Sep 22-23 was another fun filled weekend at US. We went to see the beautiful Monterey city. For your knowledge this place is also famous for its wineries , but unfortunately we didnt get the time to taste that at its famous tasteries
Well according to our plans we started at 8:00 in morning with Asharam and Krishna on driver seats of our two splendid cars and Vijay and me navigating them respectively. Our car had a GPS system but still we took the Google maps along with us. Obviously Google is more reliable than anybody else. On our way to Monterey we had planned to visit a Mystery Spot.This was a mysterious place (obviously the name says that). The amazing thing about the spot was probably something related to magnetism fundaes. The guide kept a ball in the middle of an inclined piece of wood. Now on a normal place the ball must have rolled down but since it was a mystery spot the ball climbed up without any force. That was absolutely amazing. But we geeky engineers though the ball had some trick in it. We tried that with our water bottle but even that behaved in the same way. This convinced us fully that there is something more mysterious than the women on this earth :D. After that we went to the special mystery cabin where again our Engineering knowledge was put to the test. There was a pendulum hanging from the ceiling. Now according to our physics study the pendulum swings the same distance to and fro on both sides. But here again the pendulum covered more distance on one side than other. The cabin itself was mysterious. We were standing straight in the cabin but still we were tending to fall on one side (and one person left the railing and he really fell down to be the laughing stock of the group). Also though we were standing straight on the ground, it felt as if we are standing inclined at some angle.
After playing with mysteries, we left for Monterey. The drive to this place was awesome. We went through some hilly areas which had some sharp curves and some steep slopes. Also the sceneries on our side after that were awesome. Saw the beautiful US farms and country side homes and tried to capture most of them in our cams. Finally we reached the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was a busy area and thronged by people and we realised that soon when it took us 30 minutes to park our car. Finally we went in to explore the wonderful sea creatures which included my first experience with the sea otters. They swam so well and so cutely and their back stroke was awesome. Four of them were playing a kind of hide n seek game which the crowd enjoyed a lot. After that I went to spend some time with the jelly fish. I had seen a few of them in Sentosa, Singapore but the number and variety here was huge. Before this I never imagined that we have so many kinds of jelly fish on this planet and I am sure we were still missing many more. More, I saw the different fishes, sharks, octopus, crabs etc-etc-etc, more I realised how vast and beautiful our nature is.
And after this was the time for the best shot. Yes, it was time for the 17 mile drive which had the beautiful 21 spots including some golf courses, wonderful beaches, awesome view points, a ghost tree and the best country side houses on the way. Well, due to the shopping spree of my dear fellas we weren't able to cover all of them but we did mange to stop at some of them and got ourselves clicked with the beautiful sceneries behind us. As it was getting dark we had to rush back to our place as we had to drive another 80 miles. But some of us were quite hungry and it took us 3 hours to satisfy their hunger(actually half of the time to look for the Indian restaurant.
we love Indian food..dont we:P)Finally, the restaurant was a good find where we even managed to have a hukka for the first time. And we ended the dinner, by bursting away that hukka. Now, dont ask me how we did that. After all we are engineers man and dont we know that if we blow with force in a closed surface it will burst out of pressure, especially when it is made up of glass!! But anyways we got rid of it and even managed to get an apology from the owner.
So, it was time to say good bye to the beautiful Monterey and the safe driving placed us in our apartments in one piece at 1:30 in night. To summarize, it was a memorable trip and the pics would now do the rest of talking
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Trip To Santa Cruz
After a long journey of 36 hours including the 10 hr exciting transit at Singapore, Santosh, Krishna and me reached San Fransisco airport and from there straight to the Mountain View hotel. We hardly got 5 hrs to sleep as our fellow Googlers have already planned an exciting trip to Santa Cruz BroadWalk. Though we were little tired and suffering from jet lag but we couldnt say no for such a wondeful trip. And obiously, weekends are not the time to sleep but to enjoy. So early in the morning we left to see the beautiful beaches. But half of the excitement came down when we missed the bus and our fellow friends. The best part of the story was that we didnt had the cell phone and I dont know why the US phone booths were very stubborn and didnt let me make any call. But somehow we managed to get hold of each other and started for the trip by boarding the bus.
