Decisions: Aar ya paar ??

I am a satisfied soul these days .. thanks to Amazon.com !!! I did have conflicts in my mind as I had quite a few good potential opportunities lined up but I decided to avoid this exercise .. Onsite interviews do take a toll on your energies and I think it is in the best interests of oneself to be satisfied with what he/she gets. I got what I wanted in my first attempt and I asked myself a simple question. If I were to get an offer elsewhere, would I really go for it? The answer was a distinct "no" and that is what led to me to accept the offer at Amazon.com. Moving away from all this euphoria that I experienced, I want to touch upon the decision making ability one has to inculcate to move ahead in life. Life is all about prudent decision making .. At each step you have to decide your next course of action and only a sound decision lends stability and direction to your thoughts and your ultimate future.

I have somehow felt that I have never really planned my career. I just did what I felt was right at that stage without any consideration for my long term goals.. In the process, I did decide about my career path though .. As experience has taught me, decision making is the key to make progress ... I have been in a dilemma ever so often between two equally good choices and this I feel is an aspect I need to improve upon. I have known a few close friends who have been poor at decision making but fortunately that has not affected their lives thus far .. Sometimes, things happen to you and you just move forward with it .. A lot of close friends and relatives have asked me what is it that I really want to do ?? and I in a rather lame fashion have given them the cliche response .. "To be successful" ... What are the parameters of success and how to get there is a big abstraction for me as of now.. but I hope that I lead a satisfied life in the future.. That would be my definition of success.. Most people would equate success with monetary belongings and that is completely unjustified as far as I am concerned. Success is a state of mind where in you feel contented with what you are doing .. I firmly believe in this .. To be successful one has to make the right decisions at every juncture as that governs your course of action ... I vehemently and vociferously vouch for decisions to be boolean .. a "yes" or a "no" .. A "maybe" or "maybe not" kind of decision is a tricky one to live with .. I have been in such situations before and learnt a lesson or two .. Anyway, the whole point of this writing was to emphasize the importance of decision making and its impact on one's future .. So folks always think before you act ..

Being Cyrus -- an offbeat theme

So, I finally decided to sit down and experience a different genre of cinema .. I never thought it would turn out the way it did. I am referring to the recently released movie "Being Cyrus" ... I kinda knew that this would be an unconventional movie given the promos that I had seen before.
BEING CYRUS explores a bizzare tale of two harassed siblings who have been raised in foster homes ever since childhood. They seemed to live in a world oblivious to happiness .. and never knew that there existed such a world outside of where they lived... I think this movie would appeal to those who have an appetite for "hatke" cinema .. It boasts of an ensemble cast (Naseer, Dimple, Saif, Boman Irani all impress with fine performances .. Though the film tells a story of a dysfunctional Parsi family it tends to get abstract as well as intellectual at times.. For a first timer, director Homi Adajania definitely deserves kudos .. he has handled portions of the film with dexterity .. As the plot unfolds it reveals the morbid and unanticipated sides of many .. There is definitely an element of surprise and the execution is handled immaculately .. I would not like to delve into the details of the story here as that would spoil the fun in watching it .. I would say this movie is unconventionally dark and reveals facets of human nature that are not normally manifested .. Definitely a one time dekko !!

My trip to Seattle

Chicago O'Hare airport: I flew in this cute jet from Newburgh, NY

Satisfaction at last

I have seldom felt so satisfied. You know what .. I feel elated today ... Reason .. The recruiter at Amazon called me up and made me an offer. Lord .. I thank you for everything .. This interview process saps your energies .. trust me .. I have been lucky to an extent to have had two internships with IBM. Both of them have been truly fantastic experiences ... but till date I do not have an offer from them. To an extent, I will attribute my success to my manager, Tom , he has always been there for me trying to get me on board.

Back to Amazon ...

I use Amazon.com almost every other day. So, I thought it would be nice to have an opportunity to work at a company that provides services to millions of users all over the world. This is the place to cause an impact and feel it as well .. This is Amazon .. So, I sent in an application somewhere back in mid-November. I was on my way home as usual in OCC bus when I saw my cell phone ringing with a private number. I was curious and as I would normally, answered the phone. A voice from the other end turned out to be an Amazon.com recruiter. It was nice surprise to hear from them in really quick time. Now, I was not in a position to appear for a technical interview as I had never given one till date. I was apprehensive but I had to make a start. On the other hand, I wanted to leave an impression on the interviewer as well.. So it was dicey scheduling the phone screen.

The way it works over here in the US .. is generally you have 2-3 phone screens with the company you are applying to and if they are interested you get an all expenses paid onsite invitation. Nice, isnt it? So, if I remember correctly, I nervously appeared for my first ever phone interview for a full time position with Amazon. I was interviewing with Fulfillment Management Systems team and I spoke to an SDE (an Indian .. by chance). He did ask me some interesting questions about data structures and algorithms. I thought i did rather well on the interview and was confident of hearing from them in about a week ... Rather, this wait turned out to be a long one as I was contacted after almost a month and a half (thanks to the holiday season ) and to my helplessness I was visiting India during that time.

