Vaibhav’s Blog

Amid huge excitement worldwide, Apple announced iPhone 4 and iOS 4 at WWDC yesterday. With his extraordinary presentation skills and attitude Steve Jobs rocked the conference with what has been perceived as the largest update since its inception to iPhone platform.

iPhone 4 key features:

• Specially Engineered ultra-durable and scratch-resistant glass instead of plastic
• Retina Display with 4 times more pixels compared to 3GS
• New Apple A4 processor and extended battery life
• Three axis Gyroscope supporting 3D rotation gestures
• 5 MP camera with LED flashlight
• Front camera to support Video calls over WiFi using FaceTime
• 2 Mic noise cancellation

Read more…

The death sentence awarded to Ajmal Kasab marks the end of the more than a year long trial (FYI – this is fastest in the history). Since this is capital punishment it would need further approval from High Court and then there may be appeal to Supreme Court or President of India.

But does a death sentence really a punishment for Kasab? Will it deter other terrorists from foreign lands from entering into our lands and launch similar attacks? He came here to die. Getting caught alive was something against the plan. It was punishment for him and his family that he is alive so far.

Of course, today Government is spending crores of rupees to keep him alive. The tax-payers’ money will be saved once he is hanged. Also, there is risk that someone may attempt his rescue through dirty means like hijacking. On that background, it is an economically and politically preferred solution to hang him. I agree.

But one thing going wrong here is that media is picturing this whole drama as war between Republic of India vs Ajmal Amir Kasab. He has been put to center of attraction of this whole 26/11 attack. Punishing him with death sentence has been portrayed as India’s victory in this war. But that war we have already lost.

Kasab is only pawn in this game. The masterminds of this attack, the leadership of LeT and ISI are still far from our reach. While centering public focus on Kasab through media, Government has successfully masked its inability of clutching necks of terrorists across borders. Soon people will forget who real culprits were while enjoying hanging of the mere soldier, of course until next attack!!

Indian Institute of Management – Indore (IIM-I)

(Mumbai Center, 06-April-2010, 1400 HRS)

Verdict: Converted

Status: Not Joining

Essay:

Timing: 20 minutes
Topic: Concentrating only on IT and ITES will not help reduce income inequalitites in India.
Word limit: 200 words, 1 page (2 sides) provided for essay, 1 page provided for rough work.

Group Discussion:

No group discussion.

Personal Interview:

Number of panelists: 2
Average Duration: 15-20 minutes
Some of questions asked:

1. What is cloud computing?
2. Discussion on Microsoft’s position in this sector vs Google Apps.
3. Discussion on competition from Google Chrome OS and Netbooks and future of PC.
4. Discussion on Subscription based business models, iTunes etc.
5. What is Flash memory?
6. Tell us something which is not in profile sheet.
7. Tell about all 5 books written by Dan Brown in short.
8. Detailed discussion on essay around 5-6 minutes.
9. According to you what is biggest problem India is facing today. My answer was corruption.
10. Detailed discussion on corruption, various examples. Around 5 min.
11. Discussion on some of significant incidents faced during work.

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CAT 2009: OA – 99.08% QA – 95.93% LDI – 94.95% VA – 98.7% | Std X: 92% (MH) | Std XII: 88.17% (MH) | B.E. COMP ENGG: 73.33% (MU) | WorkEx: As on Dec 2009, 29 Months at Microsoft India.

Indian Institute of Management – Kozhikode (IIM – K)

(Mumbai Center, 22-March-2010, 0900 HRS)

Verdict: Converted

Status: Not Joining

Essay:

Timing: 15 minutes
Topic: Reasonable men adapt themselves to the system. Unreasonable men don’t accept and try to adapt system to themselves. That’s why progress depends upon unreasonable men.
Word limit: No word limit specified, 2 pages (4 sides) provided.

Group Discussion:

Number of participants: 8
Number of panelists: 3
Topic: Case based topic. A paragraph was provided based on organizational skills of a person and what determines great organizational assets.
GD Remarks: Very peaceful. Everyone got to speak.

Personal Interview:

Number of panelists: 3
Average Duration: 15-20 minutes
Some of questions asked:

1. Introduce yourself.
2. Some question on synthesizer/piano. (I had mentioned in my hobbies)
3. Do you follow politics? Yes. I read newspaper daily.
4. Tell something  about some recent issue. Told about Nuclear liability bill and opposition from Left/BJP. Discussion in detail.
5. What about Union Carbide Bhopal tragedy? Told.
6. Tell about outcome of Bofors case? Told.
7. Discussion on corruption and politics, name politicians with clean image, name politicians punished under any case, etc. Told
8. Asked about Sukhram from Himachal. Don’t know.
9. Bhakti movement in Maharashtra? Told some names.
10. Panipat wars? Told about third one between Marathas and Abdali.
11. Compare between 3 Idiots and Five point someone? Which one is better? Was Chetan Bhagat right with his accusation? Detailed discussion.
12. Some question on graphs – Increasing with increasing rate, increasing with decreasing rate, relation to Indian population growth and some shift point. Answered partially.
13. Do you know about Notion Ink? Answered in detail about Adam, compared with iPad, key features, Indian company.
14. What operating system Adam uses? Answered Andriod. Question on Microsoft’s future against open source platform, discussion on iPhone and Windows Mobile 7 series.
15. What if you are put up on some island without any computer with you? Answered I can’t survive. Discussion on Robinson Crusoe.