Now according to our fellow Googler Vijay's directions who was playing the role of guide, we had to change the bus and take another one which goes to Santa Cruz. But we found out that the bus he figured out doesnt go there. But the driver told us some other way out. So we have to come back to the point where we started. Then finally we got the right bus. It took around an hour and went through some slopes which had beautiful sceneries( acc to Namrata) but what I observed the most were the nice cars. They were too good. And the bikes which we saw were ultimate. I wish I could own one such.
And then we reached Santa Cruz BroadWalk. It was a lovely place. The beach was huge and had an amusement park on the shore. Since we guys were very hungry, we though of grabbing a pizza. Now here I wud like to mention that US is very strange sometimes in categorising its food products in veg/non-veg. There was a vegetable dish on the menu which contained egg :D and some dishes which contained the dairy products were categorised as non veg :P
After filling up our stomaches, we started with the the real fun; we went to the beach. The water was so chilled that for the moment it looked that I am frozen. But within a minute I got used to that and started enjoying. The huge waves were hitting me with a pressure and I was enjoying fighting with them. Facing the waves without moving form my place gave me a felling of being strong and I loved that. The fun part was when the waves receded back, it took the mud along with it and u would feel as if the earth below u is moving away :). Krishna knew swimming and he went faraway into the sea and counting on him that he would save me, even I dared to go ahead a little :P.
After this cool waterbath, we went for some breath stopping rides. We started with the double shot which shot up in a flash to a height of 25 ft and gave us a free fall from there. I was so hell scared. But the real scary and daring part was the Typhoon ride. It was like the pendulum ride of other parks. But instead of taking us only to the extreme ends, they made us to revolve in a full circle. And the moment we were on the highest point , we were completely upside down. For the moment I though that I would fall down and that would be the end of everything. But thank God, these americans have tied us down properly:). And here too they gave us a free fall from the highest point which took the hell out of me again.
Now according to our fellow Googler Vijay's directions who was playing the role of guide, we had to change the bus and take another one which goes to Santa Cruz. But we found out that the bus he figured out doesnt go there. But the driver told us some other way out. So we have to come back to the point where we started. Then finally we got the right bus. It took around an hour and went through some slopes which had beautiful sceneries( acc to Namrata) but what I observed the most were the nice cars. They were too good. And the bikes which we saw were ultimate. I wish I could own one such.
And then we reached Santa Cruz BroadWalk. It was a lovely place. The beach was huge and had an amusement park on the shore. Since we guys were very hungry, we though of grabbing a pizza. Now here I wud like to mention that US is very strange sometimes in categorising its food products in veg/non-veg. There was a vegetable dish on the menu which contained egg :D and some dishes which contained the dairy products were categorised as non veg :P
After filling up our stomaches, we started with the the real fun; we went to the beach. The water was so chilled that for the moment it looked that I am frozen. But within a minute I got used to that and started enjoying. The huge waves were hitting me with a pressure and I was enjoying fighting with them. Facing the waves without moving form my place gave me a felling of being strong and I loved that. The fun part was when the waves receded back, it took the mud along with it and u would feel as if the earth below u is moving away :). Krishna knew swimming and he went faraway into the sea and counting on him that he would save me, even I dared to go ahead a little :P.
After this cool waterbath, we went for some breath stopping rides. We started with the double shot which shot up in a flash to a height of 25 ft and gave us a free fall from there. I was so hell scared. But the real scary and daring part was the Typhoon ride. It was like the pendulum ride of other parks. But instead of taking us only to the extreme ends, they made us to revolve in a full circle. And the moment we were on the highest point , we were completely upside down. For the moment I though that I would fall down and that would be the end of everything. But thank God, these americans have tied us down properly:). And here too they gave us a free fall from the highest point which took the hell out of me again.
