IIM Bangalore interview

MY IIMB GD/PI IHC, Delhi 9AM 28th March,2005
Vikas Kumar
IIT Kanpur
99.99 percentile
CPI 8.4
Status: Finally converted
GD: The case study was regarding the development of a software. It was to be delivered in just a few days and the overseas project manager suggested some changes keeping in mind the US customer needs. The Indian project manager feels that this may lead to bugs and possibly jeopardising the whole development process. But the indian project manager is hesitant to say so because he fears that the professional relations may worsen. BTW the company is a big MNC. There were some other small details thrown in.. The group contained 7 people. Most of them were from IIIT allahabad/hyderabad and one two people from IT BHU etc. The group was kind of curious to start and in the first 30 seconds almost everyone spoke except me After much cross talk for 2-3 minutes, they slowly came back to their senses . But for me, I felt good at the end. Spoke 7-8 times with good composure and many of my points were accepted in the consensus. In the end none had any point. In the last 2-3 minutes, I analysed the problem technically and tried to locate the possible problems in the software development process of the company and the possible changes that can be made to the current software. Overall after two avg GD at A and C, I would like to upgrade my performance review to good. But, in my interview, the lady prof said that while you were analysing the problem technically, others thought it was a managerial issue..She added that she may be wrong but what are my opinions? I said that ma'am I think both issues are important and in this case it's important to realise the technical feasibility of the project and the changes that can be made to the software. Also tried mentioning points which I had raised regarding the managerial issues ... But her question disappointed me and may be I will get some negative points for that. But, overall I think this was the first gd in which I was very articulate and people listened to me even after the chaos in the gd. God knows how they will grade it!

Interview:I was the last one in the panel so the process started at 1:20 PM and finished by 1:40 PM.There were two panel members: One male prof(MP) and the other lady prof(LP).
MP: Vikas, you are the last guy. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of being last in the interview?
ME: Sir, being last adds to your nervousness while on the +ve side you get to hear questions from other candidates.
MP: So, what did they say?
ME: That you were asking mainly about our projects and the interview was very cool.
MP: Ok so what do you want to be quizzed on?
ME: Projects , Current affairs(Politics) and maths
MP: Ok tell me about your projects.
ME: Told about my btp and my summer internship in NUS, singapore. Spoke for about 5-6 minutes.
MP: advantage/use of the project..
ME: answered..
MP: See, I am not a very technical guy so spare me the technical details
MP: Some basic quizzing on intermediate representations in compilers and the need for a universal IR.
ME: Talked in detail about UNICOL and how the researchers have made an effort in this direction.
MP: I have heard some thing called error correcting codes. What do you know about it?
ME: I am not sure but then started talking crap about error correction in compilers..and asked is that what he is expecting?
MP: I dont know, I attended a talk sometime ago and I dont remember much.
ME: Again talked some crap..(latter came to know that I should have discussed Reed Solomon codes and others ) I hope he does not remember anything from that bloody talk.
MP: What are the time complexities of these error correcting codes?
ME: I have not worked in this area but gave some globe on P and NP problems.
MP asks LP to ask some questions...She asked the same question about gd that I have written over earlier. I hope that does not become an issue.
LP: Some thing that struck me in singapore.
ME: crap crap
LP: What technical learning?
ME: SOME More crap
LP: You must have many other career options..What are they?
ME: talked in detail about three career options and how the other two does not suit me.
LP: You are arriving at your goals after elimination. Dont you think you should leverage your strengths?
ME: talked about my maths and analytical skills and how I am so much interested in eco and some other fundas.
LP: Ok what courses have you done?
ME: Could recall only two of the three and said that the third was an advanced course of the first course.
LP: What kind of reading?
ME: not much into novel reading but like reading current affairs (Politics, economy etc).
LP: Correlate one international business news with your economics course.
ME: silence for 5-10 seconds then came with suits filed against Microsoft in USA and europe.
LP: what are those suits called?
ME: blank Could not recall.
LP: Ok, explain the concept..
ME: Talked about the need of multiple players in the market and how microsoft was using its monopoly to drive competitors out of the market.
LP and MP look at each other and say thanks.

Vikas