Date : 28 Aug, 2004-Saturday
Place : Techno India College, Salt Lake, Sector V
 
The Registration process was scheduled from 9 am - 3 pm. I reached there at around 9:10 only to find an unending queue. After a lot of jostling, I finally managed to get in at around 12:00 pm. Inside the college, there were a lot of TCS volunteers. The verification process was quick. They were checking the % of marks and backlogs (if any) from the CV. The volunteer wud then put his signature and arbitrarily write "Manual" or "Online" on the CV. Based on this, U wud be sent for online or manual test. I had to appear for the Manual Test.
 
We were put in a room at around 12:20 pm and kept on waiting indefinitely for the test to commence. Finally, at 1:05 pm the test started. The time was 2 hrs. It ended precisely at 3:05 pm. Results were declared at around 4:45 pm. I managed to clear the written test. From our batch, me, Arpan & Partha cleared the written test. For those who solved previous TCS papers, clearing the aptitude test is no big deal. Bad luck to Anupam, Prithwiraj, Bhaskar (M.Sc.), Diptendu, Nilanjan & Indrani. Keep on trying guys..NEVER lose hope. Better luck next time.
 
Now we were taken to a separate bldg. for the routine Form fill-up. We went there at around 5:20 pm. But the room was already packed and there were a lot many before me waiting to get their turn. Finally at around 7:15 pm, I got my turn and was alloted a seat with the famous BLUE FORM ( also known as the "Blue form of death". ) After filling it up, it was put on the table 4 verification. Meanwhile, news came from the high-command that the interview process was stopped 4 the day as it was already 8:30 pm. My form was verified at around 9:15 pm and I got my slot of Interview on 30th Aug, 6 pm at TCS Main Bldg. Starving with those rebellious pangs of hunger, I finally returned to the guest house at around 10 in the night.
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Date : 30 Aug, 2004-Monday
Time : 6:00 pm
Place : TCS Main Bldg.
 
The Interview process was quite fast. There were 10 panels in the Technical Interview. Each panel consisted of 2-3 members. So 10 students were interviewed simultaneously by diff panels. The process was being held in 3 big Conference Rooms. My turn came at exactly 6:30 pm. The panel was of two members. 1 of them was frendly and encouraging while the other 1 was rude and a bit arrogant. Now I'll present my Interview session in the form of a dialogue. The frendly interviewer is designated as FI & the rude 1 as RI.
 
time of entry : 6:30
 
Me : Good Evening Sir.
FI : Good Evening. Plz be seated & feel urself comfortable.
RI : Good Evening. So u r Arindam Sarkar ? ( Scanning thru the form )
Me : Yes Sir.
RI : Well Arindam, tell me something abt urself.
Me : ( Marketed myself )
FI : Now tell me something abt ur project work in the final semester.
Me : ( Started explaining the Partition Extension Concept )
RI : Can u draw the structure of FAT ?? ( Fwded me a piece of paper & pen )
Me : ( Drew it and continued my xplanation. This project is the only area where I was ROCK-SOLID CONFIDENT )
RI : ( Interrupting ) Well...start xplaining the NTFS Structure.
Me : NTFS structure is an excellent study. We dont have any standard documentation 4 this.
FI : Xactly. Then how did u proceed ?
Me : ( Xplained the concept of Bitmap and MFT )
RI : OK...Move on to the BIOS part...How did u integrate it ??
Me : We need to give a call to the interrupt...
RI : Tell me 1 thing. In which lang did u code the P Xtender ?
Me : C & Assembly
FI : Then how r u handling function calls as this has to be executed devoid of any OS ?
Me : Listed all the function calls..both user-defined & system-defined and converted them 2 their asm counterpart procedures.
RI : State the main diff betwn a fuction & a procedure.
Me : Funcn returns the value of the exception raised by it whereas procedure doesnt. Hence, in function, status & mode changes but in proc doesnt.
FI : Xcellent !!
FI : R u more of a coder or administrator ?
Me : I m highly flexible. I wish 2 work in diverse fields. So tis rather difficult 4 me 2 make the distinction.
RI : What r ur fav subjets ?
Me : C & C++
FI : Those r coding skillsets. Rather I want u 2 name certain theoretical subjects.
Me : OOPs
RI : No, That doesnt come under theoretical subject.
( Actually I prepared myself thoroughly in C & C++. I didnt study any other subj 4 the Interview. So I was in trouble. )
Me : OS
FI : What r the 5 states of a process ?
Me : Ready...
RI : (Interupting) Draw the structure of the Ready queue
( I forgot & started thinking ) 
FI : Think it 2 be a linked list. 1 is the info & the other is the pointer 2 the next node. Now what does the info contain ?
Me : ( I got it !!) Actually tis a structre itself.
FI : Xactly !!
Fi : State the diff between process & thread.
Me : Thread refers to the same reference in memory wheareas process has diff memory references.
FI : Good.
RI : Name the latest version of Windows.
Me : Windows Longhorn.
RI : What if I ask u some questions from DBMS ??
 
