Traffic lights in India

One can see traffic signal at many intersections in major cities and in tier-2/3 cities as well .
I was just wondering to what use are these traffic lights when no one cares for it.

On thinking further I realised the following uses

1) For vendors and beggars, traffic lights are the major source of income. When vehicles from all corners come and merge at a junction with no one paying heed to the lights above, the signal becomes a market place. When the traffic becomes lengthy and time taken is more there is a good opportunity to increase the rate or even double it. Hence traffic signals are useful in developing the economy of the nation.

2) For teaching children colours, mainly green and red. However one has to be careful not to teach them that red means stop and green means go as any amount of such assumption reduces ones life expectancy.

3) Checking for cops - this is a very useful benefit of traffic lights. It provides an opportunity for a semi-stop/slow down to ensure no cops are there to catch.

4) For continuing vehicular fights, someone might have brushed you half a kilometer ago and now he might be stuck in the jam. This provides an opportunity for you to give him a piece of your mind or hand.

Some foreigner once asked
"In India do you drive right or left"
The reply was
"Neither"
!!!
"Well right in the middle and when any vehicle comes from opposite side just move to any side you wish"

Dear IT Fresher: Chapter 5: The Training Period - 2

Preface
Introduction
The Agonizing Wait Time
Joining Day and Formalities
The Training Period -1


Every company spends lakhs of rupees to get you trained. Hence it is ensured that you get trained and get trained well. If you do not fit you are shown the door. This is also a period where companies try to test how you perform under pressure. It is very important to perform under pressure and not loose all hope. This is an essential character that one needs to display in the software industry.

The training period would vary from company to company but the content taught would be squeezed.
What content is taught during the training depends on the focus of the company and your background. The course for a computer science student would be different from that of a civil/Mechanical background person.

It may start from 'this is a keyboard, this is a mouse, MOUSE stands for ...' and it will end up in you designing/coding and delivering  a web page for a big company using flash, HTML and all latest languages and technologies - all in a span of 3 to 6 months.

Hence it is important to focus , the tests would be online and mostly multiple choice questions or programs to be written online. It is mostly not possible to copy, it is not possible if you remember the entire content of the material provided. It may not be enough if you manage to get previous questions from previous batches.

One has to understand the underlying concepts and apply them. One also has to be clear on the question, as in programming a small mistake would change the results (using = Vs ==) dramatically.

The training is neither a school nor a college nor a free for all. It takes the worst of all and combines them. Some companies take attendance 4 times a day during training period. If you do not believe read the first statement of this chapter again.

It is not difficult to clear the training , at the same time it is much much easier to fail. For some, this maybe the first time that someone encounters a failure in exams but one has to be bold enough as well to re write the test and clear it.

When you join a project later, your project manager may have full access to your score and this may affect the first impression he/she gets about you and it may stay for long.

Hence it is important to treat the training with importance. Yes there may be times when you can copy paste the answer or copy a program/project from earlier batches but ensure you get across the line.

The training period is the time where you would find the least support in a company and if you are lucky maybe the most difficult time of your career. Hence give it the due diligence and just get it over. Better days are waiting where things would be more in your control.

However if you do not clear please be assured that this is not the end of life.

Dear IT Fresher: Chapter 4: The Training Period-1

Preface
Introduction
The Agonizing Wait Time
Joining Day and Formalities


Nasscom says most of engineers coming out of colleges are not employable.  For this very reason most or all of IT companies train employees from 1 to 3 months or even more and then only deploy freshers on project. Again once inside the project there would be a training on specifics that we would see in later chapters.

If you feel that your studying is over and you have done a good job and have landed in a plush job and achieved life's goal and can relax and enjoy the money and freedom. THINK AGAIN.
Indian cricket team reached No1 ranking in tests in 2011 after a lot of hard work but came a cropper against England and Australia and were unable to maintain the ranking. This is exactly what could happen to you if you are complacent .

Personally I know people who have been kicked out of companies when they do not do well in the training period. As someone rightly said "DON'T LOVE YOUR COMPANY, YOUR COMPANY DOES NOT LOVE YOU". For the company it is business and if they find that you do not fit to professional environment then you don't fit here.

