Placed - 1

It's been a long time since my last post. I'm sorry, everyone, but I've been a little busy. Here goes this one.

I arrived at NIT Bhopal in 2007 with no aim whatsoever. I was inducted into the institute as an undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science and Engineering but I had no idea or even any foresight about my future. Escaping ragging and adapting to the new college life was of the foremost importance. My grades dipped but I never really cared. I was having an amazing year.
I made lot of new friends. These are people with whom i forged titanium-strong bonds, people I would later fight for and well, do anything, really.

In the second year, I started taking an interest in the campus placements. It was not an enthusiasm to get placed, which would make study from then on. Rather, it was in a tone of voice full of pride and joy knowing the prospects which my institute offered. People were getting placed in Microsoft and Google representatives came to the institute for the first time. Not that I particularly like Microsoft, but hearing about these cases and watching the euphoric seniors was always a sight to behold.

Come third year, I started getting a little more serious in the stuff that everyone is supposed to be in anyway. It was not because I was aiming for something, but because I needed to do something about my dipping grades! Placement was still really a non-issue for me. Nothing seemingly tangible!

By the beginning of the final year, starting my preparation for CAT, I also started paying a little attention to the technical side of my education. I enjoyed it, but the CAT craze combined with a little avarice made me actually work very little for placement interviews.
And then, the placement process began. It was with Cybage Software. I wanted a better pay package and a better brand name, so i didn't even appear for the presentation, let alone the tests. Talk about high hopes! People started getting selected. The night Cybage reps left, the wing I live in was full of broken bottles and ecstatic laughter. Congratulating a few friends, I felt good when they got placed. But there was a sense of apprehension in the air now as well. With the first company, people started worrying, especially those who were rejected. What would then happen to me?

3rd August, 2010. Samsung India Software Centre (SISC Research & Development, Noida) visits NIT Bhopal. It was the first company whose test i would appear for. My schedule was in disarray. I woke up early (unlikely for me, normally) and went to the auditorium for the presentation. And then, a half hour later, it was time to take the written test. An hour and a half later, as I sat in my room, confident that I cleared the written exam, Pankaj rushed to my room saying that I topped the written test. I was ecstatic, but it didn't show, somehow. The thoughts of the interviews that lay ahead in the evening enveloped my mind. The wait and the interviews themselves were quite taxing!
By eight at night, my interviews were done with and headed back to the hostel with an utter lack of confidence. I was sure I didn't make it. When I was just getting down to eat and chatting about the next company, a phone call came through. Zave told me the best piece of news I have got in a long time. I was through. I am now a part of Samsung!

Thanks to my friends Zave, Roshan, Nisheeth, Suvan and Pankaj for all the support that they gave. I couldn't have held my shit together without them. :)