( This is 1 pt to note. NEVER opt 4 DBMS in TCS interview unless u r thoroughly confident in it. 90 % of the work of TCS r database related. So all r database xperts. They'll drench u out with a plethora of questions from Database. Those who all opted 4 DBMS, none of them were able 2 clear the technical interview from my batch of Interviewees. The questions ranged from Oracle, PL/SQL, FD, Normal Forms, Transaction procesing & Reln Algebra. )
 
Me : No Sir. I'd better nor opt for a subject in which I m not confident.
RI : Not confident in DBMS ??!! And u've done ur MCA !! 
FI ; Name another subj.
Me ; Networks
FI : State the seven layers.
Me : (Wrote it down)
RI : Why did u start writing from b'low ?? ie from the physical layer ??
Me : There'a a mnemonic..."Plz Do Not Touch Steve's Pet Alligator"...Starts from below..Physical, Data Link, Network and so on...
FI : Wonderful !! I never knew this...
RI : State principle of Email
Me : (Stated with diagram)
Ri : What r ur hobbies ?
Me ; Reading books, internet chatting..(This is where u can make the interviewer direct questions as per ur choice)
FI : Xplain the principle behind chatting
( This is what I actually wanted. )
Me : (Xplained clearly)
RI : So u r an expert in C ?
Me : Absoutely
RI : Wite a code that prints the 1st 5 Fibonacci series thru recursion.
Me : ( Started trying...but cudn't do it. I started feeling tensed )
FI : Forget abt recursion...do it with simple iteration...
Me : ( I messed up the logic. This is where I really started feeling nervous...)
RI : U can't write such simple progs and u claim to have writen codes for BIOS projects ?? I dont believe u !!
FI : R u feeling nervous ?
Me : No sir ( Though I actually was as I cudn't do such SIMPLE problms )
FI ; OK...write a code 2 chk whether an input no is prime or not.
Me ; ( Got stuck. cudn't do it....This is where nervousness totally took upon me...Was almost to burst into tears !!)
FI : Forget prime no...Can u write a code 2 verify whether an input no is even or odd ??
Me : ( I was simply blacked out. Couldnt do that as well...My hands started trembling !!! I felt like committing suicide !! )
RI : U r of no use Arindam. We wasted time after u.
FI : Well, Arindam... I see from ur CV that u know German. How fluent r u in German ?
Me : I can read simple texts, write simple articles & converse with ppl in German.
FI : Can u follow newsreading in German ?
Me : No Sir.
RI : How do u greet ppl in German ?
Me : Halo Herr <Surname>..Guten Tag. Wie geht es Ihnen ?
RI : And when u see off ?
Me : Einen schonen Tag / Auf weidersehen / Tchus / Guten Nacht
RI : How do u say "Happy B'day" ?
Me : Herzlichen Gluckwunsch zum Geburstag !!
FI : And "Happy Aniversary" ?
Me : Sorry Sir, I dont know that.
RI : How do u say "I dont know" ?
Me : Ich wise nicht.
FI : Can u say it another way ?
Me : ( I started thinking )
FI : Das wise ich nicht.
 
( I was stunned. Thats right !! This guy knows German !!!! I cudnt believe it !! )
 
FI : ( Smiling ) Surprised ?? Well I too learnt German 4 yrs back b4 my official trip 2 Germany. But I forgot most of the thing. Nice to see somebody knowing German.
 