Every company has its own style of training program, which has evolved over the years based on feedback from various quarters (projects, engineers etc). You will receive your training plan and schedule as soon as you join probably on the first day itself. If you carefully observe the plan it maybe scheduled for 8 hours tightly but be prepared to spend extra 2 to 3 hours to complete your assignments. You will be given time to finish the assignments but be prepared to put extra effort if you could not finish on time.

A simple approach could be to switch off the fact that you are working and think you are in a High school/ Junior college. The treatment would be same. Ofcourse no one would question you for not doing an assignment or punish you but everything would reflect in the final marks scored per subject. The pass marks are usually very strict and if you fail you would be given a second chance but beyond a second chance, depends on companies policies.

Some companies conduct another interview or a viva, Some prefer to wait till you finish all courses and see if you are weak in only one subject or so . However in every training batch it is possible that 1 to 3% of people are sent back home/ asked to resign/ Terminated for non-performance. It must be your aim not to fall in this percentage.  It is very easy to fall in to this percentage if you treat this like a college and do not have prior knowledge on subjects.

Most big and medium companies have dedicated training centers with world class facilities and probably have hostels as well attached. There would be a library which would be well equipped with books for reference and with internet facilities. You would be allocated a system or need to share with someone a system. It may or may not have internet but would be well equipped with what you need to work.

It would be better to follow the KISS principle.(Keep It Simple Stupid).

You have crossed 14years of school, 4 years of engineering, it is not very difficult to cross 3 or 6 months of company training. All you need to do is do the basics right. It would be a bit difficult if you are from a  course that is not related to computers (civil, mech, chemical metallury etc). However the company that recruited you knows this well so the courses are designed in such a way that anyone with logical sense could understand an clear it.

It is not that difficult to get past this phase and then it is a different world altogether.
There are a few more things to note during training in the next chapter...

Dear IT Fresher: Chapter 3 - Joining Day and Formalities

Preface
Introduction
The Agonizing Wait Time

Once the joining date is finalized and you are ready to start your working career it is important to check a few things before starting your next phase in life.

1. Documentation :
Verify you have all documents the company needs on joining date. Any good company usually shares the list of things they would require you to bring on joining day (like marksheet, passport etc).
If you do not have any of it then it is better to intimate and check with your contact person in HR. Most likely it should not be a problem, remember you are entering corporate world and not a school so do not expect strict rules, however try to be professional in explaining your situation. For example if you don't have  a passport yet then it might be ok to show proof that you have applied for one.
Side Note: The jump to becoming a true professional is a journey and not an easy one. It varies from people to people, the aim of this book is to help everyone succeed this journey quickly.

2. Understand the dress Code:  
Some companies do not care and do not have a dress code. If you are joining one then you don't need to bother much but still at least in the initial days it would be good to dress in formals (unless it is frowned upon) to show you are trying to be professional. Especially when you are yet to make an impression with your work, it is better to have personal appearance good so that people don't make any negative impressions straight away.
If there is a dress code, it is better to follow it. Be it wearing a tie on a sunny hot day or wearing a belt even if the pant is so tight just do it. It is childish that some companies do have security check and impose a fine but it is better not to find yourself on wrong side than just adjust .

3. Other policies
If there are any other policies are guidelines any company is entitled to inform you of the same and it would be part of your documentation either before joining or at least with the joining set of documents the company would provide you. This may include anything from using public e-mail forums to sexual harassment. It is better to go through them with due diligence lest find yourself facing eviction. Yes companies are very strict with respect to ethics ( Internally they might be violating many) and would not think to show the door to someone found violating them. As a fresher one stands absolutely no chance when it comes violation of ethics.

4. Travel & Accommodation
If your home town and the city of work are different, usually the company arranges a week or two for your stay until you find your way in the city and rent an accommodation. If you are not sure check with HR and ensure you have necessary documents when you checkin to the hotel. Also make plans to reach the office if the company does not provide transport as well. Remember to be on time the first  day, plan well.  Start the habit of planning the night for the next day, this would take you places as you grow your career.

The training is an important part of a freshers entry to the IT world, this we would see in the next chapter.