VGSOM / IIT-Kharagpur GDPI -1

Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM) or IIT-Kharagpur GDPI experience (1/2)

Candidate: S.Satish Kumar  
Location: IISc Banglore
Date: 16th March, 2011
Time: 2pm

Presentation:
It was taken by one of the professors..to be quite honest, it was a tiring process in the hot climate and that too after the panelists' lunch. The candidates waiting did not look that excited during the presentation, which was evident from the lack of questions at the end .

Group Discussion (Case-study based):
No. of people-12
It was about the cola wars between Coca Cola and Pepsi. There was information given on what the companies' priorities were and the steps they had taken to rein in more customers. We were asked to discuss about the case.

It was interesting because I had read the exact case-study somewhere on the net a few days back . Anyways, summary:

1. I made the opening statement and emphasized on 4-5 points before letting others take forward the discussion
2. I came in 4-5 times later and managed to provide an overall outlook of the entire case, thankfully there was no fish market and everyone listened to the others
3. Barring 1 or 2 persons, almost everyone in my group spoke

Personal Interview:
Since I was the 3rd last person in my group, and since I was really hungry (my lunch was still pending at 4pm )..I went with my friend to eat something. The interview process was half complete for my group by the time I returned.

It was my turn finally and I was curtly asked to wait outside twice inspite of waiting 2 min (they asked me to)  . The proceedings:

S1: So tell us about yourself.
Me: 'Mentioned my name-work exp related info-Photography and Blogging interests
S2: Blogging??
Me: Yes sir.
S2: So do you chat on Facebook?? 
Me: Not much sir, but I am a member though.
S2: Ok, what about pagalguy? You are a friend? (say what??) What does it say about VGSOM? 
Me: (smiling) Sir I am a member at PG. But I have not checked much about VGSOM on PG.
S1: You said you are interested in photography. What type of camera do you have?
Me: A digicam sir..a Point-and-shoot (PAS) camera. I am planning to buy an SLR camera soon though.
S1: Okay, so tell me..why are SLR cameras or any camera for that matter called Single Lens?
Me: (finally I get this question after 6 PIs) explained.
S1 seemed to be satisfied, we in fact agreed on my explanation.
S2: TCS will lose a dedicated worker like you, Do you think it is right?
Before I could answer..
S1: How have you contributed to your company?
Me: explained with an example
S2 then proceeded to ask details about my family, my salary and then out of the blue..
S2: Do you know SAP? Can you tell me its explanation?
Me: (I had googled it a few days back, but fate willed something else) Sir, I cannot recall it now.
S2: This is very bad . I didn't expect this from an experienced candidate like you. If you are a fresher and say the same, that would be okay.
Me: I am Sorry sir.
He wasn't satisfied I guess..for he proceeded towards women empowerment in my company, men-women ratio of my company, respect to women at work, whistle-blowing options in my company...
S2: So what other calls do you have?
Me: ....,IIT-Delhi, ...
S2: How was the experience there? How did it go for you?
Me: Sir it was okay. I faced a panel of 4 people (which surprised them both), with 2 from the industry.
S1: So what questions did they ask?
Me: Sir questions on latest trends in IT field..they asked me about Grid and Cloud computing?
S1: Oh, then tell us the difference between them?
Me: (thankfully I had prepared) Explained
S1: (glancing through my marksheets) So what are your favorite subjects from college?
Me: (bouncer ready) Sir I liked Artificial Intelligence a lot, but sadly my professors could not explain it in depth then.
S1: Okay, so what is AI?
Me: (Gave 2-3 explanations...but he was expecting the line "to think like human beings"... the Professor was kind enough to goad me till we came to a common ground )
S1: So what other subjects did you like?
Me: (time for my 2nd bouncer) Sir, Professional Ethics (yes, not the first time I mentioned this).
S1: Oh, professional ethics??
Me: Yes sir (with a smile)
S1: Then tell me some topics from that subject..
Me: Sir, as per my syllabus I had 5 chapters and all 5 were case-studies with real-life examples.
S1: Okay Satish, that would be it. Thank you.

To his surprise (based on what I saw), I stood up and thanked him...and proceeded to shake his hand (was surprised and smiled). S2 had gone out a long time back and I met him on the way out. I thanked him as well.

Note: People who've read my previous GDPI experiences know by now that Professional Ethics and Artificial Intelligence are my favorite subjects. It might seem like a tactic to escape in-depth questioning, but trust me, those were the 2 subjects I loved most during my BE . Moroever, I tried to swallow as much as Computer Science syllabus (mine) as possible before my PIs  (for those who think I didn't prepare for stuff from college).

Verdict: Converted

More experiences coming up.... .

Ch33rs,
Satish