( Then lots of general questions. Where did I learn German ? Who was the teacher...and so on )
 
RI : R u relocatable ?
Me : Yes SIR.
RI : Ur family background states that u r the only son of ur parents. So r u sure that u wont have any problm in relocating ?
Me : Absolutely sure, Sir.
RI : We have a client base at J & K. We might have to post u there.
Me : No problm Sir.
RI : U might not be able to return home in the next 3-5 yrs.
Me : No problm Sir.
RI : And what if ur parents fix a match 4 u in Kol or KGP ??
Me : I'll take my family with me to my work location in that case.
RI : What if she works in an equally competitive firm ?
Me : Then Sir, all these considerations wuld have been considered b4 the match is fixed by the respective families.
RI : If the would-be bride offers u a responsible posn. in her company with the posting in Kolkata, then where do u stand ?
Me : Well Sir, I dont have such fore-sightedness right now. My only target now is to get a good job. ( This is where the Rude Interviewer pounced upon me )
RI : What is ur definition of a good job ?
Me : A job that is interesting and challenging and requires lot of brain-work.
RI : We have LOTS & LOTS of project at TCS. What if we put u in the testing deptt ?
Me : I'd love to that job.
RI : But u said u need challenging and interesting job ? Testing job doesnt meet any of these criteria.
Me : I'll create interest and challenge in whatever job I do.
RI : And how would u do it in case of testing ?
Me : ( After a thought ) Sir, designing good test cases is quite challenging & interesting. It requires considerable amt of brainwork.
RI : ( After a chuckle ) What does a tester aims at ?
Me : Tester aims at having minimum bugs.
RI : (with eyebrows sqeezed) Minimum bugs OR zero bugs ?
Me : (After a thot) Minimum bugs B'coz no S/W can be absolutely bug-free. Absolute bug-free S/W is an idealistic concept..not a realistic 1.
RI : Ufffff....Now stop giving all these absurd fundas..U know nothing !! U've wasted full 6 yrs of study..3 yrs 4 MCA & 3 yrs 4 graduation in Comp Applcns. That means u wanna say that coders design progms so that they contain bugs ?
Me : No Sir, Coders aim at having 0 bugs. When they code and do testing themselves, they feel that the S/W works from all angles. But it has 2 be tested more rigorously and thatz where a professional tester sets in. During that phase, rigorous testing is done and might be few bugs appear which had been overlooked by the coder. No-one aims at creating bugs in the prog deliberately.
RI : What if I give u a prog. in which u do rigorous testing and find NO BUGS AT ALL ??
Me : Then Sir, I must admit that the S/W is a masterpiece and has been coded with sniper accuracy & intricate precision.
RI : And if I say, u were'nt able to design test cases properly and hence cudn't detect bugs, then what do u have to say ?? Thats also possible, right ??
( I really started feeling uncomfortable...It's as if they were psychologically torturing me. )
Me : Ya.thats also possible..
RI : So ?
Me : Sir, then I've to say 1 thing candidly. It's not that I only require a job. TCS also requires ppl. So tis a mutual "Give & Take" policy. So, in such a case, we should have mutual trust & camaraderie between us. Thats the basis on which we can move forward. So if I say as a tester that the S/W is absolutely bug-free, u've got to believe that.
RI ; What is a "Dry Run" ?
Me : Testing a code manually with a piece of paper and pen.
FI : Do u have any Girl Friend ?
Me : ( Smiling ) Fortunately not...
( This is where I made the blunder of a lifetime !! )
RI : That means U want 2 say that those who have GFs are UNFORTUNATE ??
Me : No Sir, not xactly..
RI : Then what precisely ??
Me : As I've said b4, I m an ambitious person and my only target is to build up my career.
RI : So u think that any other thot might deviate u from ur ambition ??
Me : Might be sir..
RI : So u think only of ur career & nothing else ??
 
( I started losing my patience...Started feeling uncomfortable as well...started thinking when this Interview session would end )
 
Me : Yes Sir.
RI : So u r an INTROVERT !! ??
Me : Not exactly. Actually...
 
( Now the friendly interviewer spoke..after a long pause )
 
FI : Well, if a child comes up to u and says what is a even no. what wud u say to him ?
Me : A no. thatz divisible by 2.
FI : And whats the thing u look at when a no. is completely divisible or not ?
Me ; Remainder shld be 0.
FI : Good. Now if u r asked to code this in C, can u do it ?
 
