ILP @ TCS, Karappakkam, Chennai

1st day goes with documentation provided details on documentation page.....
2nd day@ TCS, Karappakkam, Chennai..

If u hav enough patience to sit in the auditorium from morning to evening, then you can pass the day...
3 presentations, 1 documentary movie, few instructions to fill the forms and submission of service agreement those who dint submit yesterday.. Thats the whole day about...

The day started at 8.45 am, with a presentation from Mr. Sumit (a HR kind of designation, ILP center, Ambattur). Infact he started off really well and was very friendly throughout his speech and was humerous too(loved the way he welcomed late comers)..It went upto 11.30am, covering what exactly we will be doing in the ILP, whats the importance of aspire, how we will be grouped into, and how our ILP and previous year ILP differ.etc.... Inshort, he covered entire details about ILP.

11.30, the 2nd presentation by Mr.Prabha karan( again a HR kind of designation), who explained about the TCS facilities provided for the employees such as transportation, travel expenses , visa support, leaves that are permitted to take, list of TCS office in Chennai and so on... It ended at 12 and was asked to take lunch and return by 12.30.
I think i don’t need to describe more about the beautiful food court as i hv done enough on it yesterday....
Next session started by 12.30 and it was jus collecting the serv.agreement of those who dint submit yesterday.
Then a lecture by Mr.Lakshman Pradeep(HR for ILP i guess) (covering few more details about ILP).
Finally a movie, 1.5hr (facilitated me to take a nap) long showing the growth of TATA groupfrom the 1850s till now and that was the end of the day (3.45pm)... As i said, it just tests ur patience to sit in the auditorium... I have to report on Monday at 7.45 am and they welcome us with a PAT test!!!...

Note:
1)we are asked to flourish the importance of aspire to those who are gonna join after this.. The importance is that we will not be learning the same aspire in ILP. Aspire is the building block for ILP. Which means, in ILP we will be directly posted into a project atmosphere (ie development,testing and maintenance).If we haven’t done the aspire yet, we are supposed to complete it with 1 week time!!!

2) if we don’t clear first test, they ll ask us to do a ‘remedial package’(what i told to learn the aspire for 1 week)... After that, we will be made as project ready.. if we are not ourselves project ready, then we hv to undergo another remedial package... finally at the end, if we don’t clear a test, we will be put into a 15 days extra course called LAP.. Still if we don’t clear it, we are supposed to meet the HR after that...

3)there are totally 8 batches..
* each batch 36-trainees
* 36 divided into two(18*2) and assigned 2 different projects.
* 18 divided into 3 modules containin 6 per module(6*3)and assigned to do various phases of the project
*6 divided 3 containg 2 per batch, which is the least subdivision assigned to do various tasks in the project..

4) Almost all the Chennai trainees will be posted in the OMR road TCS offices after training.(any of these- siruseri, thorappakkam, karappakkam, or sholinganallur)

5) for us, all will be in morning shift after july (7-2 am, and eve shift is 2-9pm)

6) first salary for us will be received only on the month of September .

7)An employee number will be generated for us which we will be using for all the purposes in the office.

8) for those who dint complete NSR phase 2, its arranged on 20th and 21st July in Ambaattur itself(its for our batch oly)

9 ) Besides the 4 streams, there is also a ‘testing’ stream. One of the batch of J2EE will be put into testing after getting trained in J2EE.

‎3rd day ( 1st day of training) @ TCS, Ambattur, Chennai.

