For Everything on Infosys

What is Systems Engineer, Infosys? iRACE explained in detail.

2009-10-11T19:10:00.008+05:30

So after a looong time, i finally have something to blog about Infosys.

I got many queries from people who didnt understand what the role change was about and how will it affect their careers. Some future Infoscions are worried that Systems Engineer is something inferior to a Software Engineer. The following FAQ about iRACE will make it clear to you what it is all about. The role change is implemented across infosys for all current employees too as a part of corporate restructuring.

Please read these FAQs and it will be clear to you what it is all about.

http://lotofwallpapers.com/iRACE_FAQs.pdf

How Infosys posts its trainees to various locations

2009-07-24T21:30:00.002+05:30

While replying to a doubt about how posting is done on allaboutinfosys forum, i accidentally but fortunately composed a reply which turned out to be longer than most of my blog posts. :P So here it is for the sake of those who did not read it on the forum. You may wish to check the original link to see what the question was.

Here is the post:

Posting is decided according to their business requirements.

There are several departments within Infosys on which your posting depends.

There is a Corporate Planning Group (CPG)at Infosys, Bangalore which makes all the important decisions.

All the senior HR executives and Directors belong to this group alongwith the lovely lady who came to conduct your campus interview. (I checked about the lady who came to conduct our interview and found it to be like that).

There are various Business Units in Infosys like

1. Communications, Media and Entertainment (CME)
2. Healthcare
3. Retail
4. Banking and Capital Markets
5. Business Intelligence etc.

This is domain classification. Another classification would be like
1. IVS : Independent Validation Group
2. SI: Systems Integration
3. IMS: Information Management Systems.

These units would tell their requirements to the CPG according to the projects they have in hand.

If CME unit at Pune will say we need 100 Java trained people the CPG will give postings to 100 Java trainees as CME, Pune.
Some other unit will say we need 200 .NET people at Trivandrum and the CPG will do so.

This is the reason that even if you are allowed to swap, you still cant change your business unit and cant swap with a person from another stream because they have a specific requirement at the location and business unit which needs to be met.

The posting is usually announced in the last month of training, mostly in the last 2 weeks. After you have been assigned to a business unit by CPG, the head (or HR or whoever) of that business unit will contact you and all your communication will be done with him only and you dont directly need to interact with CPG.

As you can see, till now, i have not even mentioned HRs at Mysore. So now you know why you cant request for a location of your preference because they simply dont have any say in this. Their only role is to forward your swap request to CPG or The Business Unit you are posted at. The responsible people for your posting are the ones in CPG and you wont ever interact with them. This is one of those very smart processes that they have in place.

You will get enough time for swapping as it is announced 2 weeks before. And as soon as you get your posting, hundreds of mails from unknown people will overload your 10 MB inbox asking if anyone wants to swap. But be careful, sending such mass mails (and posting about swap on their online bulletin board) is against their policies and they have the right to cancel your swap if you found a swap through these methods.

So how to swap? There is a Swap Portal on their intranet website which you can access only after you have got your posting. You have to submit your request there with details like employee number, unit posted to, current location, preferred location etc. As soon as there is a match for you, your locatin will be swapped with that person.

It can also be done if two friends walk upto the HR and submit their request. You will make friends from Chennai etc who would be wanting Chennai and got Pune and you want Pune but got Chennai. In such a case, you two can go to the HR and say we want to swap our locations. Again, as i said before, your business unit and stream training needs to be the same.

Some Updates from Infosys Mysore

2009-07-16T18:12:00.003+05:30

Just pasting here the post that i posted on the forum:

One more suicide attempt at Infosys Mysore:

One more girl tried to commit suicide at Infosys, Mysore. She could not succeed and she is fine at the moment. This information is a closely guarded secret till now but now you people know it. It is known to a very few people there. The block number where this happened is 12.

"Stream"ing news:
OS Stream getting hauled up. 16th March batch will be the last one to learn Visual Basic 6.0. They will include something more substantial than Visual Basic 6.0 now. This news is officially confirmed.

From 9th Feb OS stream batch, out of 63, about 40 are made to leave infosys due to failing in both compre and recompre.

16th March Java Batch, already 40 exited out of 250 even before they could give compre. (i.e. failed in more than 2 subjects before compre).