After this fun filled and thrilling days it was time to say goood bye to Santa Cruz and to return to our hotel. But yeah it was a nice starting of the US stay:).
The pic album along with the captions can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/bansal.vikas84/SantaCruz
Monday, September 10, 2007
First trip outside India.....Singapore!!!!!!
My first international visit was supposed to be US. But Singapore got the honor. Actually Singapore was a transit for my trip from Hyderabad to San Fransisco and it was 10 hrs long... thanks to the Singapore Airlines. So we(Krishna, Santosh and me) thought of taking an advantage of this and went to see the Sentosa Island. Its a beuatiful tourist spot with a beach and lot of other funs. We went for underground water park in which I moved in a tunnel with a huge variety of fishes and other sea animals on my either sides in glass. It was so damn exciting to see all this from so close. Some times I had the feeling as if I am moving in the sea and these animals would just touch me. Oh I forgot to tell you that there was a small pond in which we could even touch these fishes( but gently). I was so excited on this part but also a little afraid and wasnt able to touch any of the fishes as they were too fast :(. I even saw the crabs and the jelly fish for the first time.
After this, I went for the Dolphin show. This was a real fun to see the dolphins acting on the directions of the trainer. They were acting so smart and so cute. One of my frens Chetan(Singapore local) even got a chance to shake hands with dolphin. After these two exciting shows we went for the beach. It was a nice and clean beach with people enjoying in the kayaks and all. Sadly we didn't had much time to do that. So we just sat on the beach side for some time and started back to airport. On our way, we grabbed some food and also the downtown area of Singapore.....the commercial hub of the country with huge skyscrapers. Some buildings were too big and too good.
Overall, this country had a good impression on my mind but I also had a feeling that India is not far behind. We have a metro system similar to them, though we that hav the sytem of taking the tickets ourselves from the automated machines(which even accpeted notes and gave back the exact change...didnt see this even in US). Also the buses were too good and the streets were excellent with greenery and flowers all around. Yea I know there was a lot more another stuff to be explored but gosh we were running out of time. My flight was sceduled at 5:00 and i just boarded it at 4:50...I know a close call.
And finally I was on my way to San Fransisco...about which I would write more in my next blog. :)
See the pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/bansal.vikas84/Singapore
After this, I went for the Dolphin show. This was a real fun to see the dolphins acting on the directions of the trainer. They were acting so smart and so cute. One of my frens Chetan(Singapore local) even got a chance to shake hands with dolphin. After these two exciting shows we went for the beach. It was a nice and clean beach with people enjoying in the kayaks and all. Sadly we didn't had much time to do that. So we just sat on the beach side for some time and started back to airport. On our way, we grabbed some food and also the downtown area of Singapore.....the commercial hub of the country with huge skyscrapers. Some buildings were too big and too good.
Overall, this country had a good impression on my mind but I also had a feeling that India is not far behind. We have a metro system similar to them, though we that hav the sytem of taking the tickets ourselves from the automated machines(which even accpeted notes and gave back the exact change...didnt see this even in US). Also the buses were too good and the streets were excellent with greenery and flowers all around. Yea I know there was a lot more another stuff to be explored but gosh we were running out of time. My flight was sceduled at 5:00 and i just boarded it at 4:50...I know a close call.
And finally I was on my way to San Fransisco...about which I would write more in my next blog. :)
See the pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/bansal.vikas84/Singapore
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Finally.....
So, after that long wait and suspense from Google, finally on June 4, 2007 I got a congratulations mail from HR that I have cleared the recruitment process and soon I am going to be a Googler. Some might describe it as dream coming true but it was even more than that.
