As the current BE batch is passing out, we were approached by few students from college about jobs. Most of these guys already have offers from other companies and what they are looking for is best of both worlds: Better work + Better Package than their existing offers.
Meanwhile, we also have been thinking if we can afford hiring freshers, especially when the cream as well as average students already have one or multiple offers from bigger brands. And the first conclusion was not to hire any fresher from Engineering college unless someone who has already worked with us is interested to work with us at the package we are going to offer.
Note: We offer freshers between 1.8 to 3.0 based on their profile.
Of course the most favored company is Infosys as it has been the easiest take off point for majority of the crowd.
We had hired 3 freshers last year and our experience is not the most positive one. Surely the people we hired were dedicated and with right aptitude, but working in a startup means start writing bug free production code from day 1 (well almost). Simply speaking the people we hired last year have started delivering now after almost 9-10 months of mentoring.
So we were kind of surprised how come companies like Infosys pay package like 3.6 or 4.2 LPA and hire freshers in such large no. Of course their whole game plan is "human resources". But then we analyzed the salary structure and found how smartly Infosys have designed their salary structure for freshers such that freshers thinks that offer from Infosys is better than most of the other companies.
(note: this data is based on the information current BE students shared with us)
Students available to join the company: July 1
Infosys joining date: August/September/October. Lets consider September for general cases
Package Offered during training: 13,000 per month, inhand
Training ends: January
New Salary from Feb: 25,000 per month (only if you are a 5 pointer) , inhand
Total salary paid by Infosys for first year (Sep 2011 - Aug 2012): 13000*5 + 25000*7 = 240000
Average Salary received by a fresher in first year in Infosys = 20,000.
So if a startup offers you 20,000 or even 250000 from first year, I think it is a much better option than Infosys, ofcourse work is going to be much exciting than larger companies.
Now also consider the increments: (see the references)
Average Increments per year in Infosys = 15% (considering good company and individual perf)
Salary of person in year 2: 28750
Salary of person in year 3: 33062
Salary of person in year 4: 38021
In contrast to that, why not consider some startup which can offer an average scale on these lines:
Joining: July (or as soon as you can)
Starting package: Anything between 20K to 30K
Increment in first year: On 30% to 75%
Increments in subsequent years: average 20%
Other benefits:
a) Much better work experience
b) freedom (though too much is bad)
c) Ability to work with customers directly
d) What you can get depends on your capabilities.
Infosys is a great company to work for and I am not against joining Infy or for that matter any other bigger organization.I believe every person must work for a large organization like Infy, Patni, CTS, TCS for at least 1 or 2 years.But you must know when you are done working in a big company and when you must come out.
I wrote this article for people who join a company only considering the package. You must also consider the stability and work type of the startup before joining a startup. Though I presented that Startups could pay more, you must join a startup only for work and long term goals.If your ambitions do not match with the start-up company, you will fail.
We know people who are struck in very small startups and not able to grow. So please do your due diligence with startups also.
References:
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-04-07/news/293926...
http://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Employer=Infosys/Salary
Monday, June 13, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
RBTL : Passport Application Submission
This blog applies to Indian nationals who wants to renew their passports which are expiring within a year time.
I am providing some finer details about submitting passport renewal application so that you can avoid going back and forth.
If you already have a passport and the expiry date is within 1 year, you can apply for passport renewal.
Know that you can not travel abroad if the expiry date is within 6 months of your travel date.
I submitted my passport renewal application at Pune. I had to stand in line for 2 days and finally I could submit the app with some docs still missing.
Both days I reached passport office at 9 am, office opens at 10 AM and I could get inside the main area only after 12 noon. After that another hour of waiting but under a roof.
Anyway, important details follow here
1. You would find all details on www.passport.gov.in.
2. Online registration is must and that does not mean that you do not need to stand in line for hours. Online registration is must even if you can not read this blog.
3. Do not go to agents, unless you know that they have good amount of expertise about documentation. you can get all details online and strictly follow them and you will be through. If there are missing things, the passport officer will tell you exactly what they need.