Parents are allowed:
For new batches, parents are allowed inside the campus when they come to leave you but only upto FC 1(Food Court-1). This rule always existed whenever they allowed parents inside the campus. And ya, no brothers or sisters are allowed! Only parents.

Hands On exam with project:
Now for all those subjects in stream where you were to do projects, there is a hands on exam. So there will not only be projects but also a hands on exam for those subjects.

The Hands On part will be evaluated and not the project but mostly Hands On will be an extension of the project.

New Updates + A Humble Request

2009-07-14T22:25:00.005+05:30

Hi,

Recently I have been too busy answering your questions.

As you know, you are about 18000 people set to join Infosys this year and I am alone on this query-solving side.

Even if you reduce the count to 10000 considering not all people join, then too it is quite a steep ratio.

Only the last 5 comments are shown in the Recent Comments section and I fear i may not be able to answer each and every query looking at the current "workload".

I request all of you to please join the allaboutinfosys forum : http://lotofwallpapers.com/allaboutinfosys

I do not stand to gain anything but satisfaction and relief if you people do that.

Just to help you get started with it, i am posting my new post only on the forum and not on my blog. Hopefully it will help you get registered and get going with posting on the forum instead of my blog.

Here is the link for the new post: http://lotofwallpapers.com/allaboutinfosys/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=14

One more thing i promise, if you register at my forum and post a question there, i will answer your question within 3 hours. Mostly it will be within 1 hour during day time (From 10 AM to 10 PM).

I know requiring registration for it may be putting off many of you from it but i assure you it will be an effort well spent which you will realize after you join Infosys.

My blog is banned there and so are all other "blogspot" blogs but my website can still be accessed.

Once again, let me tell you, this will be an effort well spent. I have always received great praises from you people for my work here. For the doubts that i am sloving, for the information i am giving.

This, i am doing so that i can give even more.

Thanks,
Chintan.

Introducing All About Infosys Forums!

2009-07-12T16:00:00.005+05:30

Hi Infoscions,

http://lotofwallpapers.com/allaboutinfosys

This is the forum that i had envisioned to be more appropriate for keeping up with the growing queries that i receive on my blog.

Also, a forum is better for interacting among yourselves which cannot happen on a blog.

Infosys, Infosys 2008, Infosys 2009, Freshers@Infosys etc are the various communities that you need to join on Orkut to get to the information that you are looking for but now, people from all batches can come together on a common platform.

I had some spare bandwidth on this domain and so thought of giving something useful to you people again.

The main advantage of this forum is that you can access this forum after joining Infosys also.

I will be still be answering queries on my blog and also moderating the forum.

I will create appropriate topics on the forum as i deem necessary. Others can also create new topics but it will be great if you first check out if there is already a topic dealing with the same information. Redundant topics will be deleted.

Have fun,
Chintan.

Time slot allottment and joining procedure on DOJ

2009-07-12T14:22:00.008+05:30

From recent comments on my blog, I have come to know that now there is also a time on which you have to report on campus instead of just the date.

If you ask anyone who has already joined, they will tell you that this arrangement was very much needed.

Usually there used to be too much rush which became unmanageable for them.

At about 11 AM and after 3-4 PM there used to severe rush when they found it very difficult to register everyone's laptops (wont be needed now :) ) and electronic equipment. This happens at the main entrance gate.

After this, they will check your offer letter and some other confirmation like driving license or passport to make sure that You is yOU. :)

They, you will be made to sit in their golf cart or a Tata Sumo and another such vehicle will take your luggage with it to the registration counter.

At the registration desk, they will check each and every pocket of every bag of yours to make sure you dont have anything which should not be brought inside the campus. They wont spare a single pocket.

After this you will all stand in a queue to get the keys to your rooms. So naturally, friends standing together will get rooms close by.

Your checked luggage will be carried in a golf cart to the building number of your hostel. You will need to walk to your building number.

When you reach there, your luggage would already be lying on the entry to your hostel. Just pick your own luggage and go to your room.

When you enter the rooms, there wont be anything missing or anything which is not working. The plasma TV would be ready to serve you your favorite channels, coffee maker with which you can make tea/coffee for yourself and hot water in the shower.