I enjoyed this day a lot, but i was told by the instructors that “this is the last day of your enjoyment”!!!!
The day started at 7.45 am, where we were seated in a lecture hall allocated to our batch... The first good news i heard from them in the early morning was that ‘dotnet’ stream was allocated to our batch. With that, we had an intro among ourselves infront of others. We were also asked to tell the unique character of us(The response from many guys were interesting). The session went on and they gave few instructions reg. the rules and regulations to be followed in TCS, Ambattur, and also the instructions about the PAT test.
Break time at 10 am. Cafeteria is quite like a canteen with a token system (not a food court type but there are small shops too where u can pay directly as well). Again, don’t worry about the rates, where it merely takes around 60-70 Rs for finishing Breakfast, Lunch and eve tea together..
Next session started at 10.30am, “THE PAT TEST”.... We were allotted each cabins for the doing the test...It is a 45 mins, 36 questions objective type(4 or 5 options) of exam... I must be the first person to finish the exam, coz i dint know anything in that (though it was about the programming basics (told by CS-IT students))... It dint take too much time for me to complete it as i did it in an ‘inky pinky ponky’ manner.. But i later realized that most of my friends and batchmates also were blank about the test ... The test covered the basics in Unix, java, c++, webtech, DBMS, and all other topics mentioned in aspire(cant remember the exact questions)...
Next session at 12.00pm, ‘Business skills’... You will enjoy a lot in this session, where they make us to practice to become a perfect communicator.. First activity, the mentor gave a card for each of us, with a topic written on it, and we had to speak about it for a minute... There was also a ppt regarding an intro about Biz skills. Session was over by 1.45.
Lunch time is 1.45 -2.30... Meals Rs 33/-, veg rice Rs 25/- , veg burger Rs 20/- and Chick burger Rs 25/-, which are the major items.
Nxt session at 2.30.. I felt, this session should have been kept for the whole day... It was again the business skills session, where 2 activities were given for us as a team... First one was to perform a skit with a topic given , and the next one was also a fun activity... The session was full of fun...
Break time at 4 -4.30.. Had tea, came back and the final session was from 4.30 to 5.45pm.. We did nothing in this session other than sitting in the hall. Few guys performed their talents infront of others(danced, sung, and had few fun games too but wasn’t that much of fun :P)..Finally, at 5.45, all of rushed out as like how the children rushes when the school bell rings... As i said earlier, we were told that this would be the last day to enjoy!!! :(..
Note: All the faculties so far i met in Ambattur office are very friendly, interactive and are jus 3-5 years old in their software career...
That was the whole day about.. I will try my level best to give daily updates for the first few days and forgive me if i miss any coz, sitting infront of PC for 10hrs, and sitting again in the night will be hectic.... Take care... :)
First Week @ TCS, Ambattur, Chennai.

I have posted most of the details about the training in my previous updates itself... Here i will share about the ILP and ILP centre in my perspective.
My views about ILP:
All I can say is I am enjoying ILP and everyone will enjoy ILP. It depends on how we take the given tasks. We are given with a descent level of freedom to make our views in a laughable way. I will stress the fact that the entire faculty I met so far in ILP centre are v.friendly, caring, skilled and most importantly, they all treat us with a smile. Since, they are jus 3-7 years older than me, i feel less hesitation to call them by their name (though I am not fully used to it. Still the mam mam, sir sir words come often). To add this, I love all my batch mates and I think we are one among the best combinations to put as a batch to make the sessions more funny and interactive.
Each and every task done by a trainee will be assessed and instant feedback is given. Feedback in the sense, a friendly advice... Even though, we are not learning about the core programming concepts from the first day, we are slowly approaching to it. I like this gradual approach because the Non CS-IT students won’t feel a depression from the initial day. It jus makes them feel that they are one among and all they have to do is to put a bit more effort than others.
As told by a HR in the induction program, a training may not make a trainee, a perfectly skilled one in the core skills (programming). But it is also to make the trainee to learn the behaviour, mannerisms, corporate culture and work ethics along with the core skills (programming). TCS ILP-Centre is providing all these in exact proportions to make a trainee to adopt himself to the corporate culture.
Since we are put into groups, we don’t feel that we are loaded with works personally, but at the same time it gives the individual responsibility to execute the split up tasks within the group. The smile and respect given by the securities and canteen suppliers makes ourselves feel that we are employees and not students
All the views I stated above may vary from person to person. But I mentioned already that, its all how we take that. Even I have felt like “oh god, plz finish the weekdays soon”. But those were timely feelings, and when I look it back at the end of the day, it will be just a kind of learning what we need acquire as a software engineer.
I wish all the TCS employees a ‘happy learning’ and I wish all who are yet to join ‘with’ TCS to get their D.O.J soon.... Take care...

‎2nd week@ TCS, Ambattur Chennai
It was just another replica of the first week with some more added fun. Apart from the technical assignments and presentations, we had awesome events in Biz skills(Personality development session). The most entertaining part of the week was on Friday, coz we had “Maitree” on that day..
Maitree is a 100% unofficial session where we can have fun, perform our talents, play fun games, do social works and discuss with senior officials.... This is the only session, where we can use our regional languages... In this half an hour long session, we had few performances from our class mates this week... But it was full of fun becoz, rather than the performances, nutty comments from my mates played a major role..:P
Apart from these, we were exposed to few offers and facilities provided by TCS this week..
1) A worthy laptop bag: Really a good quality one, printed as Tata consultancy Services on the back side..
2) Tata Nano offer for TCSers: The offer is that, we can avail it for 0% EMI if its paid in an installment basis or a 10000-25000/- Rs discount if ready cash...Moreover, the car is signed by Mr. Ratan Tata ... Offer is also available to the frnds and relatives of the TCSer.. But its oly till Jul 31st.
3) Bus Service for the evening shift batch upto around 20 Kms from Ambattur..
Food is still good in the canteen, and I have explored most of the items available there...
Share Auto service is available upto the ILP centre itself during morning and evening, so that a long walk towards the bus stop can be avoided... A good vehicle parking facility is also available (Of course its there in every corporate company).
So far, timings are sharp in ILP and you won’t be stretched to sit further after 5.45 pm. Frequent breaks in between every sessions really makes us comfortable...
From Aug 1st onwards we will be put into shifts of morning (7-1.45) and evening (2-9pm) batches, and the big relief is that, its morning shift for our batch...
As I said in previous post, I guess that our batch must be the best among all other batches in case of fun and entertainment... We have already planned a weekend party too on Sunday..;)...
I too don’t know what else to update about the training, coz I think I have covered almost every details so far...
So far so good in the case of learning...Bcoz, we are yet to go into the deeper part of the programming (Feelings of a Non-CS guy....:P)...
Expecting a fun filled and challenging month ahead..
Definitely, I will update the happenings on a weekly basis..... Take care..