4. When applying online apply for a day you are sure you will have all document. Also take another appointment for the next day or next to next day also. This is so that if you have to return back on day 1 you can go again next day. Generally you get appointment after 4-5 days from current date.
5. When filling app form, you can not change details which are automatically filled by the software like name, address, etc. IF you have to change such details, you need to reapply online. But there are fields which are left blank by software and you need to fill those by hands
6. Rental agreement is not accepted as address proof. Original bank statements are accepted as address proof. Attached electricity bills as well.
7. If applying for tatkal passport make sure:
a) Take two copies of Annexure F (verfication certificate) from the officer. Two copied means two copies in original and not xerox.
b) Do take a photo ID of the officer issuing you the certificate. If its an Army officer, you must take a ID proof like Canteen card or mess card. (I got RSI card of the officer). Passport copy of the officer is not accepted. the ID proof has to be related to the officer's job.
I will be applying passport for my wife and kid also. So if there are any hidden points, I will add to this post.
I am providing some finer details about submitting passport renewal application so that you can avoid going back and forth.
If you already have a passport and the expiry date is within 1 year, you can apply for passport renewal.
Know that you can not travel abroad if the expiry date is within 6 months of your travel date.
I submitted my passport renewal application at Pune. I had to stand in line for 2 days and finally I could submit the app with some docs still missing.
Both days I reached passport office at 9 am, office opens at 10 AM and I could get inside the main area only after 12 noon. After that another hour of waiting but under a roof.
Anyway, important details follow here
1. You would find all details on www.passport.gov.in.
2. Online registration is must and that does not mean that you do not need to stand in line for hours. Online registration is must even if you can not read this blog.
3. Do not go to agents, unless you know that they have good amount of expertise about documentation. you can get all details online and strictly follow them and you will be through. If there are missing things, the passport officer will tell you exactly what they need.
4. When applying online apply for a day you are sure you will have all document. Also take another appointment for the next day or next to next day also. This is so that if you have to return back on day 1 you can go again next day. Generally you get appointment after 4-5 days from current date.
5. When filling app form, you can not change details which are automatically filled by the software like name, address, etc. IF you have to change such details, you need to reapply online. But there are fields which are left blank by software and you need to fill those by hands
6. Rental agreement is not accepted as address proof. Original bank statements are accepted as address proof. Attached electricity bills as well.
7. If applying for tatkal passport make sure:
a) Take two copies of Annexure F (verfication certificate) from the officer. Two copied means two copies in original and not xerox.
b) Do take a photo ID of the officer issuing you the certificate. If its an Army officer, you must take a ID proof like Canteen card or mess card. (I got RSI card of the officer). Passport copy of the officer is not accepted. the ID proof has to be related to the officer's job.
I will be applying passport for my wife and kid also. So if there are any hidden points, I will add to this post.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
6th Aug: Another life changing day
6th August; it was one of those days which you will remember for whole life.
On 6th I got a screw inserted in my left knee. It was an old ligament tear problem i had been ignoring for quite some time. Finally getting it rectified.
A 9x35 mm thread like screw is planted in left knee in a 75 minute long operation.
Its a biodegradable screew so need be taken out.
I should be on both of my legs after 23rd. till then I am enjoying my bed rest.
On 6th I got a screw inserted in my left knee. It was an old ligament tear problem i had been ignoring for quite some time. Finally getting it rectified.
A 9x35 mm thread like screw is planted in left knee in a 75 minute long operation.
Its a biodegradable screew so need be taken out.
I should be on both of my legs after 23rd. till then I am enjoying my bed rest.