Beds would already be made and the room will be very clean.

Why the time slot on DOJ?

So coming back to my original intention of creating this post, the time slot will help them organize this entire procedure which takes about 1-2 hours for each of you.

1000 trainees are called on every DOJ. About 60-70% of them join. (In my batch, from 1000, 634 joined).

So if these 600-700 people are divided into about 80-100 people for a slot of 1 hour, the whole joining process will be really smooth for them and also for you.

To make sure it happens this way, they have given you time slots and also have warned you to come on time or you will be allowed in only after 6:30 PM. This is much like all extension candidates being called together for training in March the next year no matter what their original DOJ was.

I request all of you to comply with their instructions to report on the respective time slots because waiting at the door and staring at beautiful buildings like GEC-2 and the Multiplex wont be a good experience. :)

Laptops No Longer Allowed Into Campus

2009-05-31T23:15:00.001+05:30

On trying to confirm what many readers have asked about laptops being no longer allowed into campus, I found out that laptops really are no longer allowed in the campus.

Here is an internal HR mail which says everything clearly.

Dear All,

This is to inform you that going forward personal laptops will not be allowed into the campus. This is applicable in all DCs.

Those who are already in possession of laptops in campus are directed to confine it to hostel rooms only and not carry it to working buildings, food courts or any other place in the campus, until further notice.

This is with immediate effect.

Please adhere to the above directive.

Regards,
Team HRD

This means that those who already have laptops will not face any trouble but trainees joining from now onwards will not be allowed to take laptops with them.

This would make studying a pain as now even the GEC is not open 24 hrs.

A small update for PLES aspirants

2009-05-16T11:17:00.002+05:30

I got to know from one of my friends currently undergoing training that there was no presentation for PLES which was there for us.

You can know about PLES by reading this post of mine: Important note...

When i was there, it was a routine that some heads of PLES team will gather all mech/elec/prod/civil people and give them a presentation about how good it is to work with PLES. That they design wings for Boeing, seats for Audi, cooling system for planes etc.

They told us that it was only the second presentation of its kind and that they are doing it to ensure that interested trainees from similar background get into PLES and not some CS/IT guys chosen randomly as is the case with all the other streams.

But my friend who is a mechie beloning to the 23rd March batch told me that there was no presentation going to be conducted and this she came to know when she inquired about it at HR dept. The HR told her that no presentation is going to be conducted for them but if they want to apply for PLES, they can mail the concerned head of PLES. If they are going to start a batch, they will inform you of your selection/rejection.

She also said that there is not going to be any interview conducted unlike the case with us.

Usually about 1 batch of PLES is started combining 3-4 DOJs. So many people even get about 15-25 days of free time of they belonged to one of the earlier batches. They just have to swipe in/out otherwise, no training on those days.

So to summarize, if you are interested to join PLES, do find out about it by asking about it to HR. Dont wait for anything to happen.

Full Details About New Training Program

2009-05-04T16:43:00.011+05:30

IMPORTANT:

Only post comments about this post on the forum: http://lotofwallpapers.com/allaboutinfosys/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3

Comments on this post will be deleted without a reply.
PLEASE DO NOT POST ANY MORE COMMENTS ON THIS POST. BLOGGER DOES NOT SHOW MORE THAN 200 COMMENTS AND I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO READ YOUR QUESTION AND ANSWER IT. POST YOUR COMMENTS ON OTHER POSTS.

The Generic Training Course has been revised so as to reduce the stress on trainees.

Now it has been taken care of that there will be only 1 exam per week. This is such a huge relief and i think it compensates the 12 o clock time limit of GEC.

As i said before, the training is now divided into 3 stages and the new update is that there are some differences for CS/IT and non-CS/IT people.

For non-CS/IT Graduates:

The first stage or the basic level of generic which contains PF,PT(C-Language) and RDBMS. The result is combined for PF,PT i.e it contains 40% of PF,30% of PT and 30% for PT project. RDBMS has a separate test.

Incase they don’t clear any of the tests(PF,PT combined and RDBMS tests) either in test or re-test, they need to take an Integrated test. Incase the trainee does not clear the Integrated test ,the trainee is sent back home to prepare for about 20 days paid leave is under LOP(Loss of Pay). That is, you will lose your salary for those 20 days. Not to mention the traveling costs.

