Narad Gurus seek shiksha (Higher studies)!

It's a good news as well as a bad news- 2 of our Narad Gurus, Dilbert and EvenStar are leaving for their higher studies. Although they'll be with us online all through, but we will miss their presence here at the Head Quarters (:P)
Dilbert is heading to SP Jain for his MBA in Finance, whereas EvenStar is flying to US for her MS. (Oops, did I tell you that Evenstar is actually a, ahem Girl)
It's difficult for us to come to terms with the fact that two of our stalwarts are leaving the scene temporarily though, but they need to go for a whole different set of reasons. We wish them all the best and hope to have them soon on-board with more Wisdom and more Fun!!

NewsLetter June 08

This is the June-08 newsletter of ChotaNarad. The team has really done a wonderful job in creating this beautiful newsletter and We plan to make it a monthly affair and by the end of each month, we'll have the newsletter covering all the happenings related to CN over the last month.
Enjoy reading!!

Read this doc on Scribd: NewsLetter 8 2

How I prepared for my Placements

ChotaNarad is really achieving its targets in some sense that now users themselves provide us with valuable information which helps the students at large. Here I'm posting a few posts from one of the users. It really is a useful document to strategize the preparation for the placements. Here it goes..

" I just happened to see this site and found it a really nice initiative. Going through the entire phase and working in the corporate world today I understand the challenges which one has to face during our placement preparation. Although there are many sites to help you fetch placement papers, a concept like this is unique.
The site will not only provide paper pattern and company information but also help you in making your career choice. So I would like to congratulate the founders of Chotanarad. Good job yaar! Having said that even I have a story to share. No, no it is no fairy tale. It is my story. It is about how I made to a got a placement.
I am a B.E. from NSIT. I have pursued my engineering in Computer Science. I started my preparation for placements from my sixth semester.
In the sixth semester When I was in my sixth semester I had started preparing for my placements. I was not very clear about how to go about it. I was a hosteller. My roomie(room mate) was in the fourth year and I studied from her books.
I started with the MCQ book of Yashwant Kanetkar. The one on C. Simultaneously I started reading C by Ritchie. This book proved to be really helpful. It helped me not only in clearing my concepts but also in my interviews. Many questions were asked directly from it.
Since we used to go to college in the morning and come back by afternoon we only had evenings to prepare. Then we had to do one or the other college assignment. Though there were days when I used to bunk some classes, most of the time I was left with only evenings and nights to study.
There were many distractions in hostel and so it was difficult to utilize the time very efficiently. But whatever little time I had I gave it to my preparations. Also I had set some targets for myself. I started my preparations in January, completed two MCQ books on C by February mid. So you can imagine how leisurely I was doing it.
Then I started with Ritchie and MCQs on pointers. As I mentioned before also I found Ritchie very helpful especially the chapter on Pointers.
I know some people find Ritchie a difficult book. But my concepts of C were pretty clear and so I did not find it a difficult book. You can use any other book to work on your basics and then do this book if you find it difficult to start with. I had finished the two books by mid April. In the meantime I was also working on building my aptitude. For this I referred to Shakuntla Devi’s puzzles.
We used to build our word power in groups. Things are always easy and interesting when one mixes fun with learning. Also we made it a point to read newspapers daily. I got busy with my end semesters and my practicals in May so I could not devote anytime to my placement preparation... "

Read the full post at ..
http://chotanarad.com/threadview.aspx?subcatid=35&catid=14&Threadid=474&createdby=787&flag=1

The wait's over: ChotaNarad.com is LIVE!!

Hurray!! chotanarad.com is LIVE!!

With almost 5 months of reaching out to the freshers through the blog, and having received over 50,000 hits in the last few months, ChotaNarad.com became live last week. The commitment and the efforts to bring to you the best will always be there.
All the articles of the blog and some very new and relevant articles written by our Narad panel will be available at the site.
Thanks for all the support and encouragement. Our mission of Campus-corporate Milap is incomplete without you. All the best.

The Beginners Guide to the Corporate World

So You are ready to take a plunge into the big-bad corporate world. Well, thought my small stint at the office and studying them closely might just be of any help to you.
A few days back I completed 1 year in the industry and the few lessons which I learned in the process are definitely true for any industry you land in and will surely be beneficial to you all. The lessons:
Learn to say no
When I started working, I was very eager to please. This meant that I had a hard time saying no to things people asked of me. I tried to work a lot, and still didn’t finish everything that was asked of me. The result was disappointment from their side, and almost burning out on my part.
If you never say no, your yes is worth very little. Commit to what you can handle, and if people keep asking you for more, make it very explicit that this would mean not doing something else. What I did was to have a list of stuff that I needed to do on a piece of paper with me. When someone asked for something, I showed them the list and asked what I should bump to have time to help them. This allowed me to say no in a nice way.
Communication
And that’s communication with persons, not socket programming. Now and then you do run into a tricky technical problem, but it’s not at all that common. Much more common is misunderstandings between you and the project manager, between you and the customer and finally between you and your colleagues. Work on your soft skills.
If everything is equally important, then nothing is importantThe business likes to say that all the features are as crucial. They are not. Push back and make them commit. It’s easier if you don’t force them to pick what to do and what not to do. Instead, let them choose what you should do this week. This will let you produce the stuff that brings value first. If all else goes haywire, at least you’ve done that.
Don’t over-think a problem
I can spend whole days designing things in front of the white board. That doesn’t mean it will be any better, it just means it will be more complicated. I don’t mean to say you shouldn’t design at all, just that the implementation will quickly show me stuff I didn’t think of anyway, so why try to make it perfect?