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Vihaan's Disctionary after 25 months
1. Papa, munje domisos pijja khana hai
2. Papa, munje phone chahiye. balloon khelo hoon
3. Dil to baccha hai...hhmmmm
4. Aley baap le, takkal maal diya
5. Hum bonjaai jalu hoon
6. JCB dekhoo hoon
7. Papa: "lunch mein kya bana rahi ho"
Vihi: "Papa, aaloo, roti, chabal, nimti, domisos"
8. Mein tigal hoon. kati kati ...gggrrrrr
2. Papa, munje phone chahiye. balloon khelo hoon
3. Dil to baccha hai...hhmmmm
4. Aley baap le, takkal maal diya
5. Hum bonjaai jalu hoon
6. JCB dekhoo hoon
7. Papa: "lunch mein kya bana rahi ho"
Vihi: "Papa, aaloo, roti, chabal, nimti, domisos"
8. Mein tigal hoon. kati kati ...gggrrrrr
Saturday, March 06, 2010
First 10 day long family vacation
Unlike other occasions, this time I had decided to plan a family vacation (wife and 1.5 year old son). And this time it was our third wedding anniversary. Had to make it special and also compensate for last 3 years. There were two product releases to be done by 5th of Feb. So it was kind of right time, given that the we could complete the release on time with no major issues. And so it happened.
5th Feb, Friday night, Pune, Sleeper Bus, 10 hour journey
I booked two seats of sleeper bus on 4th night. That was risky as Neeta and other good transports were already full. I should have done it at least 2-3 days in advance. But anyway the trip was excellent. It comfortable. The transport was from Raj Travels.
We boarded the bus at 9 but it did not leave before 10 pm. We reached Mapusa at 7 AM. The bus ticket costed INR 650 per ticket.
6th Feb, Saturday morning, Goa
Took a taxi INR 180 from Mapusa bus stand to Calungate, our hotel Villa Goesa.
Villa Goesa is almost 200 Mtrs off the calungate beach reachable via baga beach road. Its a 3 start and the location is almost perfect. From the hotel you can walk upto beach, there is a nice trail upto the beach with greenary on both the sides.
After breakfast we went to the calungate beach. Went for Dolphin search for INR 500. I was not aware that there are so many dolphins so close to the beach. We then came back to hotel and had lunch. Food was not so great at resort. Especially in the
whole trip I never got good seafood on calungate and baga beach. Did not like kingfish at all.
6th Feb, Saturday Evening, Goa
We took a scooty and went to see beach Anjuna. Its a rocky beach and the tides were strong so we just spent some time at the table top restaurants. Hot tea with mix veg pakoras and the view. amazing! Of course if Vihaan could sit at one place and we
could enjoy. :)
Btw, I wanted to go to beach Aksha but I could not recall the name of the beach that time. It was the beach I had visited last time I was in Goa with Akshu and other colleagues.
Saturday market
We then moved to Saturday market on the way back to Calungate. There are two big saturday markets. When coming back from Anjun beach, the bigger and famous one is on left hand side. The other one is right hand side but not sure how far from this
one. I had visited this market last time also so I knew how it was gonna be. Crowded. We reached the market at around 6. It was getting dark. The crowd was building up. The lower level is mostly indian shops with typical indian stuff. My wife got stuck at a
wooden item shop and had to shell out INR 3500 for few wooden things which looked like utensils but I dont feel that can be used for that.
Note: We had only 5000 cash and we were left with 1500. So we actually had to spend very cautiosly as it would not be possible to go out, find an ATM at night and get more cash.
The upper level was mostly shops by foreigners. Not sure how it was setup but it seemed like we are in some other country as there were hardly any indian shops but even more less indian buyers.
We spent almost 2-3 hours almost done with all cash and finally came out at around 9. That was the crowd then. The entrace and parking were jam packed.
Finally we reached the resort and headed for dinner on the beach. Dinner was ok. Surely depressed me with the seafood.
7th Feb
----------
Breakfast was complimentry but has few choices limited to bread butter and jam. Dont forget to order tea if you done like ready-mix tea. Again to the beach. the beach was excellent. Very clean. Just relaxed on the beach shacks. On repeated request from a massage wala had a full body massage with coconut oil which was almost money waste.