When you come back, you have to reappear for these exams and if you fail for the second time, then you will be asked to leave the company.

After this Stage 1 of training you will get into advanced generic phase. This includes:
1) OOP(object oriented programming) using java and a little of advanced Java,
2) Oracle which include PL-SQL statements,
3) Unix and Software Engg Course after which the trainee needs to take Hands On exam on OOP concepts and Oracle.

After the Hands On exam, theoretical courses like SDM(Software Development Methodology),UXD(User Experience Design),IQS(Infosys Quality Systems) are taught. After this, the trainee will have an objective exam on the whole of advanced generic inclusive of the theoretical courses on clearing which the trainee will be allocated a stream.

Stream will be allocated even if the trainee fails the above mentioned exam but he will have to take the retest for the exam after Stream Training. There is no "Exit Policy" for non-CS/IT people for this stage.

For CS/IT Graduates:

Incase of a CS/IT Graduate, the trainee will have a super fast basic generic course called as Bridge Course, the result of which will not affect the training of the CS/IT gradutes. After this, the trainee enters the Advanced generic course similar to non-CS/IT graduates, but the difference here is that the exit procedures are applicable for the trainee here in case of CS/IT graduates. They need to clear that compre. There is a retest for that also.

After this they enter the stream training. Java and Open System streams are getting re-structured whereas Dotnet and Mainframes are being re-defined. (Will update you on this as soon as it happens).

After Stream, Extended training has been made mandatory nowadays, so after this every trainee needs to undergo extended training.

Now according to this new structure Generic is now 58 working days and incase the course is more than 4 days ,a day was added in between the course called a “Practice Day” where a trainee gets a day to work on the course and cope up with the subject.

There might be some refinement in the structure for the next batches as this is the first time this structure is being rolled out.

All information in this post is thanks to Shravan.

IMPORTANT:

Only post comments about this post on the forum: http://lotofwallpapers.com/allaboutinfosys/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3

Comments on this post will be deleted without a reply.
PLEASE DO NOT POST ANY MORE COMMENTS ON THIS POST. BLOGGER DOES NOT SHOW MORE THAN 200 COMMENTS AND I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO READ YOUR QUESTION AND ANSWER IT. POST YOUR COMMENTS ON OTHER POSTS.

Some More Updates

2009-04-30T00:02:00.000+05:30

Hi everyone,

Here are some more new and old updates for you.

The training program has changed much from what it used to be. Now the training is divided into 3 stages. Out of these, the first stage consists of PF(C language) and RDBMS. The trainees are given training for these 2 subjects and then there is a COMBINED test of these two.

If you clear stage 1 exam, you are sent to stage 2. However, if you fail, you are sent back home to prepare for about 20 days paid leave. That is, you will lose your salary for those 20 days. Not to mention the traveling costs.

When you come back, you have to reappear for these exams and if you fail for the second time, then you will be asked to leave the company.

Now Java has become a part of generic training. Not the entire stream but some subjects of Java stream are now a part of generic training.

Training period is now increased to 8 months.

There was a case of drug possessing before 2 weeks in the campus. The person was found smoking and ghanja was found in his room in a surprise checking. The person was exited from the company on the spot. (This happens once in a while there.)

GECs 1 & 2 now shut down by 12 AM on weekdays and 10 PM on weekends which used to be open 24 * 7 for trainees. So now, having a laptop will REALLY help as you can get the slides somehow and study at your room.

Trainee commits suicide at Infosys Mysore. Media not covering.

2009-04-17T21:21:00.003+05:30

A trainee at Infosys Mysore DC committed suicide on Wednesday, 14th April 2009.

The reasons quoted for the suicide is reportedly failing in 3 modules of generic training which brought him to the edge of being ousted from the company.

It is for the second time in the last 6 months that a trainee at Infosys Mysore has taken the dreadful step. The first incident occurred in the first week of October. While the reason for the earlier suicide remains unknown, the reason in this one clearly seems to be fear of losing the job.

It is apparent that as in the previous suicide case, in this case too Infosys deliberately tried to suppress the news.