Object Oriented Designing is not easy!
Maybe it’s just me, but coming from Computer Science class I thought that OO was easy. The highest marks-fetcher and the dumbest teacher used to teach the subject. I mean, how hard can it be to create classes that mimic the real world? It turns out that it’s pretty hard. One year later, I’m still learning how to model properly and see the relationships between different tables. I wish I spent more time reading up on OO and design patterns. Good modeling skills are worth a lot to every development team.

Learn about the other parts of the software development machine
It’s really important to be a great developer. But to be a great part of the system that produces software, you need to understand what the rest of the system does. How do the QA people work? What does the project manager do? What drives the business analyst? This knowledge will help you connect with the rest of the people, and will grease interactions with them. Ask the people around you for help in learning more. What books are good? Most people will be flattered that you care, and willingly help you out. A little time on this goes a really long way.

Your colleagues are your best teachers
An year after I started on my first job, I was moved to another team. Suddenly I had a lot of much more talented and experienced people around me. I remember distinctly how this made me feel inferior and stupid. I studied hard, reading book after book but I still didn’t catch up. No matter how much you try to read and search, the knowledge which your colleagues can give you is invaluable and you will never find in any teaching manual. I ask questions and I try really hard to understand how my colleagues come to the conclusions they do. See your peers as an asset, not competition.
It all comes down to working software
No matter how cool your algorithms are, no matter how brilliant your database schema is, no matter how fabulous your whatever is, if it doesn’t scratch the clients’ itch, it’s not worth anything. Focus on delivering working software, and at the same time prepare to continue delivering software using that code base and you’re on the right path.

Some people are assholes
Most of the time, most of the people around you are great. You learn from them, and they learn from you. Accomplishing something together is a good feeling. Unfortunately, you will probably run into the exceptions. People that because of something or other are plain old mean. Demeaning bosses. Lying colleagues. Stupid, ignorant customers. Don’t take this too hard. Try to work around them and do what you can to minimize the pain and effort they cause, but don’t blame yourself. As long as you stay honest and do your best, you’ve done your part.

What am I going to do with the rest of my life?

I don’t know whether only I get such weird thoughts in my mind or is it the human mind which is designed in such a way to keep cropping such questions which I faced some time back. Assuming myself to be a very normal person I think it’s pretty normal for people to think on these lines. This one’s for all you normal(!) souls.
I may not answer this question on your behalf but you may at least find some path which might lead to making your life as meaningful and bright as your friends and professors wished you in your college farewell.
Help yourself draw a map
Too often, when faced with a major (or even not so major) life decision, we tend to either take the first decent choice that presents itself or we allow circumstances to choose for us by default - putting off the decision until the inexorable current of life sweeps us past the turning point. As you can imagine, this is not the best way to get what you want out of life. But the options we are faced with in life can be so wildly divergent, or so deceptively similar, that it is difficult to know which turning to take. Wouldn't it be great if we had some kind of road map that would help us know which paths to follow and which to pass by?
Below are five questions that everybody should ask himself or herself before starting out on any new path. The answers to these questions should then be used to guide decisions and to direct actions - when a choice comes up, simply compare the various options with your stated desires and choose the option that takes you closer to (or at least moves you the least farthest away from) your destination - your stated goals and desires.
1. What does success mean to me?
Be very specific. "I want to be rich," is not an answer - just what does "rich" mean, anyway? Are you thinking of a set number? And if so, why? Or is the term "rich" a substitute for certain freedoms and opportunities that you view as coming only with money - and by limiting them to being accessed only through money, are you missing out on other alternative pathways?
Some more specific alternatives to "I want to be rich," depending on the individual, might be: "I want to have enough net income to meet my current financial responsibilities without strain, plus have time and money left over for travel," or "I want to be able to comfortably afford a jet-setting lifestyle in New York City," or "I want to spend 4 days a week at home with my kids," etc.
You should try to come up with at least three answers to the question of what success really means to you personally, with each one reflecting a different facet of what you feel makes up a truly successful life. And keep the money issue to just one statement - after all, such things as personal fulfillment, spiritual meaning and other essential needs and values cannot be solved, acquired or even influenced by money
One of the biggest obstacles to success is that most of us have never consciously explored what that means to us, aside from some vague and nebulous idea of fame, fortune or other worldly success. Knowing what success really means to you - what you hope or imagine that these generic definitions of success would actually provide and how you want those things to physically look like in your life - allows you to weigh your choices more accurately.
2. What are my non-negotiable needs?
List all the things that you envision as inescapable parameters of a successful and enjoyable life. Family, travel, no debt, pleasant work environment, social status, contributions to society, spiritual involvement, public acclaim, love, excitement, comfort - any or all of these, and any others you can think of are legitimate needs that when not met create an environment of stress, want and disempowerment in your life. Knowing what you are not willing to do without makes the relative values of different options clearer.
3. What are my non-negotiable boundaries?
List all the things that you absolutely do not want present in your life. If the idea of working in a standard hierarchical office environment makes you ill, put that down. If you can't stand the thought of living in a cold climate, add that to the list. If being poked fun at about your physical condition or other attributes makes life unlivable, note that as well. By knowing what you will not tolerate, many choices become much easier to make. Plus, it allows you to set down rules and policies about who and what you will invite into your life and the standards of behavior you will, and will not, tolerate.
4. What are my key values?
Spend some time searching your soul to come up with a list of your basic values, creating a life around which would make you the person you want to be and allow you to live the life you want to live. Are you the type who values honesty, clean/green living and a deep love of nature above all things? Or are you more of a 'comforts of home', family and fun kind of person? Do you value charity over letting others find their way on their own, or is it the other way around? Knowing what you truly stand for is a vital component of good decision-making.
5. What do I want to be remembered for?
What legacy do you want to leave here when you pass on? What do you want people to say about your life and you as a person? What do you want to be known for? What would you like your obituary to say about you? Knowing where you want to end up makes choosing the path to get there, and keeping track of your progress, infinitely easier.

