Hi...
Tuesday was the real first of training. The notice board at GEC displayed the name of the class and the number of PC assigned to us according to our employee number. The lecture was mainly about how to approach a problem and what methods to apply. Nothing worth querying about for you people. Then we used a small software called Raptor which makes flowcharts and executes them. We had to make some silly flowcharts like adding first 10 even and odd numbers, find whether a number is prime or not, etc etc. We did not have to submit the assignment and it was not to be evaluated.
We were also given our login IDs and passwords. I started entering all kinds of passwords before it was made known to us and ended up locking my account.(Your account gets locked if you enter a wrong password for 3 times). Thats no big deal, actually. I just had to call extension 5555 and tell my employee number and it was unlocked within 30 seconds.
For today's day, click Read More...
Today also we had to make some slightly complex flowcharts with Raptor and had to give feedbacks about the faculty yesterday. Its an online system and you will get a mail about it on your infy mail account. The infy mail account is the way company communicates officially to you. You get all types of mail from infosys on it. Like today, there was a mail telling Cochin Bakery has opened today in GEC-2. You can also register for any contests through it like there was a mail about registrations for bowling competition.
And ya, i forgot to tell you one thing that Indian Women's Cricket team is practicing on the cricket ground here. They are here since 10 days now. And Anil Kumble also comes sometimes to practice at the nets here. (As told by HR in the first week.)
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Hi... Today we just had to go to the ILI building at 2 PM and write an essay, a book review and a business email. The marks for this will be given when the second phase of ILI training starts. It was a 50 marks paper and there is nothing to worry about it!!! Dont ask lame questions on that.
And also, today was the screening test for all CS-IT and CC people. 205 people have passed the test and i dont know how much appeared. It may be around 300 and not more. I am in Long Cycle by default.
Dont click on read more.. The post ends here..
In this post, i will tell you about 14 policies and processes that make Infosys the brand that it is.
1. The drinking water is checked twice a week from different water coolers to ensure purity.
2. All the cooks in all food courts wear hand gloves and proper head gear.
3. You can have a visit inside the food court kitchen wearing those hand gloves and head gear.
4. All the water used on the campus is recycled and used to water the plants. So before you decide to have a rain dance in the sprinklers, remember where the water came from. ;-)
5. If you write a complaint about the food or the service at the food courts, you can return the next day and check the register to see what action has been taken against your complaint.
6. Infosys, Mysore is ISO 14001 certified for non-pollution and environmental purity.
7. Even the air at different buildings is checked to see if it contains sufficient oxygen!!!!!LOL
8. There are fire extinguishers placed at about each 4 rooms in the hostel and also everywhere in all the buildings.
9. There are smoke sensors in each hostel room and also in each of their bathrooms!!!(Atleast this is true for new single bed rooms).
10. To save electricity, they have set up a system such that you can only use either fan or AC in your room. You cannot use both at the same time.
11. All the recreational facilities are available before working hours and after working hours only so that you wont be tempted to bunk classes and play pool or table tennis or anything like that.
12. They have their own powerplant, so the power supply on weekdays in your hostel rooms is cut off during working hours so that you may not bunk classes and watch TV here.
13. To save electricity, the power automatically turns off if you dont put in the key card in the slot in 5 mins.
14. To register your attendance, you have to swipe in your ID card at any of the attendace machines. You get a magnetic proximity ID card which carries a unique number so that the system may idenify you. You have to swipe in before 8:45 AM and swipe out after 5:45 PM on any working day to register your attendance. If you fail either swipe in or swipe out on time, it will be considered as a half day leave.
Hi... Today was the only saturday that you will have to go to classes.
Nothing much for those who passed the english test. For those who pass, they will be given an assignment which consists of an essay, a book review and we have to write any 15 tips on formal email. The classroom session will last for about 15-20 mins and then you would be set free. You can choose any book from their library. You dont have to do the assignment there and then. You will be given 2 days time. We have to go back to the class at 2 PM on monday and write it there. We dont have to write before monday and submit. We have to write in the class on monday. They will also give the pages to write.
Those who fail the test have english lectures today. Dont know what they will teach. I think they would be taught grammar and all because that's what the test was about which they failed. About 70% of the people have passed the test. Thats it for now... Off for lunch...
Today, the session was very boring. Many guys were sleeping in the hall. One was even sleeping in the third row and the mam woke him up. LOL...