Reportedly, Infosys has toughened rules for training and have made the tests more difficult which leads to a higher number of trainees having to leave the company before being confirmed employees of the company. This means that the actual layoff number of 2100 reported by Infosys is much higher if you consider the rate at which trainees are made to leave due to recession.

One more important thing to note is that on one hand, Infosys says that it will honour the 18000 campus offers made for the graduates passing out in 2009 to put up a good face in the public eye but on the other hand, it makes sure that only the required number of employees stay at the end of training.

New Stream at Infosys: Business Intelligence

2009-02-03T22:45:00.000+05:30

Through my friends undergoing training, i got to know about the introduction of a new stream at infosys called Business Intelligence.

The duration for this stream is same as other streams(about 21 days).

There are 2 classes of 100 each who have got this stream from 24th Nov batch. I think one class is from 17th Nov and other from 24th Nov. Dont know for sure.

The subjects of this stream are as follows:

Oracle

Unix/Perl

Introduction to Business Intelligence

ETL (Extract, Transform, Load)

MDDM (Multi Dimensional Modelling)

Entrerprise Reporting

Business Intelligence Methodology

And one more fact i came to know that from one of the 2 classes, one class is doing fine whereas in the other class, only 2 people passed in the first module test and 0 in the second module test. :P

The New Training Program

2009-01-21T21:37:00.001+05:30

There is now compulsary 6 months training for all. There is no change in the syllabus. Just that you now have 2 streams instead of 1. But ya, the good thing is that you have cleared training if you clear the first stream. That means, you wont be asked to leave if you dont score well in the second stream. And that also means that if you dont have a CGPA of 4 at the end of first stream, you wont get a chance to improve your scores in the second stream and will be asked to leave.

As is obvious, no choice for the second stream. You will have to study what they offer you.

The second stream that you undergo is equivalent to PR201 certificate. You will learn about that after you join. Infosys employees have to appear for a fixed number of certifications every year and this is one of them.

Earlier, you could not bring alcohol in the campus, but now, they have made the rule more strict by stating that noone can even enter the campus when he/she is drunk. As you may be already knowing, you will be asked to leave the hostel if you dont follow this rule. Some people who arrived drunk on 31st Dec have been already made to leave hostel.

Things to do if you dont clear training

2009-01-14T15:53:00.001+05:30

I felt this post to be necessary considering the recent increase in the number of trainees being asked to leave.

If you are not able to clear training, dont be disappointed and sit idle thinking that your world has come to an end. Dont give disappointment any time to set in and quickly start searching for alternatives. Move on with life.

I know that it is easier said than done but having gone through all that, I can say that things do fall in place quickly. I had to move from Mysore to my home with a very short notice but eventually, it didnt matter much. You quickly get adjusted to the new life.

Start searching for alternatives quickly. Dont think that you will now enjoy a vacation for about 1-2 months and then will look for a job. Early moves really help. I subscribed to Times of India as soon as I was back at home and as you know, I applied to one of the job postings in that newspaper and got a new job within one month.

Sign up with various job sites like Monster, Naukri, TimesJobs. I had got quite a few calls from some companies through them but decided not to go for interview as most of them were marketing jobs though in IT field only. I dont like to travel from city to city trying to sell some product to people which is similar to medical reprsentatives trying to sell something like lung cancer drugs to doctors.

Finally, Infosys training is a great value addition to your resume. But remember, it can only help you to get an interview call and doesnt go any furthur than that. Every company will surely assess you according to their criteria. So you need to be well prepared and not rely on the Infy brand alone.

Infosys way of jobcuts

2009-01-08T22:33:00.002+05:30

Hi Infoscions,

Finally a post about your company after a long time. :)

Now as we know, every company has its own unique way of cutting costs and firing people.

L&T Infotech would delay joinings as far as March-April next year so people would appear for competitive exams and go for higher studies.

Wipro would ask engineers selected for Wipro IT to work for Wipro BPO.

Now, learn the Infosys way.

Infosys would make training tests tougher. Yes people, tests at Infosys are tougher than ever. One of my friend told me that Generic Compre is yet to be taken and already 25 people have been made to leave out of 200.

When i was with Infosys, 25 people may have been made to leave only before Stream Compre. The tests are getting tougher and so are the rules.

