How i got into Sun? What i am Now?

I completed my B.E (Computer Science) on 4th June 2004. After that been to Gwalior(my hometown) for one month for holiday. Came back & started my job hunt. I was a fresher & its really tough to get a job (any software job) in Bangalore if you are a fresher. I gave around 11 interviews/written tests in different companies. One of the interviews was in Sun Microsystems on 14th July 2006.

I was among the lucky 130 people who got the chance to write written test in Sun Microsystems. That day it a formal call interview, but some candidates were absent,so Sun's HR people made it a walk-in. I got a SMS on my cell from one of my friend, that Sun is having walk-in, when i reached there i saw around 2000 people standing/fighting in front of Sun office to submit their resume, i was horrified & thought I'd no chance, still i tried & went ahead, luckily i saw a friend of mine standing just in front of HR people( actually he was not my real friend just acquittance, i met him few times while giving written test in another company, need to make network for job calls that time, through network only i got SMS for this walk-in), so i went ahead & gave him my resume & asked him to submit my resume if possible. He submitted my resume, HR collected few more resumes after my resume & then stopped. Jomy came with me on my bike but his resume was not collected. Sad!

Anyways i was among the 130 lucky ones who got the chance to write written test for Sun. When i went inside the office, it was so nice, everything seems amazing!! My written was not so good, even i got caught cheating from my neighbors answer copy by Sun HR, i concluded i had no chance at all(but GOD had different plans for me!, Thank GOD!), HR people came after 1 hour & was announcing the names of candidates who passed the written test, i was feeling really nervous, all names were called but mine, only two answer copies was remaining & finally i got up with my bag to go back home as i had lost all my hopes but suddenly the LAST name/copy announced was MINE:-) i was thrilled. Then after one hour i had my interview. I had lunch & came back, i thought my name was called last, so my interview would be last, but as soon as i reached to my shock my interview was first. Pradeep Joshi ( he is HP now!) took my interview for 1.5 hrs, it was terrific, he completely screwed me for the whole one & half hour. Then after two days i got call for second round of interview(I was going to Whitefield for some other written test, at that time!). I came to Sun's office, gave the presentation of my final year project ( Network Intrusion Detection System ), all my interviewers were happy with my presentation, but after the presentation, Suresh Jayaram ( He is Manager in Adobe now!) called me & told me that if i am not selected in Sun, that will only coz i have scored less in written test, i scored only 9/50. Surprised?? Don't be 10/50 was the passing marks, written test was too tough, 17/50 was the highest score. Then after a month, i got the news from Arunbabu Sambamoorthy that i was not selected for the position in Sun & other fellow ( Apurba Sarkar ) from IIT Kharagpur was selected in place of mine. He was M.Tech from IIT & i was B.E from Tumkur, he scored 17/50 & i scored 9/50 was the only differences that he got selected NOT me:(.

Then on 21st August 2004 i have written test in Tarang Software Technologies, Whitefield. Passed the written test, gave interview in Tarang on 23rd August 2004, Amit Agarwal ( he too joined Sun few months after i joined Sun!) screwed me again in interview for around 2 hours, but finally on 27th August 2004 i got the first job of my Life. I was very happy. Bhaskar Mishra( my Best friend, he is in TCS now! ) & me both got job together in same company on same date. We had whisky as soon as we collected the offer letter from Tarang. Our salary was around 8000 per month(6k in hand). We celebrated on 27th August 2004 & then on 1st September we went home for one month as our joining date was 4th October 2004.

I returned on 3rd October 2004, joined Tarang on 4th October 2004,was getting use to the new environment, people, technologies etc. Then on 12th October 2004 i got a call from Sun asking me to come for another round of interview, i was so ecstatic i can't explain. I went for interview in Sun on 12/13 October 2004, i dont remember the date correctly. Then after there were 3 more rounds of interview, Vinay V( he is in Cisco now!, took one interview), Arunbabu Sambamoorthy took another interview. Then finally on 19th October 2004 Suresh called me & informed me that my employment in Sun is confirmed & i can come to Sun's office to collect the offer letter. I was so so so happy. On 20th October 2004, i went to Tarang at 9.30AM by my bike, left Tarang at 5.30PM, came to Sun's office at Shantinagar, got the offer letter at 7.00PM. Called parents, bro & everyone & informed them about my new job & great salary. Everyone was very very very happy at home.

So from 21st October 2004, i was in Sun, quitted Tarang without resigning/informing them ( actually Bhaskar informed them on my behalf), but Tarang people didn't mind (hopefully!, i never dared asked them!) as i haven't took even my first salary from them.

I joined Sun Microsystems India Pvt. Ltd. on 21st October 2004. Started working on Sun Java System Instant Messaging Product as Quality Engineer. Arun was my Lead. After Arun left Sun on 28th Feb 2007, I got promoted "automatically" to the position of Team Leader recently on 1st March 2007. Congrats to me :-p. And now i am the proud Quality Engineering Lead for the IM Product. I have a team of 5 people under me. All my team members are awesome. Really:-)! Hope they think the same about me.:-)