If you can find the answer of all these questions you’ll see that till now you were a stranger to the person living inside you. And will see many things still to be done which you’ve always wanted to do. So what’s stopping you.
Life is really not so complicated as we make it to be. What’s needed is to know what you want from your life. Explore it yourself and live it yourself..

How to kill time in office

So, This one’s for all you hapless poor souls desperately wanting some help on a rather serious issue which others might term as a joke i.e. “Afterall how to kill time in the office.”
I know this cannot be a joke because I’ve seen many talented fellows fully laced with technical expertise and sitting idle in this great Indian IT industry and getting frustrated to the point of committing suicide.

When I initially thought about writing it I thought not many would actually need it or like it. But then when I talked to a very high profile manager and he said- “Everyone knows that no one actually is productive at work, some are just better at pretending they do.”
That triggered off the thought in me. And I asked him how can one do it. He replied- “Waste time constructively without getting busted by the boss.”
I know this is easier said than done. That’s why once I received so many comments and requests to write on this topic even I was clueless. So I got into touch with some of the best in this art( mind you, some of them are at very high posts in reputed firms) and took their inputs which I’m summarizing along with my experiences:

This suggestion was given to me by a senior guy in my office only-

1. Hold a huge stack of papers and go to the photocopy machine.
2. Go to the toilet.
3. Slowly zip your pants.
4. Walk to the photocopy machine.
5. Pretend as if you forgot to take your file or something.
6. Walk back to your table.
7. Stop by your colleagues' tables and start chatting about yesterdays match.
8. Stroll back to your desk.
9. Pretend to search for your file.
10. Ooh! You found on your table!
11. Stroll back to the photocopy machine.
12. Switch on the machine.
13. Go to the toilet.
14. Zip your pants slowly

Another friend of mine who works in a consultancy firm in Gurgaon actually had some really practical tips to avoid getting noticed while killing time:

1 Walk really fast when you are going anywhere as to appear something important is going to happen.
2 Carry a notebook with you at all times. Seems like you are supposed to be somewhere taking notes. If at your desk keep it open with a pen on it.
3 Shuffle papers and sigh loudly.
4 Look pissed off / stare at your computer, ruffling your hair.
5 Put up a do not disturb sign when you are browsing the web.
6 Continually click on a pen.


Well those were some wise comments. I personally believe that along with all the suggestions commented out by the people, you should also focus on some creative activity which actually helps you in the longer run. Getting a membership of an article portal and reading atleast one a day will not only keep you engaged but help you increase your awareness and knowledge about so many different aspects of life and nature. Try solving a puzzle a day. Will keep your mind healthy. Indulge in your hobbies and utilize the internet in a more useful context than chatting.
Use time productively even if you don’t have any work. Because as some wise man has said-“If you kill time today, Time will kill you tomorrow”
So take it as a blessing and use it to your advantage. Coz you never know when will your boss catch you reading such stupid blogs at office and from the next day you do not have any free time to breathe forget about killing.
And then you’ll ask me to write on “ How to make 25 hours out of the 24 hours”