When I got back to the US, I went ahead with the second phone screen. This one was on similar lines and I was not as confident about it as the first one. I did hear from them but this took a month long as well. I was getting frustated to say the least as I wanted to have an offer as early as possible. Although other interviews kept me busy, I always wanted Amazon to be my first choice and so it happened .. I was invited to Seattle after some careful planning of dates.

I departed from Newburgh and flew to Seattle. First impressions of Seattle ... stays green for most part of the year, gets depressing ( I was told) .. cloudy in general but believe it or not I dont mind such weather. The air stays fresh and you get to avoid scorching heat .. Why complain ? I took a cab from Sea-Tac airport to Grand Hyatt, right in the heart of downtown. I was impressed with the arrangements as it was my first time.

So, I stay put in my cosy room for most part of the evening. I had a royal dinner too .. probably the most expensive till date .. trust me .. on Amazon's expenses .. I was keen on meeting my buddies who work for Microsoft over there but unfortunately could not see them until Monday due to some unforeseen problems .. Sunday was all about preparing and making sure I was confident about the interview. I really did not know how to go about it but I forced myself into going over some stuff I should I have known rather well. I do not how much it mattered at the end but I believe I made good use of my time considering I was doing a co-op as well during that period.

Monday dawned and after a good night's sleep I woke up afresh. I am kinda particular about a few things and I always kick myself when I push things until the last minute. So as usual I was late checking out of the hotel and hurriedly made my way to Starbucks (shouldnt be a surprise .. there is one at every nook and corner) ... I sipped in a Hot Mocha along with a Butter Croissant. My first interview was scheduled at 10.00 AM again with FMS. I got onto a yellow cab and made it to Union Station 1 at around 9.30 AM. I was supposed to submit some paperwork before I could move on with the interview process. I did that duly before starting my trip to Seattle .. I pat myself on the back for doing so as it was the first time, I did something in advance. Anyway, the interviews got underway earlier than usual at 9.45 AM.

My first interviewer was Gabriel Deal. What's the big deal, I may ask now? Well trust me .. his questions were .. I started off very confidently but was stumped on the next one. I did a good recovery job and came up with a convincing solution at the end. My next one was with Nicholas, again an SDE. I think I did this one really well and was pleased at my performance at the halfway mark. We set out for a lunch interview with my hiring manager, Irina Somin , a rather young manager i must say .. I grabbed a Thai chicken sandwich and made a perfect mess of it answering questions amidst all of it. We returned to the interview room after this refreshing lunch session. Someone (Jason) was already waiting in the room for me. I was kinda nervous as I had done well until then and wanted to make sure I finish on a high note. I did exceedingly well halfway through this one. I messed up some hashtable optimization questions which he posed and was losing my confidence. I made a recovery towards the end with a coding solution that seemed to have put his doubts to rest for the time being. Time ran out though and I was more than happy to see his back. My last one was with Dustin, HR recruiter. A handsome, enterprising fellow he was and he briefed me about the history and geography of Seattle. We went over some common concerns and he escorted me to the exit to end the day of interviews.
He told me he would get back to me sometime later that week .. but given Amazon's promptness I highly suspected that although I did make it clear to him about my experiences with them.

Towards late afternoon, I met Nilesh who was here on Infosys duties. He took some time out and we headed to see the Space Needle, the only significant monument of interest over here. Ashish joined in too and it was fun to spend some time with my MIT buddies. After a nice dinner, I made my way to the airport for my return.

Trust me the return was painful .. I left wondering whether I would make it back here again .. (although I have an interview with Microsoft soon) .. but I wanted Amazon .. I really did ... I was kicking myself for kinda screwing up one question with Jason. I told myself to put that behind me and look forward to a whole month of onsite interviews I had lined up. I could hardly sleep on the RED EYE and I got off the flight in the wee hours of morn at Newark Liberty Airport. I got a rental car from Avis and drove down to work after I got a bit fresh from my epic journey.
I slept through most part of the day and I did miss the call from the HR recruiter. Today, he called me again after an uneasy morning. He broke the news that my interviews were wonderful and Amazon wanted me to join their family. I was thrilled.. my joy knew no bounds .. At last, I was satisfied. I am eager to tell this piece of news to my folks back home but they must be fast asleep now .. I will catch them first thing in the morning when they wake up .. Thanks for answering my prayers .. (yes I did go to the temple religiously since the past one month )... I couldnt be happier !!!

Ok .. so I did speak to my folks and my sister was ecstatic ... more than me i guess .. made me realise what it means to be the only son in the family .. I owe a lot to my parents .. especially my mom .. and I would like to dedicate every little success that I've got to her in particular .. although she still gives me big sermons which I do not enjoy frankly .. she does care a lot for me .. my dad on the other hand gives out some obvious suggestions and thinks he has shown me the shortcut to be successful .. mind it .. he has achieved everything in life and I will consider myself lucky if I even reach the halfway mark .. All in all, I hope I have instilled a little bit of happiness in my family members who mean everything to me.