don't necessarily highlight (or brag!) all the positive things you have done?

I am confused.

I was more like the latter though people are asking me to be more like the former.

Time will tell. To me, both are not correct at the face value of it.

Websites for Start-ups/Entrepreneurs etc

2007-10-01T18:50:00.000+05:30

If there is one thing which interests me a lot in the web space, its start-ups and websites revolving around them. Some of them which I found very good are as follows:

www.venturewoods.org
http://sramanamitra.com/
startups.in
http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html
http://www.bootstrapnetwork.com/blog/
http://www.emergic.org/
http://coolastory.blogspot.com/
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/
http://www.vccircle.com/blog
http://www.ventureblog.com/

If there is one blog which one should read to understand the power of blog and networking, its this!

www.kiruba.com

The kind of energy he has is just mind boggling. One day he is at Nokia HQ at Finland for some launch. Another day he is running a morning marathon. Next day he is closing pit holes in Chennai. And one fine evening, he has a chat with Chandrababu Naidu and gets an offer to join his tech committee. And all this happens to a considerable extent, due to his blog!

This may be nothing globally, but in India, its very interesting to see this kinda stuff happening.

Will keep you guys updated with the happenings in the start-up space.

Ciao for now !

Choosing the right School

2007-09-30T15:04:00.001+05:30

I will be applying to B Schools in Fall 2009 and am in the process of researching schools. There is nothing more difficult than selecting schools. (Eliminating, at times, is easier ;) ). I feel like applying to all schools from Wharton to Wazowski Management school. Anyway, have been setting a few guidelines for school selection. They are as follows:

Course Strengths: The school must be good in finance and entrepreneurship. Finance (mostly IB) because that will my short term goal and from IB, in the long term, which is 2-5 years, move to PE. Presently I am interested in those companies which involve in technology for the masses for the developing world. I also want to work in start-ups. Now, I know that it's all hazy and my goals are not crystal clear. But that's how it is and I will refine it as I move on. I like start-ups and I like working in them and the entrepreneurial atmosphere is addictive to me. I get inspired seeing young guys going out to do on their own.
Brand name: I want the school to have a good brand name in India. I may want to come back to India at some point of time and even if the school has been amazing, not having a good brand name in India will hurt.
Alumni network: I am nowadays a lot into networking and hence a good alumni network globally and in India will surely help
Culture: I would prefer if my peers are goal oriented, extremely motivated, have the instinct to do something big in life, at the same time look laid back and can have fun.
Partner Association: School must have a good partner association and must have lots of activities in that
No co-signor loan: Would prefer if the school has such an arrangement. Would reduce my burden and I don't have to disturb my parents.

These are some of the points on top of my mind. Will keep revisiting this and changing it I move on.

Sifymall Sucks!

2007-07-02T14:27:00.000+05:30

I recently tried buying a book through Sify Mall. I placed the order online on 15th June. I was supposed to get the book delivered in 3-7 days. Thats what they promised. I still have not got it. The book is supplied by landmark though the ordering is through Sify. I contacted them thrice and got the funny "I cant do anything about it and its landmark's mistake" kinda answer. The funda is landmark must confirm the order to sify and either of these must deliver it. I am not sure who's responsibility is what.

Bottomline is that the customer is suffering.

And I am not going to place an order again through Sify.

This blog is for...

2007-06-26T19:15:00.000+05:30

I am not sure why I have created this blog. I will jot down things happening in my life now and then.

Some of the most interesting things which happened in my life of late can be attributed to blogs. For e.g., its through blogs I found my new career and its through blogs that I met a very interesting set of people. Both instances have either changed my perspectives or brought in new oppurtunities. Either way its been extremely interesting.

:)