The moment I received the good news, I was calling my parents and near dears to share the good news. I took out the Google T-shirt which was waiting for me for a month in my cupboard, but I couldn't wear it in my office. Alas!!. I got a chance to wear it only once I reached home.
And now I am eagerly waiting for 16 July, the day on which I am going to join the Google and become a googler officially!!
Thank You Almighty!!
The moment I received the good news, I was calling my parents and near dears to share the good news. I took out the Google T-shirt which was waiting for me for a month in my cupboard, but I couldn't wear it in my office. Alas!!. I got a chance to wear it only once I reached home.
And now I am eagerly waiting for 16 July, the day on which I am going to join the Google and become a googler officially!!
Thank You Almighty!!
Monday, May 28, 2007
Waiting . . . .
It was around in february when I applied for Google through one of my friends friend. He gave me and that my profile is good enough and hopefully I would get a telecon from the Google guys. I waited for a few days then. But when I didnt receive any communication from their, I lost the hope and stopped waiting and I though this chapter is closed here itself. But suddenly one day in April after (approx 2 months) I received a call from the Google HR and she said that they would like to take me in their process. It was a sudden surprise for me, but took it as a blessing in disguise. Disguise...why so!!because I was loking for a change and wasn't able to figure out where else to apply after I got an offer from MS.
She said me that if shortlisted, I would get an email and would receive a telecon from Mt. View. Though I didn't get any such mail but yea one night I did get a call from Mt. View at around 11 in the night. It was a total surprise for me and I didnt get any time for getting nervous or tensed, forget about the prep for this huge interview. But thank God it was very simple and I faired well. (Though later I learnt that the first one was simple for everybody).
Well I cleared this round and now it was the time to go to Hyderabad and visit the much talked about Google Office. I wont say it Campus because it wasn't. It was just one floor in a building. But the moment you enter inside you can sense that all the hype about it wasnt false. The Google T-shirts worn by almost evrybody were fascinating. For the first time I did an electronic signature and signed a Non Disclosure agreement befor entering the campus with a slip pasted on my pocket.
Had a lunch straight away and the cafeteria was cool with all kinds of eatables. Baskets full of fruits, fridge full of juices, milk, soft drink cans. The cubicles were a little small and congested though.
Had 4 rounds of my interviews and quite unexpectedly I was doing well in them.
After that the sweet HR- Anuradha had a chat with me after a wonderful lunch which had a huge variety of food: 5-6 kinds of salad, 3 types or rice,curd, some south Indian dishes(didnt like this part:(), fruits and yea Subway sandwiches. Anuradha told me that they would still take a lot of time in getting the final results and I started counting the days from that day onwards(oops!! I forgot to tell that this was May 11, 2007). So, in the meanwhile I could be just hopeful with a Google T-shirt(which was a small gift from their side) packed in my cupboard which I decided to wear on the day I get some final answer from their side.
After returning back, the painful period of waiting started. On monday I came to know that Krishna(the M-Tech guy from IIT B whom i met in my room in the guest house arranged by Google)had got a personal info form. That was an indication from their side" Dude, you have finished the technical rounds and we are considering you further but still dont start partying as you stand more chanes to be rejected than selected"...sounds weired na but it happens. It took me even one more week to receive this indication and in the middle of that waiting period I again started having a very strong feeling that my dream is again going away from me though I was still having a bright hope in deep of my hearts and at last I received this form on May 21. As I didnt want to delay my processing further I filled up the form and mailed it back on the same day, whereas Krishna took 3 days for the same :P.
The waiting period after this was the most painful. I knew that I had got an indication that I have cleared the technical rounds but as stated earlier their was equal probability of being rejected even now. To add upon my anxiety, Krishna got an offer after two days along with this other fellow batchee. My anxiety has got worse now. I mailed to Hr, no response from her side. Even tried calling her up, but no response. Everyday, their has been hardly any moment when I am not thinking of all this and then analyzing both sides of coin: what if I dont get thro :( and what if I really get through:). Going thro the biggest suspense period of my life. I have waited for the results in the past also, but that time I could judge how I have done, what I deserve and thus I could approximate what would i get. But here, I know how I have done but I dont know anything else. I have done my part of performing and whats left on my part is wait...wait...wait...!!!.
