On the Lot!

This new reality show on Star World, is just amazing. It has everything that a movie buff would want to watch. This show is about selecting the best director for the $1 million contract with DreamWorks. It somewhat resembles The Apprentice but it's nothing like it.

The show started off its first episode with 50 wannabe directors selected of the 12000 lot. These are selected from all over the world, not just US. They were asked to pitch a story based on the logline given to them. Some pitches were so good that the audience actually lived through them. Each episode tests for the directing skills in different areas like comedy, horror etc.

Steven Speilberg and Mark Brunett (Survivor, The Apprentice) have produced it. Distinguished directors Brett Ratner (X-Men), Carie Fisher (Star Wars) and Garry Marshall (Pretty Woman) are the judges. They give brilliant reviews unlike The Apprentice trio who just focus on blasting and searching a scape goat. Moreover, you don't have to see the contestants fighting with each other selling a Donald Duck sticker'd water bottle. There are no made up fights or fake emotions either. I mean, on Apprentice, a guy irritates his team mates by sleeping all the time, while on a particular task and don't get eliminated. In the next episode, he is an amazing leader and the previous manager will be acting dumb and eventually does a lousy job. Finally, one of these would end up being the winner and the judge in the next season.

None of those crap are there on this show. You can watch it at 10pm Tuesday on Star World in India.

Me and ThoughtWorks.

Yesterday, I had been to ThoughtWorks (You might want to click on this link! I don't think that it's their official website.) That place was just incredible. It was a fusion of say, a design firm and a lot of geeks workin in a software company. Right from ambience to crowd, everything was good. They have everything in their pantry that my current office lacks. Literally everything! The lunch out there wasn't all that great but then again, at least they have free food, unlike some places, where you have no food at all!

So, why did I go there? I had an interview. As I said, I loved everything about that place but my interview. It was disastrous. I stammered, fumbled and was not confident while answering, I went blank, like the whole time. All in all, I blew it.

Initially, they started asking questions about the concepts that I had used in my final year project. Later on, as the interview progressed, they tested my knowledge in basic Computer Science concepts. In the end, they probably would have asked me about my hobbies etc etc, but I dint make it to the end. It was one of the best interview's that I have attended. The fatal mistake I did was that I lead the interview exactly towards the concepts I barely knew.

In the end, HR spoke to me well, helping me figure out what went wrong. I had this sentence going on, in my mind, which a classmate of mine had said seriously in college. "Given the opportunity, time and resources, I'll prove myself!".

I was overwhelmed with my yesterday's experience. If you care about your code, you should try it too. Btw Abhishek and Chethan have got calls from ThoughtWorks. Hope they get through and give us DIFFERENT treats :)

"I learnt something yesterday!" (Like kayle from Southpark) You should always pick your company based on work and not pay. (Yea Yea! I know that you already know it). Anyways, so I decided not to apply for any other company but (thoughtworks and few more!)

Weekly Review - The State of Fear

I know I am late by about 2 years to write this, but what the hell?

If you have read Crichton's Congo, Sphere or Timeline you will definitely be disappointed of this book. Micheal Crichton's novel the State of Fear is, well, almost there. It is not exactly your kick-ass-sci-fi-action-and-what-not Michael Crichton novel, not completely. It is somewhat there. For example, the novel is too much of a science journal than a novel, which is fine if there was just as much action too. At the end of the day, if I wanted to know about Global Warming, or the lack of it, I would go read the journals myself online. Apart from that, the book is an OK read. There is no Levine or Malcolm or Marek or Harry in this book, as in no character that is worth remembering. A very seemingly annoying pedantic government agent who always speaks politically correct is the only striking character. Apart from that, the characters are mundane.

If you are a hardcore Crichton fan, you wouldn't mind reading this book. Otherwise, don't judge the author just from this one book. I am sure this is just an "one off" book that he wrote!

LIG Musings

I somehow found more free time than I usually get at office yesterday and today. So, I was surfing for some blogs and reading stuff about LIG. Then I realized that of lot of people write for an audience and try to be "politically correct" and a few others are offensive for the sake of it. I, for one, write whatever I think is right, without trying to be generously obscene, at the same time not trying to censor myself when I think using a fuck here and an asshole there whenever I think its appropriate. Now, coming to what I want to say here, is it a necessity for you to be diplomatic in your opinions and liberal in your thinking if you want to be heard? This made me write this.

For one, I am more conservative than liberal and oriented towards the right.

And it is true that news channels, especially NDTV and the likes are laureling pseudo-liberalism, for that is what it is, so much that people actually hesitate to express their opinions any more, for the fear of being considered intolerant. At least the ones I have seen speaking are. And of course, everything is a "national catastrophe" these days. And the things that are actually one are a political taboo to be mentioned. Idiots. Hippocrates.

On a different note, do you like nude paintings? Would you gift one to your girl friend/boy friend's mother?

Another Number On The Wall

I used to work for a CMM level 5 company. That is to say I have been through hell and more. A lot of people I talk to believe that the off shore model of development survives on the number of people/resources that is at a company's disposal. Though, it is absolutely true when it comes to a lot of big shot service providers in India, I don't think services/consulting software companies are just that, a herding shepherd collecting sheep. It is much more than that. And people have a tough time comprehending why I say "Fuck CMM" because they are made to believe that you get your ISO certification, your CMM & PCMM certification and a business model following the Infosys and you are all game for a software company. Hell, just working at one of these places will make parents of girls virtually drool and ask you to marry their daughters. I don't have a problem with that, however.

By being a CMM level 5 company, a company follows a set of processes. Everything is process-driven and person independent. So, for a big shot IT company in India, more often than not, each person joining in is more of a head count increase rather than a value add. They aren't looking at heroes who can do a lot things on their own, rather people who do what they are told and do it well. So, your ability to do same things repeatedly without thinking is what counts and not, say, your ability to use diophantine equations to make your computer work in parallel universes to solve the Traveling Salesman Problem.

My point is as long as you don't mind the fact that you are just a number in a SAP software, another brick in the wall, just someone who is, by definition, "replaceable" by someone, anyone, else then you can continue what you are doing. Otherwise, its high time you had a good contemplative look at your job and say, "Fuck CMM" and move on.

Abhi in Yelahanka!

Sheikh Hasina is in UK.
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After Many Many Days.....
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Sheikh Hasina Back to Dhaka.
Abhi is in Yelahanka.

Software Delivered and Open Source??

After delaying by 2 months, I finally "delivered" the software I had promised to Rollwell. They will be running the Inventory Management System (IMS) soon. It was awesome being a BA (Business Analyst). I got to act all doophusy and make bimbo comments such as "Second combo box gets populated based on first combo box?? Radical" and the like. However, after fire fighting till 3 am and then doing UAT during breaks in the office, I delivered a very stable and "does-what-it-is-supposed-to" IMS. The customer was really happy. He was blown away by the simple yet clean UI, which Swaroop had a little and my brother had a lot to do with.

While I was explaining how we have used all open source tools which are all legal and have free licenses, the customer was shocked. He asked, "But Pavan, if you have used Open Source, anyone from the Internet can access my data!" Apparently the concept of Open Source is quiet well known these days. I am sure people think, "We have 2 words, "Open" and "Source". I mean, how difficult is it?" Go figure!

All in all, it was a job well done. Next time around, I plan to be the "short tempered cynical dev". Wish me luck.