Life at Tcs, Trivandrum

Well its been more than a month since my training at Trivandrum started.. I felt we were called by Tcs fairly earlier.. I booked a train to Trivandrum t very next day and thot that nothing much was needed from my side except board t train on 28^th Sep 08.. Only later did I realize that I was horribly wrong.. There was hella lot of formalities to be completed which dragged till the last day…

We reached Trivandrum on Monday the 29^th after an 16 hr journey.. V had a lot of company at central over there and v took taxis en route to TechnoPark.. It’s a 18 km drive from central Trivandrum.. Kerela is full of backwaters and it was a pleasant journey..

It was particularly a new journey for me bcos it wood be the first time I would be stayin away frm my parents..

And v were given accommodation in Peepul park and I tink tats the best thing tat hpnd to us durin r ILP(Initial Learning Progamme).. The rooms are decent over there n it’s a very calm place.. Most importantly the labs are very nearby and u can access them wen ever u wish(24*7*365.. tats how the ILP head put it!!!).. Unlike in other cases were the associates were accommodated as far as Trivan.. its particularly difficult durin ur EC’s (Evaluations) wen u compulsorily need a computer to work on.. Being in Peepul park is THE BEST!!!

Forget the food bcos its so poor.. U r sure to lose more than a couple of kilos.. I m back after a 4 kg loss in less than 35 days.. I seriously wonder how the cooks themselves could eat tat stuff!!! Only the pineapple juice is worth ur penny..

Comin to the trainin part..

There r 2 labs which are generally used.. One is Peepul park labs n other is CLC which is at a higher altitude.. U hav to walk a half a kilometer frm Peepul park to CLC.. buses are arranged too.. U use it or u don’t u hav to pay for it in full.. Else u wont get released.. tats how the coordinates put it.. If u don fill a feedback form u wont get released.. if u don get a certain thing done in a specified time u wont get released!!! And not to forget t word “Extension”.. Extension is basically a 7-day extension programme for those who dint clear t pass criteria..

Well, there was a constant sense of fear all through the training period.. Our semester was mostly a non-CS batch except for a few frm MCA n IT background.. Out of 420, around 370 was non-CS.. Well v dint feel much of a difference in coding bcos a new language named “Scheme” was followed and it’s a lower language compared to other premier languages..

In fact many of my frnds who had a good comp background were the same as a beginner.. Who ever it is they hav to slog it out durin the EC’s.. a few sleepless nights in Cinnamon or cardamom (t lab names) added to that of the diagrams like data flow diagrams, class diagrams etc are sure to keep ur adrenaline high all through..

T best thing abt ILP is tat v hav many professional sessions sandwiched between the technical sessions.. Usually there are 4 sessions per day.. T split up is mostly 1 or 2 technical sessions, 1 professional session and 1 or 2 lab sessions.. Its self study all time.. U get to no ur batchmates a lot durin those team work sessions and its sure fun.. U definitely need a change of schedule..

My training timings were from 2 to 9 pm.. We come very late to r rooms after dinner and by around 11 v again go to lab to try out some programming.. N by t time v go to bed its almost early morning.. We wake up after 11.30am and repeat t same process again.. T cycle became too monotonous.. Tank god t weekends were totally off!!!..

T weekends are good to do some research on the outskirts.. We went to kovalam beach, Thumba etc.. And dined in some good hotel out.. afterall u need to have good food atleast once a week!!!!.. The bad part is in Trivandrum u wont get proper food 9 am in the morn, after 2 pm in the noon and after 9 pm at night.. My holy god!!! V usually had our meal only after these timings and we found it too too difficult to manage some proper food.. So we leav as early as 7 pm to get wat we want..

I tink I stress too much on food.. Sorry folks.. Its jus tat I belive tat v work hard or study hard only for getting some good food for r tummy.. a constant nourishment of r souls is absolutely necessary!!!

Sharma dhaba, B6 inn, geetanjali are some of the good hotels there.. And for all these u hav to walk a minimum of 1 km frm hostel.. And if u come out without ur ID card ur virtually lifeless over there.. U could not move even a small stone. The guards will wait for some occasion to catch us!!!

Next, the most important thing is we have to wake up to the corporate world.. Tats wat the trainees keep stressin.. Ur no more school kids or college folks cryin for tiny things.. u r mature enough to say “Thank you” even if ur sacked!!! Ha ha ha ha!!!

And I would like to finish with some info about the evaluations..

Well, there r 5 Evaluation Components (EC’s) in 23 days.. There is a pretest on the 3^rd day.. tats jus to warm u up for the coming biggies.. nothing much to scare for it..

On the 7^th day comes ur EC 1.. It’s the mother of all EC’s.. The most most most important of all.. if u get a 0 in it ur sure to get extension.. U will get 0 if u fail to upload ur file..

In 3 days from EC 1 u hav ur EC 2 which is group project based on structures.. Diagrams are the most important..

Then in some 4 or 5 days u have EC 3 which is based on OOPS..

If u clear t above 3 with 55% u will get released on time.. else u will be put in a new batch and u will have extra classes and u hav to do ur EC 4 n 5 on a later date..

EC4 is again a group project.. U will hav to do ur EC 2 project using OOPS..

EC 5 is an objective test.. If u clear the previous ones with decent marks u can very well leav this free..

Oops I forgot to mention tat its fully computerized in Trivan.. all ur exams will be evaluated by the computer.. T comp cannot understand ur logic or steps.. So don even dream u will get step marks.. If u get output u will get marks.. for example, if there r 100 test cases for a particular problem and if u get 20 correct out of it ur mark is 20.. and if u get a syntax error u will lose a big junk of ur marks.. t ppl over there say tat t tool is designed based on the clients perspective.. Hmmm wat ever v were not convinced wit r marks.. We also got the reputation tat v r worst semester of all time..

I hope someone will beat us!!!

And I dunno if it was ILP for us but it was sure a WLP(Weight Loss Programme) !!!

(Well this is only abt trivan center.. Its gonna be totally diff in other centers.. bcos its manual over there… If ur logic is rite u may rite 80%.. unlike us)