Evening we went to baga beach. I had a choose a good shack as I had planned to celebrate my wedding anniversary on baga beach which was 4-5 hours from then. The people on shack were very helpful and friendly. They managed Vihaan all the time. In fact he got mixed so much with the people that I decided to spent whole evening on this shack. at 9 pm we decided to come back to resort, freshenup and come back to same resort. I requested the shack manager to arrange a cake. Of course Anju never knew about my plans.
We were back on the beahc by 10 pm( Anju went shopping on the way). As expected baga beach is more of young crowd. Less of old retired foreginers uncle and aunties. lots of water sports. I would recommend to stay on Baga beach rather than Calungate beach.
at 11.59 pm the cake was ready on the beach next to bonefire. Anju had never expected that I had been carrying gifts for her all the way from Pune and there were 2 gifts. We enjoyed the evening at lot and finally the day came to an end and a new year in our married life started.
8th Feb
----------
Day to checkout. The plan was to checkout of hotel , go around places in Goa for whole day, go to a south goa beach and then take a train to Mangalore at 12 midnight. Train ticket was already booked so least the train part was decided.
I really wanted to go to Panolem beach in south goa. Its almost the last goa beach andis near Karnataka border. This is supposed to be the most beautiful beach in Goa. But considering several factors we decided following plan.
We decided to go to St. Xaiours church in old goa, followed by Mangesh temple followed by Spice garden ( all three in old goa going towards east ). Then we could have gone to Panolem beach (extremem south of goa) or Colva beach (again back to west side but center of the coast line of goa). Colva beach is the closest beach to Madgaon from where we had to board our train at midnight. So we choose Colva beach to avoid too much late night travel and several other factors as I said.
If you are going to Goa, know that there is not only beaches to see in Goa. And the one thing that you must see is St. Xaviers church where the dead body of St. Francis Xavier is kept. To know the history follow these URLs
http://chronicleofameanderingtraveller.blogspot.com/2006/01/st-francis-xavier-history-of-his.html
To know about St. Francis Xavier, follow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Xavier
Mangesh temple is another famous place. Linked to the mangeshkar family, the temple is simple but worth going once.
Very close to Mangesh temple is Spice garden. Its a spice plantation area and they offer nice lunch for INR 300 per person. The food was excellent with right amount of fresh spices. Many foreigners. Must go place.
It was around 5 pm by then and we started going south-west towards Madgaon-Colva beach. Kept the luggage at Cloak room on madgaon railway station and then headed for the beach. The taxi guy dropped and we paid him INR 1800 for the day long trip.
Colva beach is mostly an indian beach, Meaning 90% indian and local crowd and 10% foreigners. there were not more than 6-7 shacks. Good no. of water sports activity though. and they rightly say that south goa beaches are much better than north goa beaches. The sand is completely white. We did not go into water as Vihaan already had cold. Tonight it was going to be more fun though the crowd disappeared after 7 pm when water sports were closed. So it was mostly non-goa crowd now who came to the beach for dinner.
The food had much better choices here. I was so bored with Kingfish that I could eat any living-on-sea-dead-on-land creature. here I got Tiger prawns , pomphrate and lobsters and crab. But they did not knew how to cook Crabs in tandoor. So I had to limit myself to Tiger prawns and some fish with red-wine.
There was bone-fire and crackers and so it was a long and enjoyable dinner for us.
We then took a rikshaw back to station and bought some port wine on the way.
I dont recall the name of the wine but the name started with C. The bottle costed me just INR 300 and it was very good. It tasted as good as Sula wine. We had it in coorg.
the train was on time and the train had good enough seats. It was 2 AC but I expected the cabin to be better. We left goa on 9th 00.30 AM to Mangalore where the next part of the trip was to be started.
Resort
----------
Villa Goesa, standard room INR 2950 for the room per day. Room was ok but it was good enough for the trip. Breakfast complimantry. Service was good. Staff was ok. Crowd? excellent. Seemed the resort was quite famous amongst germans. Strangly
the resort did not appear on any of the travel and trip organizer web sites.