The result of the english test was out. Most of the people have passed the test.
Now going out to explore the campus more... Bye...
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Yet again, as usual, classes in the multiplex from 8:30 in the morning. There were lectures about etiquette and business manners. After that, there was a session on dressing and grooming. Then there was a session on dining etiquette. Then there was a short grammar test which only an aadivaasi can fail.
There was a very good session on mind mapping which everyone enjoyed the most.
In the etiquette session, we were given a small task which was to introduce ourselves to one boy and one girl in the hall. So in that you just have to go to the girl that you like the most and introduce yourself. LOL..
No need to click on Read More. This post ends here...
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Today we were again called to the multiplex in the morning and the usual classes from different people.
In the afternoon there were some lame tests. One was a test of english language which was simple and another lame test which was very simple. It was about all that they have taught till now and how well do you understand their policies.
And in the afternoon session they distributed the Service Agreements which had not been delivered to the addresses. If you have received the Agreement after you have left from home then you will have to get it signed by your parents as the surety(which they will explain in the session) and have it couriered here. You will be given 2 weeks time to submit it to them. If you dont do it within that time, then your salary will be withheld. You will be given your salary after you submit it to them.
There was also the document verification process today. You have to submit the zeroxes and show the originals to them. They will compare each result with the original and give the original back to you there itself.
Today we had to go to the multiplex again in the morning and we had sessions from some people from the canteen committee, HR department and from the life coach Chaya here. Remember, Infosys is the only company in India to have its own life coach. You will enjoy that session. Those people who had brought the service agreement (Hard Copy of Call Letter) submitted it today.
We also came to know that Infosys has an Apollo Hospital on the campus. Its a 24x7 hospital.
One more thing that made us feel very good about Infosys is that we can call Infosys immediately if we meet with any accident in the city or any nearby picnic places. Here there is an ambulance ready round the clock. There have been incidents of people getting into trouble at the nearby water bodies when on picnic.
One more secret never revealed before: Soon a discotheque will be opening on the campus so DJ nights will not be only on every alternate thursday but everyday!!!
You will be given a welcome letter that i mentioned which would say that you have to be at the multiplex at 8:30 the next day. There you will be given your temporary ID card on entry and your employee number later in the day. People from different departments of the DC will come and introduce the processes of their depts.
You will also fill up the form for the ICICI bank salary account on the first day. Then you will have a session on how you can get various tax exemptions. How to apply for it and when you are eligible for that.
If you dont have your passport size photos with you then they will ask you to come in and get clicked by the photographer there. Its at the normal price but dont know exactly how much. You will get your photos the next day.
You will feel tired on the first day and also sleepy during the sessions. First of all, there are some steep slopes which would be difficult to cycle over and second, the sessions are not that important.
You will have to swipe your ID card at any of the attendance registers. On the first day, you just have to swipe IN and OUT at the same time otherwise, swipe IN should be before 8:30 AM and swipe OUT after 5:30 PM. If you forget either to swipe IN or OUT, it will be considered as a half day leave.
I arrived at the Mysore campus at about 10:30 from Bangalore. The bus fare is Rs. 200 for volvo bus and i felt it is the best way of coming from Bangalore to Mysore. The trains from Bangalore are available at 5:30 AM, 6:30 AM and 7:30 AM to Mysore. There are 3 more trains but they are after 12:00 AM. Buses to Mysore are available every 5 mins so you can just go to the KSRTC bus stop and go to platform num 18 and catch a bus to Mysore.
On arrival at Mysore, we 5 people booked a taxi(Tata Indica) for Rs.320. It would be given in the accommodation mail that you can get a taxi for 210 Rs. but that seems to be too old information to me. The taxi driver will leave you at the Infy gate where already people would be getting their offer letter shown to the security guards at the gate and getting admitted. If you have laptops then they will tell you to go to the security cabin besides the gate where they will write the service tag number of your laptop alongwith your name.
After that you have to go inside the main gate to one more stall where they will verify your identity by your driving license, passport or PAN card and then will mark your registration number on their sheet. This way, they will get to know how many people are actually joining out of the total offers issued. For our batch, i think there are about 700 people joining out of 1000 offers. You will be given a registration number in your accommodation mail which would be from 1-1000 indicating that the total batch size for that DOJ is 1000. Then you will be made to sit in a Tata Sumo or Bus and will be taken to the registration desk.
