A month just over at Tata Consultancy Services

It has been one month in the Tata Consultancy Services, and my friends are so full of questions. So, here is a wrap-up of all the madness. This post is LONG, you might try clicking on the sub topics:

1. About ILP [Read this if you are a friend and future TCS employee]
2. Complete Personal info [Read this if you are a close friend ] 
3. How I am spending my money [My First Five digit salary]
4. What I am looking forward to. [Next Step]

[Read this if you are a friend and future TCS employee]

The first sixty working days are the part of ILP – Initial Learning Programme. It brushes up all the technologies you have learnt in your B.Tech. One HR person told, that this is the honeymoon period in TCS. So far it has been so good.
The first day we got our employee ids’. The documents were checked. Make sure, you have the documents , especially the service agreement and the non criminal affidavit ready.
Here employees are not employees, they are “associates“, and the backbone of the Tatas’ is its set of values, which screams out “TEAM WORK“.  Our learning group (class) has 2 leads –  Ms Chinmoyee Kundu ( Tech-lead ) and Mrs Suchitra Mukherjee ( Bizz skill lead).
ILP is fun. Its learning, and doing activities . We have no online exams. Each module ends with a “Final diagnostics”, which is viva and presentation. Few handpicked associates have to appear for the telephonic viva from Thiruvananthapuram.
The ILP begun with a PreAssessmentTest (PAT) and shall end with a Post Assessment as well. Although many associates say – “Dont need to prepare for PAT, it doesnot count”, I would suggest if you are from a non-CS (nCS) background – make it a point to prepare for it. If you read one hour a day, you will stay in practice (of studying), and will get the computing concepts… because the ILP is just brushing up. Dont expect  the kind of tutorials we had had in school or colleges.
Here grades are given.. LL0 means- “dude, arise awake and stop not till you go to RL1! ” , LL1 means – Learning Level 1, the next higher grade is RL1, means Ready Level 1, and the highest grade is RL2.
The final feedback to the HR’s will be sent by the respective leads in your learning group, based on your performance in diagnostics, assignment and activity in the learning group.  Know this much, too much insight to the future can be harmful!
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[Read this if you are a close friend ] 

I got the .NET training, and had to part ways with Anindya, Aninya, Annesha and many of my friends, who all got Java training. 🙁 Along with me, Supratik is also there in .NET training. Our Bizz Skill lead has uncanny resemblance with my school teachers, and I love attending her  classes. And I behave very responsible in her classes. I used to be the usual kid me, in the Tech classes, but I am slowly , you know… making sure, I dont behave kiddish or irritating…and I feel, I am doing a good job. I love programming, and I love taking assignments 😛
C# is entirely new to me, and I had always been bad at DBMS, but I am loving the time. My learning partner is Supratik. This means we share our assignments. and my presentation partner is Pooja Shekhar.
I spoke well in my first presentation, but forgot to look at the slides. That got pointed out, and second presentation was a debacle. Pooja fumbled at first, and I should have skipped some portion to manage time, which I didnot. And I should not have shown the demo… but i wanted to show it to make it different, but alas, I hardly had time to explain.  I was loud, but our Bizz Lead didnt really complain.
In the initial diagnostics, I got a Rl1 in speaking, and also in writing skills. In writing skills classes, they teach us how to be precise. Mam often complains about me, not being precise or else very discontinuous in my writing.  Well, I am trying my best! <This doesnot show in this blogpost!>
I am really enjoying the time with Supratik, Tanmoy, Vivek, Chetan, Sachin, Mrinalini(who is not a bengali!), Shubhankar, Arindam, Kalyanjit all around me 😛
I love the way Pooja, Manu and Supratik carriy themselves. There is a lot to learn!
Need to share  2 insights,
1. The 2nd day, I was sad about not having anindya, aninya and annesha in my learning group. But the warmth shown by Manmohan really made me feel comfortable, and look forward to the next day!
2. When mam was selecting the Class Representatives, I also reluctantly put my hand up, nominating myself for the post.
Why reluctantly?
– 4 out of the 32 students are from CSE-A, and the other 3, hardly know me. But every one knew me by my extracurriculars (And I believed they disliked me 😛 )
– I wanted Supratik to be the CR 😛
– Vivek’s hand was also up, and he too wasnt a bad candidate either.
But surprisingly, I got the second highest vote, 2 less of Supratik who became the CR. This kinda tells me, that the class doesnt really hate me, or is open for a new beginning.That is motivating and I am so game for it. Its always good to get a second chance to improve upon mistakes, if at all any.
Personally speaking, I am low in confidence.. and I need to strike a balance between everything – music, photography and work. ..and see, I again forgot to mention family 😛
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[My First Five digit salary]

LOL 😛 There were a lot of speculations. We thought we wont get our salary as we didnot update our bank account details in time. (Which is 5th of every month, and we joined TCS on 4th) But the last working day, we got our salary. The SBI account holders didnot get their salary in January. But those who has Axis bank salary account got their salary!
When I got my first 4 digit salary (not exactly salary, but yes money from work) I gifted mom something.. When I got my second 4 digit sum, I gifted bhai (souvick) a watch.. when I got my 3rd sum I gifted mom a dinner set. After that I didnt get that much amount of money, and whatever little I got, got included in my pocket money 😛 So this time, after keeping aside 200 bucks for puja,  I made sure that the first gift was to dad! I also bought him “mishti” from his favourite store which he only visits if the occassion is BIG! (yea, BIG in capital letters). I hardly got an opportunity to thank him! Then I closed my eyes and tried to think what I couldnot buy because of no-money. Damn! There was hardly anything.. I tried hard and then I remembered I couldnot afford a blazer on 2nd Jan 2012 (just before joining TCS) so,.. I bought a Blazer for myself! I went to the “Just Linc” store in City centre. I once loved collecting pens, and this was the store for me. I visited it after a long time, and I got pens for myself 😛 Tried buying stuff for didi, but … the one that caught my eye would have blasted my pocket! so.. next month !.. and today I shall be getting something for mom. ..and lo! Salary over 😛
Update (05/02/2012): Got watches for sister/brother-in-law and sarees for maa, jethima, choto thakuma

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[Next Step]

LOL, like my new approach towards life.. each step a new step, and I promise I will gift each day a better anirban. For now, I have to practise yawning with my hands covering my mouth 😛 LOL… need to complete each assignment fully properly within deadlines, prepare for vivas and presentation, attend music classes on saturday and sunday, shoots on sundays.. and that will be a loop till march 27th! It has been quite some time I attended shoots, and my friends there are literally texting me abuses! 🙁 ..in short, I am enjoying this new life… looking forward to the better!

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