‎3rd Week @ TCS, Ambattur, Chennai

I started feeling like we are slowly getting dragged into the pressure zone from this week... Quite technical stuffs, new terms, softwares, and lots are being punched into us... But still, there is no compromise for the fun we are having... Its getting multiplied week by week...
The happiest thing is that, during the shifts, we won’t feel like we are being stretched for very long time... Time goes very soon everyday and since its a morning shift for me, its enjoyment unlimited in aftnoons...
From these 3 weeks, I can say that the ILP is a 3 months extension of a college life, just like another semester (Though the aim of the ILP is to transform to corporate life, we can feel a mixed environment, i.e. college fun with frnz, corporate in infrastructures)...Here also we have classes, presentations, tests, assignments, and most importantly fun factors in all of them... But I have also heard that the seriousness of ILP will only be known at the end of the ILP, which means we and our activities will be watched each and every second throughout the ILP and based on our way of behaviour, they will asses us....
Technical presentations, Biz skills and Zone (lab)... These are major 3 sessions we have throughout the ILP and thats all what we had in the last week too... Each day, we will be having a combination of these 3 sessions....
As an advice from our senior faculty, she told us not to neglect any project offerings after the ILP...Even though, the project is not from our domain, we should accept the offering and get into it... Then only, we will get the further projects easily...

4th week @TCS , Ambattur, Chennai.
(Damn sure you will enjoy this post...I was in a great mood to post this...)
Its exactly 1 month since I have joined TCS, and 20 working days have been completed in ILP center. 40 remaining... The week was quite tight till Wednesday as we had to complete an assignment and present it... ... Well, after that I don’t want to say again that we had fun, bcoz that has been evolved as a part of our life in ILP (atleast for CHN-03-M21 batch)..,
Went for another batch movie (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), fun filled zone sessions, funny Biz skill preparations and a weekend rush to go home on Friday. These are the summarized fun we had this week..
Since there is nothing else to share other than these, this week I will post some of the key advices given by some senior faculties regarding how to continue our work in TCS.
The advices are,
1) After the completion of ILP, we should not wait for a project which is related to the stream which we are familiar to... Whichever stream it is, we have to get into the project first... 

2) Importantly, waiting for a project will never take us into a project.. We have to fight (ask repeatedly) for the project (only in TCS) ..

3) Only, if you are in a project, you will be in the safer side... If a recession comes, benchers are the first one to be fired!!! (hope everybody knows bencher is the one who is not allocated to any project)..

4) For those who believe that testing is a scope-less field, it is just a myth.. Testing is equally important as developing with same salary hike and equal onsite opportunities.. 

5) There are more than 2 lakh employees in TCS.. So for a better development, salary hike, project opportunity and onsite visit, you have to advertise yourself to make you visible among others...

6) You should never restrict with only one language.. The basic languages are not just C and C++... The basics are C, C++, Java, .net, mainframe and Unix... Within one year, we should learn all these (An active software Engineer should know all these).

7) Though you should know all the streams, be specialized in one stream... Be versatile enough to change to other streams too... Because being specialist won’t work out once the technology is outdated... But never be a generalist..

 When you are in a project, follow “start the work early, finish the work early” policy...Though it is a kind of school teacher’s advice, only when we follow this, we won’t be in stress situation in the final stages (Thats how the phrase comes “IT companies are very stressful” )...

9) Regarding Recession: We had multiple views regarding that... Some said that TCS won’t get affected, and some said to “be careful during recession”... I just can’t be on any of the sides to confirm the news (lets hope for the best).. But one thing for sure, 90% of the TCS projects are from U.S...

10) Though I always say that ILP is fun, its enjoyable and all, our mannerisms are very much noted there... If we don’t study in ILP, we will feel for it during the project phase...(Definitely I have to follow this advice)...

11) The remaining advices are like there should be team work, integration, passion to learn, rigor, speed, innovation, focus and all other positive words in English....