She said me that if shortlisted, I would get an email and would receive a telecon from Mt. View. Though I didn't get any such mail but yea one night I did get a call from Mt. View at around 11 in the night. It was a total surprise for me and I didnt get any time for getting nervous or tensed, forget about the prep for this huge interview. But thank God it was very simple and I faired well. (Though later I learnt that the first one was simple for everybody).
Well I cleared this round and now it was the time to go to Hyderabad and visit the much talked about Google Office. I wont say it Campus because it wasn't. It was just one floor in a building. But the moment you enter inside you can sense that all the hype about it wasnt false. The Google T-shirts worn by almost evrybody were fascinating. For the first time I did an electronic signature and signed a Non Disclosure agreement befor entering the campus with a slip pasted on my pocket.
Had a lunch straight away and the cafeteria was cool with all kinds of eatables. Baskets full of fruits, fridge full of juices, milk, soft drink cans. The cubicles were a little small and congested though.
Had 4 rounds of my interviews and quite unexpectedly I was doing well in them.
After that the sweet HR- Anuradha had a chat with me after a wonderful lunch which had a huge variety of food: 5-6 kinds of salad, 3 types or rice,curd, some south Indian dishes(didnt like this part:(), fruits and yea Subway sandwiches. Anuradha told me that they would still take a lot of time in getting the final results and I started counting the days from that day onwards(oops!! I forgot to tell that this was May 11, 2007). So, in the meanwhile I could be just hopeful with a Google T-shirt(which was a small gift from their side) packed in my cupboard which I decided to wear on the day I get some final answer from their side.
After returning back, the painful period of waiting started. On monday I came to know that Krishna(the M-Tech guy from IIT B whom i met in my room in the guest house arranged by Google)had got a personal info form. That was an indication from their side" Dude, you have finished the technical rounds and we are considering you further but still dont start partying as you stand more chanes to be rejected than selected"...sounds weired na but it happens. It took me even one more week to receive this indication and in the middle of that waiting period I again started having a very strong feeling that my dream is again going away from me though I was still having a bright hope in deep of my hearts and at last I received this form on May 21. As I didnt want to delay my processing further I filled up the form and mailed it back on the same day, whereas Krishna took 3 days for the same :P.
The waiting period after this was the most painful. I knew that I had got an indication that I have cleared the technical rounds but as stated earlier their was equal probability of being rejected even now. To add upon my anxiety, Krishna got an offer after two days along with this other fellow batchee. My anxiety has got worse now. I mailed to Hr, no response from her side. Even tried calling her up, but no response. Everyday, their has been hardly any moment when I am not thinking of all this and then analyzing both sides of coin: what if I dont get thro :( and what if I really get through:). Going thro the biggest suspense period of my life. I have waited for the results in the past also, but that time I could judge how I have done, what I deserve and thus I could approximate what would i get. But here, I know how I have done but I dont know anything else. I have done my part of performing and whats left on my part is wait...wait...wait...!!!.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Ethics !!
So, I am all set to write my first blog. Being a software engineer I cannot think anything better than writing about the biggest software company headed by the richest man of the world( yes, you would have guessed it by now, so no use of writing its name here and spoiling my blog)
Let me share an experience of mine which I had recently with this software giant. I underwent their interview process recently. Don;t worry I won't discuss the interview questions over here. For those who dont know about their process let me describe that briefly. Whenever they see any vacancies/requirements in their particular group/project they hire people specifically for the same. Please do note this line. This is particularly for experienced people and not the campus recruitment. So after 1 year of my work ex i learnt about an urgent opening in one of their groups through my friend who worked over there. So, I asked him to forward my CV for the same.