Infront of the registration desk, they will make you open your bags and all and will casually see if you have got any suspiscious things with you. And there you will also have to write in a register about all the electronic equipments you have. If you have 25 CDs then you will have to write that there. And they will then give you the receipt mentioning all your gadgets which you will have to retain.
After checking the luggage, you will put your luggage in the golf cart which will take it to the hostel building assigned to you and will leave it there on the footpath. Meanwhile, you would have collected your registration card and a welcome letter mentioning your schedule for the first day. You will then collect a key from the desk which will be your room and cupboard key.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are one of the people arriving the earliest, there are high chances that you will get shared rooms. If you arrive late then its almost sure that you will get single bed rooms. Some people from my college arrived way before us and got shared rooms with people of earlier batches and then everyone got single bed rooms. You can ask someone at the desk or anyone who has obtained the key from the desk whether they have got single bed rooms or shared rooms and decide accordingly.
Single bed rooms will be allotted in sequence. So if a group of friends comes together in the queue then they will get rooms close to each other. Shared rooms are awarded randomly according to the vacancy. We were lucky in that we 4 friends got room numbers B79/09,10,11 and 12. That means they had just started allotting the single bed rooms. If we had been 20 mins earlier, we would have been in shared rooms!! (79 is the number of the building.)
Then we had our lunch and went for a walk in the campus. The food here is cheap and served in generous quantity. I dont know how students who are goign to live outside their homes for the first time will feel about the food but I am studying in another city since 11th std and i will say that the food is the best outside food that i have ever had. The menu they serve is also nice. Many varieties in both veg and non-veg are available for both lunch and dinner. Food Court 1 serves the best food but will have a looooooong queue during rush hours which may make you wait for 45-60 mins!! So i prefer going to Food Court 3 which is nearer to boys' hostels and also less crowded. And also, at FC1, mainly production people would be coming to have their meal so you will be told on the first day to prefer going to FC2 or 3 to prevent overcrowding. (I am yet to try FC2).
The space that you get in the single bed rooms are more than enough for a single person. You get a study table, a coffee table, a sofa , king size bed, a cupboard and also attached rest room. One thing i have not heard anyone mentioning is the electronic safe that they provide. You can keep your valuables in that safe and set it to the code of your choice. It would be resting in your cupboard. The plasma TVs are working fine but they are yet to provide us with intercom. You also get a steam iron and a rack for placing your shoes and also two more bedside tables. The tea/coffee maker would be lying on the table in a tray alongwith an Infosys mug, a water bottle( which would be filled everyday by them) and sugar cubes and tea/coffee satchets. The ACs in the shared rooms are individual units per room whereas for single bed rooms, they have central ACs.( Forget about ACs, you may even hardly use the fan. It gets cold in the night.)
The following things are available at the supermarket here: all types of toileteries namely hair oils, shampoos, deoderants, soaps, moisturizers etc etc. And also you everything that you may feel is needed over here like ties, shoe polish, rackets for badmintion and tennis, pens, notebooks, swimming trunks, and all kinds of food items also. So dont bring all these things over here. You can buy them on the first day itself. I too did the same. There is also an Indigo Nation store for formals for both men and women. You can also buy ties and belts from there. Other shops over here are saloons for both men and women, apollo hospital and drug store, airtel, vodafone shops etc etc.
There are hundreds of cycles parked everywhere on the campus and you can take anyone and have a ride. You will have to walk a lot otherwise. And ya, the longest distance on the campus is from the new hostel rooms to the classrooms. So cycle is a must.
Ok, now i am tired of typing and you may also be tired of reading this loooog post. Thats it for now. More updates in the next post.
Hi Infoscions...
Now i am on my way to reach Mysore. I am in the plane as i save this to word. The clouds look like a farm of wool as seen from a plane just above the clouds (my first time, wink;-) ). Just had my brunch. ( food before lunch is called brunch ;-) ). I arrived at Gandhinagar yesterday to our "picnic house" and left today morning for the Ahmedabad airport. The flight was scheduled for 2 PM so had my lunch aaraam se and then dad came to leave me at the airport.
Two more friends were supposed to come with me but we found out at the airport that they are on another flight which is 45 mins late. So i will have to wait for them at the Bangalore airport for that much time as we have planned to stay together on 19th night. We will leave for Mysore in the morning.
