Last week I had the opportunity to attend New Hires Day at Microsoft, Hyderabad. As the name suggests it was basically a get-together of all the new FTEs(Full Time Employees) who are going to join Microsoft this summer with the key people at Microsoft. It was a two-day event scheduled on 26th and 27th.
We(five of us from IITK) took flight from Lucknow to Hyderabad. The flight experience is unique for me as it was the first time I was up in the air. In fact I was more excited towards boarding the plane than the New Hires Day itself :P. I got a window seat just beside the wing and I spent most of the time looking at that wing, the jet engine and the ground below. The ground appeared closer than what I expected it to be as I could clearly see the bigger things such as rivers, ponds, villages etc. It was more like google earth. The book was no match for that experience of just looking at the receding world(even in 24-hour train journey also I find it more exciting to just look at the world that the advancing train is leaving behind). I must add that the new Hyderabad Airport rocked.
After reaching Hyderabad airport we were taken to Serenity Inn along with other new hires from other colleges. I was surprised at the fact the number of people from IITs are hardly 30 out of a total of around 80. I still don't understand the reason whether it is the reducing gap between IITs and other colleges or the reluctance on the part of IITians to go for job after B.Tech(than MS, MBA etc). The sex ratio was simply awesome, especially for a person like me from an IIT(especially IIT Kanpur in that also). Food at serenity was excellent. After a long time I filled my stomach with Hyderabadi biryani. I had a certain amount of hidden joy looking at my friends from northern India who found the hyderabadi food bad(I even told them that my time has began :) ).
We were given a t-shirt which we were supposed to wear for next day's day-long presentations. Next day we were taken to Microsoft India Development Centre and were officially offered employment at Microsoft with an offer letter and some goodies(including a 2gb pen drive). At first everyone sat with their batch-mates from their respective colleges. Then the organizer shuffled us and I got a rare opportunity of sitting at a table with all other seats filled by girls. But, as usual I proved to be very bad at socializing with new people. There were back-to-back presentations of various groups within Microsoft IDC. The presentations were not as uninteresting as I thought. The most exciting part in that building was the visit to the Microsoft visitors centre(which has a model of each of the Microsoft's products, especially the high technology ones such as xbox, surface, windows phone etc) in the afternoon. Unfortunately I could not get a chance to play with Xbox, which was occupied before I entered.
In the evening there was a campus tour of all the three buildings. Then there was a small treasure hunt. That was great with people spending more time in trying to get the answers to the clues by asking others than solving them themselves. Some people even called their friends for help(Incidentally I was one of them :P). In the end we were not able to get to the treasure :(. Then there was DJ. When DJ was started no one got up from the stairs. The organizer had to forcefully unseat us, to the dance floor. I usually try to keep a low profile in such things, but this time I became, I should say, hyper active(for which I regretted later which is a different matter of course).
By 10:00pm we returned to Serenity, completely exhausted of course. Next day was the trip to Ramoji film City. The Asia's largest film city is one of those things which every hyderabadi can feel proud of. It is on the same route that goes to my home. I had a strange feeling while traveling on the same road with very different people than I usually do. We had a very nice trip inside film city. Especially the escort in the bus was very funny. I was a bit dissatisfied with some of my friends when they failed to appreciate the elegance at which things are done in southern India compared to the northern part. Sarika socialized with people so much that everyone started yelling her name when the escort asked for a volunteer for the role of basanti in a fictional movie. Unfortunately we could not stay for long there, due to flight timings.
It is a very good idea to organize events like these, especially for the fresh college graduates. Being used to so much freedom in the academic life, it is natural that one feel very tense besides being excited, about professional life.
But, even after all this I must add that I am not very comfortable with the thought of transition from academic life to professional life. As mentioned earlier, I proved to be very bad at socializing with new people.
I definitely felt the joy of returning home , atlast after 4 years.
We(five of us from IITK) took flight from Lucknow to Hyderabad. The flight experience is unique for me as it was the first time I was up in the air. In fact I was more excited towards boarding the plane than the New Hires Day itself :P. I got a window seat just beside the wing and I spent most of the time looking at that wing, the jet engine and the ground below. The ground appeared closer than what I expected it to be as I could clearly see the bigger things such as rivers, ponds, villages etc. It was more like google earth. The book was no match for that experience of just looking at the receding world(even in 24-hour train journey also I find it more exciting to just look at the world that the advancing train is leaving behind). I must add that the new Hyderabad Airport rocked.
After reaching Hyderabad airport we were taken to Serenity Inn along with other new hires from other colleges. I was surprised at the fact the number of people from IITs are hardly 30 out of a total of around 80. I still don't understand the reason whether it is the reducing gap between IITs and other colleges or the reluctance on the part of IITians to go for job after B.Tech(than MS, MBA etc). The sex ratio was simply awesome, especially for a person like me from an IIT(especially IIT Kanpur in that also). Food at serenity was excellent. After a long time I filled my stomach with Hyderabadi biryani. I had a certain amount of hidden joy looking at my friends from northern India who found the hyderabadi food bad(I even told them that my time has began :) ).
We were given a t-shirt which we were supposed to wear for next day's day-long presentations. Next day we were taken to Microsoft India Development Centre and were officially offered employment at Microsoft with an offer letter and some goodies(including a 2gb pen drive). At first everyone sat with their batch-mates from their respective colleges. Then the organizer shuffled us and I got a rare opportunity of sitting at a table with all other seats filled by girls. But, as usual I proved to be very bad at socializing with new people. There were back-to-back presentations of various groups within Microsoft IDC. The presentations were not as uninteresting as I thought. The most exciting part in that building was the visit to the Microsoft visitors centre(which has a model of each of the Microsoft's products, especially the high technology ones such as xbox, surface, windows phone etc) in the afternoon. Unfortunately I could not get a chance to play with Xbox, which was occupied before I entered.
In the evening there was a campus tour of all the three buildings. Then there was a small treasure hunt. That was great with people spending more time in trying to get the answers to the clues by asking others than solving them themselves. Some people even called their friends for help(Incidentally I was one of them :P). In the end we were not able to get to the treasure :(. Then there was DJ. When DJ was started no one got up from the stairs. The organizer had to forcefully unseat us, to the dance floor. I usually try to keep a low profile in such things, but this time I became, I should say, hyper active(for which I regretted later which is a different matter of course).
By 10:00pm we returned to Serenity, completely exhausted of course. Next day was the trip to Ramoji film City. The Asia's largest film city is one of those things which every hyderabadi can feel proud of. It is on the same route that goes to my home. I had a strange feeling while traveling on the same road with very different people than I usually do. We had a very nice trip inside film city. Especially the escort in the bus was very funny. I was a bit dissatisfied with some of my friends when they failed to appreciate the elegance at which things are done in southern India compared to the northern part. Sarika socialized with people so much that everyone started yelling her name when the escort asked for a volunteer for the role of basanti in a fictional movie. Unfortunately we could not stay for long there, due to flight timings.
It is a very good idea to organize events like these, especially for the fresh college graduates. Being used to so much freedom in the academic life, it is natural that one feel very tense besides being excited, about professional life.
But, even after all this I must add that I am not very comfortable with the thought of transition from academic life to professional life. As mentioned earlier, I proved to be very bad at socializing with new people.
I definitely felt the joy of returning home , atlast after 4 years.
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