I finally got a call from them. They had a telephonic round which went very well but I didnt hear from them for around 15-20 days. I thought its a big company and are very specific about the person they hire. SO let them take their own time. FInally I received a call and was asked to come down to Delhi for the interview after 2 days itself. Well, this was done all very sudden but still I accepted that and went for the further rounds at their Delhi center. I faired well in these rounds as well and the group manager their was happy with my performance and told me that "they would make me an offer and would like to see me soon their dev center". I was really very happy and it was like dream coming true. I had the interview on saturday and the HR told me that he would get in touch with me on Tuesday positively. Well a week passed and I didnt get any information from their side. So I called up the HR which didnt had any knowledge about my status, surprising naaa. Anyways he told me that somebody would get in touch with me within 1 or 2 days.
And then they crossed all line of ethics and blah-2 which they hype a lot of. I received a mail from them after a week or so which said that they see me as a potential hire but currentlt they dont have any position open so they would consider me after 6-8 months if they have any openings. When I said how can they do so as a senior manager from their company has committed to me and I relied on the valuable words of this organisation. But the HR was least bothered about that and to just push me back told me that she would talk to that manager and let me know. But again there was no communication from their side and when finally i tried to reach her, she said a plain no without any further reasons and all.
I am not annoyed that I didn't get a chance to work in that company but rather I am happy that i was saved from working in such an unethical company. I know I am nobody to comment on their recruitemnt process but in my case it had the followng flows:
Disclaimer: all the views are personal and should not be generalised.
Let me share an experience of mine which I had recently with this software giant. I underwent their interview process recently. Don;t worry I won't discuss the interview questions over here. For those who dont know about their process let me describe that briefly. Whenever they see any vacancies/requirements in their particular group/project they hire people specifically for the same. Please do note this line. This is particularly for experienced people and not the campus recruitment. So after 1 year of my work ex i learnt about an urgent opening in one of their groups through my friend who worked over there. So, I asked him to forward my CV for the same.
I finally got a call from them. They had a telephonic round which went very well but I didnt hear from them for around 15-20 days. I thought its a big company and are very specific about the person they hire. SO let them take their own time. FInally I received a call and was asked to come down to Delhi for the interview after 2 days itself. Well, this was done all very sudden but still I accepted that and went for the further rounds at their Delhi center. I faired well in these rounds as well and the group manager their was happy with my performance and told me that "they would make me an offer and would like to see me soon their dev center". I was really very happy and it was like dream coming true. I had the interview on saturday and the HR told me that he would get in touch with me on Tuesday positively. Well a week passed and I didnt get any information from their side. So I called up the HR which didnt had any knowledge about my status, surprising naaa. Anyways he told me that somebody would get in touch with me within 1 or 2 days.
And then they crossed all line of ethics and blah-2 which they hype a lot of. I received a mail from them after a week or so which said that they see me as a potential hire but currentlt they dont have any position open so they would consider me after 6-8 months if they have any openings. When I said how can they do so as a senior manager from their company has committed to me and I relied on the valuable words of this organisation. But the HR was least bothered about that and to just push me back told me that she would talk to that manager and let me know. But again there was no communication from their side and when finally i tried to reach her, she said a plain no without any further reasons and all.
I am not annoyed that I didn't get a chance to work in that company but rather I am happy that i was saved from working in such an unethical company. I know I am nobody to comment on their recruitemnt process but in my case it had the followng flows:
- Lack of communication from their side. It was always delayed and they responded only when I tried to reach them
- They conducted my interviews even when they didnt had any openings. I think they must understand the value of others time also.
- Not keeping their words and commitment.
- And after doing all this there was not a single hint of aplogy from their side( afterall they are the biggest software company and they have all the rights to be proud of).
Disclaimer: all the views are personal and should not be generalised.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