Recently, they caught people who shared assignments or even old question papers by mail and fined them 2000 Rs. each! Thats not all, they have also been given a warning that if they are caught next time, they would be made to leave. And as you would be knowing, no experience letter is given if you are terminated from the company on disciplinary grounds.

So those of you who already fear training, fear it some more. And ya, do think about options. Seems like they are eagerly finding silly reasons to make trainees leave.

One more thing I would like to tell is that I am not telling all this to scare you but to make you people aware of the condition there so that you can be better prepared for your career.

(With inputs provided by Prathyusha)

How software MNCs(Infosys) are superior to SMEs

2009-01-04T18:17:00.004+05:30

And now, a few things to be happy about being an Infoscion.

There is no doubt that no company can match the training of Infosys in India. Not even IBM. IBM freshers have to manage for their own accommodation even! TCS, Wipro, L&T Infotech etc may have the same recognition in the IT industry but in my opinion, there is no company which matches Infosys' investment in training.

The brand "Infosys" is so strong that it landed me a new job even in such bad times for the industry. I wouldnt have been able to get such a job if I was sacked from some unknown SME.

MNCs offer higher starting salary than smaller companies. The salary offered by Infosys, TCS etc to freshers can only be reached after atleast 1 yr at smaller companies.

MNCs offer more facilities and incentives than SMEs.

Higher Education Support. Infosys has a looong list of MBA programs that it sponsors at IIMs and other major B-Schools. The list has been recently revised to include almost all the well-known courses offered by reputed B-Schools.

Lesser bond period is another advantage.

This is as much as i could gather. You are welcome to add your own point in comments. If it is good enough, i will include it in the post.

How SMEs are superior to MNCs like Infosys

2009-01-02T18:32:00.005+05:30

Update: There is nothing to write here.

I Got a New Job!! The Hell With Recession!!

2008-12-30T13:05:00.004+05:30

Hi everyone...

Swapping Secrets Revealed

2008-12-11T14:51:00.002+05:30

Not everyone will get the posting of their choice. So to move to the place of your preference, there is swapping. However, there are certain rules to be followed when you opt for a swap.

There are 2 CGPA brackets. Above 4.30 and below 4.30. You can only swap with a person belonging to your CGPA bracket. However, you can go to HR and if he agrees, you can swap with someone belonging to the other CGPA bracket also.

The following rules are to be followed when you go for a swap.

You can swap only by using the swap portal.

You cannot swap by publishing swap information on bulletin board or sending mass mails to everyone belonging to your batch. Your swap can be cancelled by the HR if you are found to have found a partner to swap in this way.

After postings are announced, you will get 100 mails everyday from unknown people asking for swap in your poor 10 MB mailbox. So, it is necessary for them to keep such rules for swapping.

You cannot swap with a person who has already left the company midway in training.

You can only swap with a person in your stream. (.NET people cant swap with Java people).

Your Business Unit will also change and it would be of the person that you swap with.

For example, you have got posting as IVS(Independent Validation Solutions), Mysore and you swap with someone having CME (Communication, Media, Entertainment), Bangalore, your Business Unit will also change from IVS to CME.

Trainees Getting Postings of Preference

2008-12-09T17:31:00.003+05:30

I forgot to tell you people one thing that from 21 July batch, mostly all trainees got posting to a DC which is nearest to their home town. People from Gujarat and Pune got Pune and people from Bengal got posted to BBSR though many of them wanted Pune.

Your posting also depends on the stream you are in. For example, there is no posting from .NET stream to Pune. All of them are either Chennai or Bangalore even if they are from Gujarat or Pune or Bengal. So their requirement is the primary parameter and your native place is the secondary parameter deciding your posting.

One news for committed couples joining Infosys is that if you have got a bad posting location and want to change, you can get married and you will be given posting at DC of your choice. You just have to show them a marriage certificate. :P

Life goes on and so will blogging

2008-12-06T19:58:00.002+05:30

Hi friends,

I am now back to home. Enjoying homemade food. Everyone here says i have lost some weight out of the little that i had. Probably because i had skipped many meals at Mysore.

Anyways, i am writing this post to tell you people that this blog will still go on and you will still find content and news about infosys which you wont find anywhere.