Other remarks:

• Did not verify any certificates for extra-curricular mentioned in Personal Data Form.
• Did not ask any question on Personal Data Form during Interview.
• Did not ask for Certificate file during Interview.

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CAT 2009: OA – 99.08% QA – 95.93% LDI – 94.95% VA – 98.7% | Std X: 92% (MH) | Std XII: 88.17% (MH) | B.E. COMP ENGG: 73.33% (MU) | WorkEx: As on Dec 2009, 29 Months at Microsoft India.

Indian Institute of Management – Lucknow (IIM-L)

(Mumbai Center, 01-April-2010, 0930 HRS)

Verdict: Converted

Status: JOINING

Essay:

Timing: 15 minutes
Topic: In socialist country like India, salaries of private sector executives should be regulated.
Word limit: 300 words, 1 ruled page (2 sides)  provided

Group Discussion:

Number of participants: 9
Number of panelists: 2
Topic: Same as essay.
Time Duration: 13.5 minutes

Personal Interview:

Number of panelists: 3
Average Duration: 15-20 minutes
Some of questions asked:

1. Introduce yourself.
2. What do you know about ISKON?
3. What do you know about Bill and Melinda Gates foundation? Why was Melinda in India recently, what was the project?
4. Why is Microsoft Best company in India to work with? Why it is best brand as Employer?
5. What are business ethics in Microsoft?
6. Some question on some point mentioned in the GD.
7. What are current tax slabs?
8. What is direct tax code?
9. Who is current Governer of Maharashtra?
10. Who was Chief Minister of Maharashtra before current one? What is he doing now?
11. Discussion on MNS and Marathi Manus and its pros and cons.
12. Discussion on Ganeshotsava.
13. What is team? Some discussion.
14. What are leadership qualities?
15. Some question on Motivation theories.

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CAT 2009: OA – 99.08% QA – 95.93% LDI – 94.95% VA – 98.7% | Std X: 92% (MH) | Std XII: 88.17% (MH) | B.E. COMP ENGG: 73.33% (MU) | WorkEx: As on Dec 2009, 29 Months at Microsoft India.

S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai – Profile based Information Management call

(Mumbai Center, 28-March-2010, 1000 HRS slot)

Interview type: Group Interview (2 rounds)

Verdict: Converted

Status: NOT JOINING

Round 1 : (7 candidates – 3 IM, 2 Operations, 1 Marketing, 1 Finance; 3 panelists)

Round 1 of Group interview was elimination round. Major focus of discussion was ‘Why do you want to do MBA?’. Apart from that there were certain questions on hobbies, passions etc. It took around 1 Hr 10 minutes. Panel really grilled everyone with many questions. You need to have proper clarity on your career goals and no nonsense on social service and entrepreneurship as panel would recognize you are telling lies after probing.

3 out of 7 were selected for second round – 1 IM (me), 1 Finance and 1 Operations

After round 1 we had a psychometric test comprised of 30 questions – 10 in each of 3 groups. Questions were objective but we were supposed to provide justification for any 2 out of 10 questions in each group that’s total 6. This was used by panel in round 2 to test candidates on certain parameters.

Round 2 : (7 candidates – 2 IM, 2 Finance, 2 Marketing, 1 Operations; 2 panelists)

Round 2 revolved around the psychometric sheet only. Everyone was asked questions about choices filled in the sheet and were asked justifications. Major focus on discussion was related to our values, thought process and attitude. It took around an hour.

After round 2, we were provided feedback sheet, on which we had to provide detailed feedback on psychometric evaluation. Process ended.

No questions on academics, work related or general awareness. Overall I found this process very unique compared to any other interviews that I have ever attended. It was a good experience.

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CAT 2009: OA – 99.08% QA – 95.93% LDI – 94.95% VA – 98.7% | Std X: 92% (MH) | Std XII: 88.17% (MH) | B.E. COMP ENGG: 73.33% (MU) | WorkEx: As on Dec 2009, 29 Months at Microsoft India.

On Friday April 16th, Microsoft announced that Office 2010 has been released to manufacturing. Office 2010 along with Sharepoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010 will be launched to business on May12th with sales beginning from June 2010. MSDN and TechNet subscribers can download these products from www.msdn.com from April 22 onwards. Also, for the first time Microsoft is launching Office Starter 2010 a reduced functionality office suite free of cost for non-commercial use which would be Ad-supported.

With increased speed and improved compliances to W3C standards, Microsoft is working on Internet Explorer 9. Currently, a demo is released which is not a full blown browser but a console in which browser core is running, which you can use for basic browsing purpose.

Internet Explorer 9 test drive is available at

http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Default.html

Some of key features are:

Read more…

Apple launched iPad on April 3 with selling massive 300,000 devices on day 1 itself. A brilliant 9.7” LED touch screen device very similar to iPhone (a bigger iPhone without phone maybe ) is costing around $499. It is expected that by 2010 end, Apple would be selling approx. 5 Million iPads. Keeping aside the natural buzz that any Apple product receives nowadays, it is a significant milestone in computing world as it looks like Apple has created a much awaited “third screen”.

Read more…

Government (or Sonia) finally introduced the Women’s 33% reservation bill and it was approved by RS. The path forward isn’t straightforward as it would need 66% majority in Lok Sabha as it is a Constitutional Amendment. At the same time Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party has asked for Muslim reservation within Women’s reservation. BJP has naturally opposed it. This has raised Muslim reservation issue once again. 

As per Constitution of India, reservation in Education and Government jobs cannot be provided on basis of Religion, Read more…