( YES !!! I was gaining back confidence...What a mess I made b4 !!!...)
 
Me : ( Scribbled down the code ). Sir I can write the code 4 prime no as well.
FI : Well, whats the logic ?
Me ; Find sq. rt. and start checking from 2 to that no.
FI : Go Ahead !!
Me : ( Done the code ) Start Fib series as well ?
FI : Go Ahead..
Me : ( Sribbled down Fib series both in Iterative & recursive mode )
RI : Then why cudn't u do it b4 ?
Me : Sir I dont know..I got stuck !!
FI : See..u got nervous and pressed the panic button too early !! Thatz why u cudnt write a simple code...So dont panic and dont get nervous.
Me : I know Sir...but I am no Dale Carnegie....
RI : Ohhhh !! So u've gone thru' Dale Carnegie ?
Me : Yes Sir.
RI : And he seems to have no impact on u !!
FI : So Mr. Carnegie, where do u stand ?
Me : Sir I hope to qualify for the HR round.
RI : What is Piggy Backing ?
Me ; Sry Sir, I dont know. Actually I cant recall it at this moment.
RI : Any concept on Sliding Window Protocol ?? 
Me : No Sir.( Actually I hadnt prepared anything xcept C & C++ )
RI : Aloha ?? CDMA ??
Me : No Sir..
RI : And still U xpect to qualify for the HR round ?
Me : Yes Sir.
FI : What makes U feel so ? U weren't able 2 answer any questions from N/Ws. Also u messed up writing the simplest codes in C.
Me : I feel that Interview performance is not the only consideration. Past academic background shud also be considered & I have a strong academic background. Do u feel that a student who has 6 yrs of computer-related academic career & had been within the top 3 of the class thru'out, cudn't write C codes b'coz he doesnt know anything ? 
FI : OK U may leave.
Me : ( With a big Colgate smile ) Thank U sir.
 
time of leaving the Interview hall : 7:50 pm
 
Completely washed out & embarassed at my performance, with tears in my eyes, I walked out confident of the outcome. This was possibly the WORST interview I had ever given. I got a call to appear for IBM walk-in on the same day ie.28 Aug..but I opted 4 TCS bcoz I was mentally prepared for this one. But all my dreams and efforts shattered quicker than a pack of cards. Washing my face, I left the Bldg. and had to chk out at the security counter. As I was signing over there, 2 guys rushed up and said, "R u Arindam Sarkar ?"..Yes..."Well, dont u wanna sit 4 ur HR Interview ?" W H A T ????? I qualified 4 the HR Round ??? I just can't believe it !!! I rushed back...And after around 5 mins I was called 4 the HR Interview.
 
In the Tech Interview, the Interviewer has to fill up a form that grades my performance and if selected, that form is sent to the HR. I managed to glance on the form sent 2 the HR from the Technical team. It read as follows : 
 
Project : (Tick)
OS      : (Tick)
Comp N/W: (Cross)
 
Remarks :
1. Project work outstanding.
2. Theoretical knowledge excellent.
3. Coding skills not per xpectation : "Situational Fallacy"
4. Very (+)ve & confident.
 
STATUS : Recommended 4 HR
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The HR Interview lasted 4 abt 10-15 mins. Though it was HR, I was bombarded with technical questions.
1. How do u make a N/W Secure ??
2. What is tapping a N/w ?
3. What r the main funcns of OS ?
4. Tell me something abt urself apart from whats written in the CV.
5. Why TCS ?
6. Why shud we hire u ?
7. Know abt the bonds ? Rs 50,000 penalty if u leave TCS b4 2 yrs on joining & if u r sent abroad, u've 2 work at TCS 4 min 6 months on returning, failing which u have 2 pay a penalty of Rs. 2 lakhs.
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thatz it...I went till the HR Round....Now I m immensely tensed abt the results. Its as if I am on the gallows with the noose around my neck and the hangman all set to pull the lever. Verdict 2 be declared within 10 working days from the day of the Interview.

So thatz all abt my horrid experience at TCS walk-in...Just be CONFIDENT & POSITIVE IN ATTITUDE & HONEST. U dont know the range of ur Interviewer. Like 4 my case, I never expected he'd be knowing German. And they just ask basics except for DBMS. So no need 2 cram thru' intricate details. And choose ur fav subjects properly.