How did I find this resort? I spent almost 2 full days searched for best deals on websites like yatra.com, makemytrip.com, tripadvisor.com, hotels.com ... and prepared a short list of most popular resorts on calungate and baga beaches. Then I researched
about these resorts on the moustshut.com and google maps . Mouthshut.com provided useful insights about wrong information flashed by different websites about resorts like their just-on-the-beach location, services, ambience. Real people reported more
accurate information. Google maps gave a better idea of the location of the resorts in terms of distance and view.
Interestingly I found one resort reported as the hot pick on all websites. It was Estelo de mar. not sure if I spelled it correctly. But I was getting this hotel at around INR 1800 per day kind of rate which was almost 30% less than the reported rate. It is the only
beach resort available on calungate beach as reported by all the websites. I had almost booked it but then I read more reviews on Mouthshut.com about it and then choose to drop this resort. The reason there was a cremation ground next to it and people
reported real bad service. I rather choose to book a costlier resort rather than taking any risk with the stay.
Not getting a good resort near beach I went to google maps and found a new feature on google maps. People can upload photos and put them on maps along with the description. I started looking for such markups on the calungate beach and found several
good resorts on the beach. Villa Goesa was one of them.
I would recommend to stay on Baga beach rather than Calungate beach. baga beach is more of young crowd. Less of old retired foreginers uncle and aunties. Lots of water sports, foodaries and shopping areas.
5th Feb, Friday night, Pune, Sleeper Bus, 10 hour journey
I booked two seats of sleeper bus on 4th night. That was risky as Neeta and other good transports were already full. I should have done it at least 2-3 days in advance. But anyway the trip was excellent. It comfortable. The transport was from Raj Travels.
We boarded the bus at 9 but it did not leave before 10 pm. We reached Mapusa at 7 AM. The bus ticket costed INR 650 per ticket.
6th Feb, Saturday morning, Goa
Took a taxi INR 180 from Mapusa bus stand to Calungate, our hotel Villa Goesa.
Villa Goesa is almost 200 Mtrs off the calungate beach reachable via baga beach road. Its a 3 start and the location is almost perfect. From the hotel you can walk upto beach, there is a nice trail upto the beach with greenary on both the sides.
After breakfast we went to the calungate beach. Went for Dolphin search for INR 500. I was not aware that there are so many dolphins so close to the beach. We then came back to hotel and had lunch. Food was not so great at resort. Especially in the
whole trip I never got good seafood on calungate and baga beach. Did not like kingfish at all.
6th Feb, Saturday Evening, Goa
We took a scooty and went to see beach Anjuna. Its a rocky beach and the tides were strong so we just spent some time at the table top restaurants. Hot tea with mix veg pakoras and the view. amazing! Of course if Vihaan could sit at one place and we
could enjoy. :)
Btw, I wanted to go to beach Aksha but I could not recall the name of the beach that time. It was the beach I had visited last time I was in Goa with Akshu and other colleagues.
Saturday market
We then moved to Saturday market on the way back to Calungate. There are two big saturday markets. When coming back from Anjun beach, the bigger and famous one is on left hand side. The other one is right hand side but not sure how far from this
one. I had visited this market last time also so I knew how it was gonna be. Crowded. We reached the market at around 6. It was getting dark. The crowd was building up. The lower level is mostly indian shops with typical indian stuff. My wife got stuck at a
wooden item shop and had to shell out INR 3500 for few wooden things which looked like utensils but I dont feel that can be used for that.
Note: We had only 5000 cash and we were left with 1500. So we actually had to spend very cautiosly as it would not be possible to go out, find an ATM at night and get more cash.
The upper level was mostly shops by foreigners. Not sure how it was setup but it seemed like we are in some other country as there were hardly any indian shops but even more less indian buyers.
We spent almost 2-3 hours almost done with all cash and finally came out at around 9. That was the crowd then. The entrace and parking were jam packed.
Finally we reached the resort and headed for dinner on the beach. Dinner was ok. Surely depressed me with the seafood.