Thats it for now. Keep checking for more. I am taking my laptop and reliance netconnect with me so that i can blog everyday about the happenings over there. So from now onwards, expect atleast 1 post per day on this blog.. Byeeeeeee....
Till now, I have only told you people about all the nice things about training. So I think this post will give you an idea why are we given so much of facilities. It is because they also demand a high level of discipline.
This is what Shravan and Karthik told about the HR policies there..
They will take attendance 4 times a day. Once in the morning at 9:00 am, then after the first break at 10:30, then at 2:00 pm and 3:50 . For attendance you will have to input some 4 digit code from your PC. Its just like the code that you have to enter whne you register on any site.
The server would be opened for 3-4 minutes and you have to submit your attendance in that time. And ya, if its 9:05 then you wont be allowed to sit for the 9:00 am lecture. So you cant be late by even 5 mins.
For Shravan's view click "Read More..."
Shravan says,
You can roam in the city as you want be you need to get in before 9:30 pm on weekdays and 11:00 pm on weekends. Shravan was once late by 10 mins i.e. arrived at 9:40 pm on a weekday and had to pay 500 Rs. fine... Yes, its Five Hundred Only...
So you need to be careful about that.
This time, Karthik reports....(Nickname thread fame.. ;) )
There is a new Laundromat coming up.
He says he has taken his laptop with him but has used it only once there. (His DOJ is 16 June, so thats only once in a whole month).
The housekeeping people are good and trustworthy, as said by Shravan. Once he forgot his wallet with a lot of money in it but it was untouched when he returned.
Shravan Kumar (DOJ 26th May, Long Cycle) just told me these things.
1. This weekend, they are showing Jaane Tu... and Hulk in the Multiplex there.
2. Food Courts are getting crowded but 2 more food courts are going to be opened soon.
3. And one of the new Food Courts may have a McDonald's outlet.
4. You get only 2 leaves for your entire training period. More leaves will be paid leaves.
5. You will get your ID-card on the first day of joining.
6. You need to swipe the card in the classroom as proof of attendance but you can swipe and swipe out if you want to bunk the class and nothing is going to happen. ;)
7. Narayana Murthy is addressing the Infoscions at Mysore right now!!!
Hi, Infoscions...
I am back with some more news....
1. You can go to where ever you want on weekends. Saturday and Sunday are both holidays.
If you want more leave like for your brother's or sister's marriage then you can get the permission from the batch owner who is like your class teacher.
You get 3 days leave for every quarter so that means you get about 3 days leave for your training period. Other leaves would be paid leaves and would be deduced from the salary.
2. There are Subway, Domino's, Cafe Coffee Day, Pizza Hut, Amul etc. shops in the campus itself. And Domino's also delivers pizza to the hostel rooms!!! These shops are open till late night. So you can have pizza at 12 if you want.
3. The food items there are all reasonably priced. All juices and ice-creams cost from 10-30.
The new 7500 single bed rooms ready for accommodation are too large for a single person and equipped with not only AC but also Plasma TV and steam iron unlike old rooms.
The old hostel is full so new joinees are getting accommodation in these single bed rooms now. So rejoice if your joining is late.LOL.
Infosys has an intranet instant messenger called Sparsh. You can chat with anyone working in Infosys in any city through that messenger.
People would chat with their friends in different streams in between sessions during training.
And unlike all other stuff, this is officially allowed.
Here are some more inputs from Yasmeen Akhtar...(DOJ 9th June. Now in Fast Track.)
1. Its easy to clear tests. She scored 89% in RDBMS and till now her CGPA is 4.5.
2. Her last day for training is actually 7th August after which they will undergo Star Infoscion Programme till 22nd August which is a soft skills development program.
3. This weekend they are showing Love Story 2050 in the multiplex there. (Hope you people already know that its free!!!)
4.They dont do all the assignments by themselves. At times they copy+paste and forward to friends by email. That too using the email they provide.LOL.
Hey, i just talked with Yasmeen who is in fast track (DOJ 9th June) and came to know the following...
1. We can surf the net from the PCs they assign to us but only after training hours from 5 to 9 pm.
2. Orkut would be banned and you will have to use Proxy sites to access Orkut. (You can fully access Orkut from the Reliance WebWorld there.)
3. Food Courts are getting very crowded.
4. She got the salary for 20 days of june. Its 11198 Rs. So that makes it 16797 Rs. per month.
5. You can enjoy the campus in fast track also but you need to be good at time management.