Courtesy: A 20 years experienced TCS Employee (Met him in the Meet the Mentor session, don’t remember his designation)...
From next week onwards, our project delivery phase is getting started and I guess, the days are gonna be tighter (But I will update for sure)...
Knew lot of you have got the D.O.J (very happy abt that), and for those who dint get it, it is not too far away...
Happy Raksha Bandan (Oly for elder sisters......:P), a very happy Independance Day and a very very Happy Weekend.... Take care....

5th week @ TCS, Ambattur, Chennai...

It was just a 4 day week, which went in a flash... Thought that the project delivery phase would have been started this week, but it is actually yet to be started... So this week also there was no big stress and all... Half of the week’s sessions passed in “Know your TCS” lectures... Rest it was just Core skills, biz skills and zone sessions as usual...
Mean while we had another Meet the Mentor session about how we should treat a client... Nothing more to say on that..
I just got a feeling that shift timings will not be enough for us to complete our upcoming project...The faculty keep on saying about that project only and hence I think its a very important one...
Family day on Saturday... But I couldn’t participate... Heard, it was unlimited enjoyment throughout... Seems our batch showed off stage dance performance too... (I should hv attended )...
We also had a B’day celebration for our mates in Ambit Mall (nearer to TCS)... But I wonder where we will have our next celebration... Coz we made such a big mess there by throwing cakes and snow spraying and finally the Ambit mall employees begged us to get out of it.....
Pretty not sure whether our project delivery phase starts next week or not... Expecting a tight week...
Thats all about this week and I know the post is nothing interesting at all, and I don’t find anything more interesting to share at all... Let me see If I could find it in next week, take care....

6th week@TCS, Ambattur, Chennai..

Another awesome week passed by, and the week had 6 days to be passed in TCS!!!........ Yes I worked this Saturday too!!!....Not because of the work load, but due to our mentor’s request to practice more...
Wondered when I came to office on Saturday... Saw lots of trainees working there and only then realized that this has been a regular practise for other fellows to come on Saturdays...
Project Delivery phase, Project Delivery phase, Project Delivery phase... Repeatedly falling on our ears from our mentors... This phase is going pretty good so far... Not a huge workload, but quite a kind of preparation for the upcoming week works... The final work should be submitted a week b4 leaving ILP...
The ILP centre is getting crowded and crowded with over 2000 trainees so far...(CHN01-CHN08)...
Long canteen ques, lift ques, packed zone sessions, and so on...
Meanwhile I have started searching home near Medavakkam, where I guess it would be easy to go either Thorappakkam or Siruseri after ILP... 99% scope of getting posting in these 2 places only...
Heard that TCS has lots of projects to be done in 2012... So don’t worry, everyone will get our projects... No info about recession or anything so far...so far so good...
No outings in this week other than a Saturday lunch... We all set to go for next week only, for Mankaatha (only if we get tickets , still hunting for it...)
Happy that I met few of the friends from this TCS group in ILP centre... Hope I could see rest of the Chennai mates soon... Take care...


‎7th week@TCS, Ambattur,Chennai

Again a week, where I worked on Saturday... The first 3 days were heaven, the rest 3 abruptly changed to hell...
First 3 days:
I said heaven bcoz, of the salary as well as the Mankaatha expectation... Monday went on dreaming about Tuesday, Tuesday went on dreaming about Tuesday evening.... Tuesday was the last day for our previous mentor as she was about to leave for her project... The eve which we couldn’t forget... Gave a farewell to her (we must be the first one in the world to cut a cake for one’s departure)... She gave a KFC bucket treat in return too... went very awesome, mentor turned to be a best friend for all of us there...
And then yeah finally the first month salary came when i checked the atm after that...24282/- .....
No words to explain the feelings, and then started dreaming about the upcoming big day, the tour to Mankaatha day... 24 of us hv booked it for a first day show in mayajaal which is of 3 hrs distant from office, so it seemed to be almost a tour to the movie.. Wednesday, started at 10pm, reached there at 2 (enjoyment unlimited during the travel) show at 2.40, enjoyed the second half, returned back and infact returned back home at 11.30pm only..:P. The longest day with my colleagues..
Next 3 days:
Well, I don’t want to tell the reason that why it changed to hell for all of us, but we are somehow managing through it... works were tightened after that... lots happened, nothing seemed positive(or fun filled i can say)...Anyway we could manage ourselves i guess... Atleast for a good cause...
Thats all for the week, I have included the salary split-up here

August month salary split-up:
Earnings:
Basic: 9700/-
conveyance-non taxable: 800/-
HRA - 3880/-
sundry medical : 790/-
Leave Travel Allowance : 808/-
Personal Allowance : 2880/-
Miscallaneous : 40/-

Total - 18898/-

Deductions:
PF + Arrear PF + Prof tax + Health Insurance = 5108/-
(but combined for the month of July + August)..

So as a % for August alone, the net salary comes around 15,685/-.... (as per my calculation)... Pretty not sure whether my calculation is correct and whether this will be the salary hereafter...