7th Feb
----------
Breakfast was complimentry but has few choices limited to bread butter and jam. Dont forget to order tea if you done like ready-mix tea. Again to the beach. the beach was excellent. Very clean. Just relaxed on the beach shacks. On repeated request from a massage wala had a full body massage with coconut oil which was almost money waste.
Evening we went to baga beach. I had a choose a good shack as I had planned to celebrate my wedding anniversary on baga beach which was 4-5 hours from then. The people on shack were very helpful and friendly. They managed Vihaan all the time. In fact he got mixed so much with the people that I decided to spent whole evening on this shack. at 9 pm we decided to come back to resort, freshenup and come back to same resort. I requested the shack manager to arrange a cake. Of course Anju never knew about my plans.
We were back on the beahc by 10 pm( Anju went shopping on the way). As expected baga beach is more of young crowd. Less of old retired foreginers uncle and aunties. lots of water sports. I would recommend to stay on Baga beach rather than Calungate beach.
at 11.59 pm the cake was ready on the beach next to bonefire. Anju had never expected that I had been carrying gifts for her all the way from Pune and there were 2 gifts. We enjoyed the evening at lot and finally the day came to an end and a new year in our married life started.
8th Feb
----------
Day to checkout. The plan was to checkout of hotel , go around places in Goa for whole day, go to a south goa beach and then take a train to Mangalore at 12 midnight. Train ticket was already booked so least the train part was decided.
I really wanted to go to Panolem beach in south goa. Its almost the last goa beach andis near Karnataka border. This is supposed to be the most beautiful beach in Goa. But considering several factors we decided following plan.
We decided to go to St. Xaiours church in old goa, followed by Mangesh temple followed by Spice garden ( all three in old goa going towards east ). Then we could have gone to Panolem beach (extremem south of goa) or Colva beach (again back to west side but center of the coast line of goa). Colva beach is the closest beach to Madgaon from where we had to board our train at midnight. So we choose Colva beach to avoid too much late night travel and several other factors as I said.
If you are going to Goa, know that there is not only beaches to see in Goa. And the one thing that you must see is St. Xaviers church where the dead body of St. Francis Xavier is kept. To know the history follow these URLs
http://chronicleofameanderingtraveller.blogspot.com/2006/01/st-francis-xavier-history-of-his.html
To know about St. Francis Xavier, follow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Xavier
Mangesh temple is another famous place. Linked to the mangeshkar family, the temple is simple but worth going once.
Very close to Mangesh temple is Spice garden. Its a spice plantation area and they offer nice lunch for INR 300 per person. The food was excellent with right amount of fresh spices. Many foreigners. Must go place.
It was around 5 pm by then and we started going south-west towards Madgaon-Colva beach. Kept the luggage at Cloak room on madgaon railway station and then headed for the beach. The taxi guy dropped and we paid him INR 1800 for the day long trip.
Colva beach is mostly an indian beach, Meaning 90% indian and local crowd and 10% foreigners. there were not more than 6-7 shacks. Good no. of water sports activity though. and they rightly say that south goa beaches are much better than north goa beaches. The sand is completely white. We did not go into water as Vihaan already had cold. Tonight it was going to be more fun though the crowd disappeared after 7 pm when water sports were closed. So it was mostly non-goa crowd now who came to the beach for dinner.
The food had much better choices here. I was so bored with Kingfish that I could eat any living-on-sea-dead-on-land creature. here I got Tiger prawns , pomphrate and lobsters and crab. But they did not knew how to cook Crabs in tandoor. So I had to limit myself to Tiger prawns and some fish with red-wine.
There was bone-fire and crackers and so it was a long and enjoyable dinner for us.
We then took a rikshaw back to station and bought some port wine on the way.
I dont recall the name of the wine but the name started with C. The bottle costed me just INR 300 and it was very good. It tasted as good as Sula wine. We had it in coorg.
the train was on time and the train had good enough seats. It was 2 AC but I expected the cabin to be better. We left goa on 9th 00.30 AM to Mangalore where the next part of the trip was to be started.
