Atos Origin Interview

I thought I would write down something about the Atos Origin Interview I had today or rather yesterday which was another stop for me in ongoing job search which has been going on for quite some time now. It feels long enough nowadays to start to feel embarrassing but probably I can pass the buck to the slowdown in IT industry all over and companies shying away from recruitments. Well, a little more should be attributed to my failure to make good of some of the early chances I had but thats a story for another day.

I got a call the day before from a Jupiter Recruitments for a contractual position with Atos Origin and like I do these days I promptly agreed. The first round was short and mostly sweet. I was quizzed about Java, Struts and JSP and for a change I was able to answer most of the questions to the interviewers satisfaction. Some of the questions which I am able to remember are like:

1. Tell me about yourself
2. Why software after a degree in chemistry
3. Details about the current project
4. How does Struts work
5. How do we use lookupdispatchaction
6. Difference between Vector and ArrayList, Set and List
7. Impact of isThreadSafe=”false” on jsp
8. Things about try, catch and finally and when would finally block not execute
9. Implicit Objects available in jsp page

I will add more questions if and when I do remember them but that was it mostly and viola I got through.
The next round was with the Manager and this was more of a general inquiry session rather than technical starting with tell about yourself, how do you rate yourself, some thing about being a quick learner as I said I was a quick learner, things which made me happy in my career, about willingness to work in Pune, what I knew about the company and lastly what were my salary expectations. I was then offered a chance to ask questions and I asked a couple about what my role will be if hired and why the position was contractual.

This last thing about expectations is something I have never been able to get to in my previous 5-6 interviews mainly because of my inability to clear the technical rounds so I guess this should make me happy. I was happy but now a lot depends upon when and how they get back to me. Right now I am in a position where I will accept any decent offer they make me.

So thats that then it seems.

And yes, this marks the first decent length blog I have written after a long time.

I intend to keep writing now on this website which is publicly available but mostly unknown. Right now I think I am the only person who knows about its existence and I think that will help me write a little frankly. I plan to take this public, at least make some friends aware of it so that I can have some comments, feedback and probably some content too. I also plan to write about how I got to the position I am in right now. Maybe that will help me have a laugh at my expense someday.

PS: I wrote this the next day of the interview but is published about a month later on this blog due to some unknown reasons.

CAT 08 Begins

Following the annual ritual, I will be appearing for CAT this year also. We will see what turns up in this edition of the annual event. Those in the know already know that I have been appearing for CAT for last three years, doing good in the written round but flunking up in the next round i.e. the GD/PI’s. All those years I have been passing the blame to my non-seriousness and non-preparedness but for how long can I continue to do that. Something sometime has to give and I wonder whether it will be me this time around. I wonder this all the time by the way. The problem is that even now I am not clear whether I want to do an MBA or not.

As for this year’s preparation, I have already registered for the IMS test series along with Ankur and although we have already missed all three tests that have gone by, I hope we will be able to write more than we miss from now on.

Amen!

May we all get Laid !!

Random Thoughts

90% of the women on this planet are attracted to just one thing: the bulge in your (back) pocket. But they know you will always be willing to believe they see that special quality in you, and can’t live without it. Once they get you contractually and parentally locked in, your needs become a nuisance to them.

The sorry truth is, the character of men is most like that of a dog: loyal, will suffer any abuse, and still love you unconditionally. Women resemble cats: manipulative, capable of simulating love whenever it is opportune, and will sit perched on a chair while an intruder cuts your throat and steals your belongings. Then, when he’s about to leave, rub up against his leg in hopes of getting a treat.

PS: This comes from a comment on one of the posting of the New York Magazine’s Sex Diaries.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/06/the_cuckolded_wall_street_dad.html

Yeah thats what I have been doing in the office this last few days, reading MY mag’s Sex Diaries

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/sex_diaries/

Websense in my office doesn’t blocks that .