2019/2020

Making the cut to the National Defense Academy: 3 SSB experiences, military stories and more!

27th September, 2020

Samvād hosted Aakash Khadang a VNIT'23 batch student from Electrical And Electronics Engineering Department. He secured an AIR of 149 and now he will be joining the NDA in October,2020. Aakash gave details about of the complete process right from writing the examination to his final medicals. He talked in depth about his childhood, motivation, experiences, failures and the fruitful success that followed it. His journey had its ups and downs. From failing at the first two attempts at the Services selection board(SSB) to his recent attempt in July right in the pandemic ( this shows his extreme passion !) . He did a wonderful job at showing the attendees the scope of being a gentleman/Lady officer in the Indian armed forces. His honest delivery ensured that everyone could empathise and relate to his journey , which was in his own words no different than ours , except his passion to serve the nation and wear the olive green uniform.

He shared his source of motivation as growing up in a military environment , his father being from the army. When he went to school in an army bus , he felt like a soldier going on duty. Thus the seeds to join the military were sowed in his childhood. But the journey wasn't easy either. He attempted twice the SSB which looks for 15 OLQs ( Officer-like qualities) and if you are recommended then you must pass the rigorous medicals and wait for the merit list to ensure you join the academy. This is process which demands you to be alert and put your best foot forward during the 5 days of the selection procedure and the stay during your medicals. Aakash also elaborated on each test and how did he prepare for it. Team Samvād wishes him a great journey ahead and more strength to him! As a follow-up to this talk we have formed a group of VNITians willing to join the armed forces so that they could network and learn from each other. The importance and debate and discussion was also mentioned by Aakash as being very important parameter during the selection process.

Careers after college: A student talk series

8th February 2020

Foreign Internships

Aman Jain, MEC'2020

The talk started with his experience as a second year student and how to identify areas of interest. He then explained common application procedure including Letters of Recommendation and Statement of Purpose.

Some of the internships which he talked about were MITACS – India-Canada, NTU India Connect and Carnegie Melon.

Most programs are fully sponsored; He explained about cold mailing. and the importance of research papers on an undergrad resume. He also talked about resume building and discussed some common misconceptions like whether to include hobbies, length of the resume and how it should be tailored for each application.

After his talk, Aman went over our questions, and answered them in a short Q&A session.

CAT Preparation

Sriram Mahalingam

Shriram’s talk was more interactive. He went over his experience as a branch changer in second year, love for his new department and his reasons for opting for a non-core career in the field of management through an MBA.

He gave insight on managerial positions in the career of an engineer and how does the role differ from other positions in a company like marketing, sales etc. He explained all the branches of what MBA programs offer: Marketing and Sales, Finance, HR, Operations, Consultancy, Economics, IT and Analytics.

He described the importance of a MBA for working executives and CAT preparation in detail. He also said that you need to have a great story to share if you want admission in the coveted IIMs right after undergrad, even though you have a good score in the exam.

Placement at Goldman Sachs

Mohanish Tikekar

Mohnish went all over his life in a tailor-made power point presentation for this student talk which really caught the attention of the audience!

He went over the crucial difference between placements, internships and CTC and also went over the PPO process.

Mohnish described in detail about the different types of companies that come to the campus to hire interns. Apparently, there are also companies that offer business analyst jobs such as Deloitte and MasterCard. He went over what exactly happens in an IT placement. He gave details about the languages, platforms and syllabus such as: Test Pattern, Language (C++, Java, or Python), STL, Data Structures, Algorithms, OOP, DBMS, OS, Distributed Systems, Computer Network. Mohnish went over placement paths, on how to manage your time, and how to broaden one’s perspective. Mohnish also cleared the air over common misconceptions between LPA and CTC. This was followed by a short question and answer session.

Experience sharing of Indian Youth Delegate to Tajakistan

Amay Varangoakar

The talk was organized so that Amay could share his experiences as a part of an official delegation to Tajikistan representing India at an international stage.

The talk started with co-host Alark Thakkar introducing the speaker and the club. It was followed by the speaker talking about the application process for being a part of the delegation and his experiences at the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports(MOYAS). He followed it by his experiences as an intern at Bajaj, India. Then he proceeded to speak about his experience in Tajikistan.

The talk was followed by a Q&A session, where the students could ask the speaker questions on the application process, his experiences as an intern at Bajaj India, and his experience as a representative of India.

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