Resort
----------
Villa Goesa, standard room INR 2950 for the room per day. Room was ok but it was good enough for the trip. Breakfast complimantry. Service was good. Staff was ok. Crowd? excellent. Seemed the resort was quite famous amongst germans. Strangly
the resort did not appear on any of the travel and trip organizer web sites.
How did I find this resort? I spent almost 2 full days searched for best deals on websites like yatra.com, makemytrip.com, tripadvisor.com, hotels.com ... and prepared a short list of most popular resorts on calungate and baga beaches. Then I researched
about these resorts on the moustshut.com and google maps . Mouthshut.com provided useful insights about wrong information flashed by different websites about resorts like their just-on-the-beach location, services, ambience. Real people reported more
accurate information. Google maps gave a better idea of the location of the resorts in terms of distance and view.
Interestingly I found one resort reported as the hot pick on all websites. It was Estelo de mar. not sure if I spelled it correctly. But I was getting this hotel at around INR 1800 per day kind of rate which was almost 30% less than the reported rate. It is the only
beach resort available on calungate beach as reported by all the websites. I had almost booked it but then I read more reviews on Mouthshut.com about it and then choose to drop this resort. The reason there was a cremation ground next to it and people
reported real bad service. I rather choose to book a costlier resort rather than taking any risk with the stay.
Not getting a good resort near beach I went to google maps and found a new feature on google maps. People can upload photos and put them on maps along with the description. I started looking for such markups on the calungate beach and found several
good resorts on the beach. Villa Goesa was one of them.
I would recommend to stay on Baga beach rather than Calungate beach. baga beach is more of young crowd. Less of old retired foreginers uncle and aunties. Lots of water sports, foodaries and shopping areas.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Best Ever Read!
This is the best article I have ever read till date ....
'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says
'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says
*This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple
Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.*
I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the
finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be
told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I
want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just
three stories.
The first story is about connecting the dots.
I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed
around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why
did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed
college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She
felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so
everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his
wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that
they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a
call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do
you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out
that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never
graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers.
She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would
someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that
was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents'
savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't
see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no
idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending
all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to
drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the
time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The
minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't
interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.
It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor
in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food
with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one
good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I
stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be
priceless later on. Let me give you one example:
Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction
in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every
drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and
didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy
class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif
typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter
combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful,
historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I
found it fascinating.
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But
ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all
came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first
computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single
course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or
proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its
likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped
out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal
computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it
was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college.
But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them
looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect
in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life,
karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all
the difference in my life.
My second story is about love and loss.
I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started
Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years
Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion
company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation —
the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got
fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew
we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me,
and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the
future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did,
our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly
out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was
devastating.
I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the
previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as
it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried
to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I
even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began
to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had
not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And
so I decided to start over.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was
the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being
successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less
sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods
of my life.
During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company
named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my
wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature
film, *Toy Story*, and is now the most successful animation studio in the
world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to
Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's
current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.
I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from
Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.
Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm
convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I
did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as
it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life,
and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great
work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you
haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the
heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it
just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you
find it. Don't settle.
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each
day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made
an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in
the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my
life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the
answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change
something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever
encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost
everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment
or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only
what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best
way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are
already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the
morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know
what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of
cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than
three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in
order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell
your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them
in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so
that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your
goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy,
where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my
intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the
tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they
viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it
turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with
surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I
get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to
you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely
intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die
to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever
escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the
single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the
old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too
long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry
to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be
trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's
thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner
voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and
intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.
Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called *The Whole Earth
Catalog*, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a
fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought
it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before
personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with
typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in
paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and
overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of *The Whole Earth Catalog*,
and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the
mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a
photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find
yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the
words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they
signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for
myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
My Old Blogs
Here are some of my old blogs...
I read them now and couple of them are real funny ... btw "Prani" is not "Pranav"
http://blogsbyvij.rediffblogs.com/
I read them now and couple of them are real funny ... btw "Prani" is not "Pranav"
http://blogsbyvij.rediffblogs.com/
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