I just observed that there has not been a single comment in the last 2 days that i told about my leaving Infosys. Maybe, it is because there are no doubts left. :P

And ya, one important thing. Infosys has now announced that they wont be going to recruit freshers from campuses passing out in 2010. They will call people whom they have already issued offer letters but no more fresh recruits. This is because bench strength is already great at Infosys.

Last Day at Infosys, Mysore

2008-12-03T22:39:00.001+05:30

Hi friends, today was officially the last working day for me at Infosys. The results for POST were uploaded today and so, as i said, my CGPA became 3.95 and hence i got mail from HR asking to meet him. When i went there, i was asked to give my id card and sign some papers and i saw some 15-20 id cards already there with him. But i said i will come tomorrow and i was informed by him that tomorrow i will have to check out from the hostels by evening.

Today we had a Group Discussion and some stupid ILI english tests. Packing yet to be done. Have to book a flight also. And also they refused a one day extension of accommodation and said that it would be on guest charge which is 1000 Rs per day which i found to be very rude. But leave it.. Cant do anything about it.. So its good bye Infy tomorrow.

I will soon be leaving Infosys

2008-11-29T17:01:00.001+05:30

Hi everyone,

I want to tell you all that i cudnt manage to get 73% in stream compre. I scored 67% in it. And that means i will soon be asked to leave Infosys. My end CGPA is 3.95.

Our compre was unusually tough. 60 people have failed from total 300 in Java stream and there are very less people who have managed to get an A. People have got good marks in Hands On but there are hardly a few people who have scored above 30 in theory. I have 41 in Hands On and 26 in theory. Mostly theory marks are about the same for all and its the Hands On marks that decide the grade. But ya, people have got a lesser grade than their average throughout training. There were many people who had CGPA above 4.95 but now, i think only about 1 in 20 has CGPA above 4.95.

On the contrary, the results of .NET compre have been good. About 9 people have failed in stream compre out of 100. And there are more people who have scored A in their class.

One thing to note here is that Batch Owner makes a difference. .NET people were lucky to have a good batch owner who gave good grades to those who needed it to stay at Infosys. Our batch owner is not a good guy. He has never increased marks of any student. He just uploads the marks that Java dept. gives him. I met him 3 times to tell him about my issue and also emailed him as he said but in the end, he didnt do anything. Batch Owners have the authority to increase marks if they want.

Anyways, now its final that I will not be at Infosys. Just some formalities are left. The marks for POST project are yet to be uploaded after which the system will send an automatic mail to those whose CGPA is less than 4 stating that, "you have been refered to HR for exit procedures."

I will leave for home within a week. I would have surely liked to stay with this company but now i will have to look at other options.

So people, dont screw your training. Be careful and dont become easy going like me during training.

And Anamika, you are right. Everyone here has a feeling that they are making exams tougher so that they can fire unwanted number of people. I too am of the same opinion.

As i said before, the exit rate used to be not more than 10% before but now i think it would be around 15-20%.

Infosys CEO says, "No jobcuts. Hiring will continue."

2008-11-25T13:29:00.000+05:30

Hi friends,

Yesterday we had a special oppurtunity to interact with our CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan. It was a one hour meeting arranged only for our batch. Maybe it was for our batch because we are about to complete training and are not too busy right now.

In his address, he talked about the global recession and its effect on Infosys. He said that global recession was not anticipated by anyone and it has affected every major MNC. He agreed that there will be a decrease in revenue for our company as the major banks in the US who are our premier clients are undergoing a tough time but he added that we are looking for newer untapped markets.

In the interactive session, the inevitable question popped up. One of my colleagues asked straightforwardly, "Are there going to be any jobcuts?". The quick answer that Kris gave was a clear "No" which was applauded by all in the hall. He said that "Recession is predicted to get over by 2009 so there is no change in hiring plans till then. We would only consider jobcuts if the recession goes furthur till 2010. Mostly trainees are put on bench right now but we are hiring for the long term".

So people from 2008 and 2009 batches dont need to worry.

He also spoke about letting Axon go to HCL. He said, "We made a bid which we thought to be a proper price for Axon. But after HCL placed a counterbid, we re-evaluated Axon and thought that it is not worth raising the earlier bid. So there was no counterbid placed and Axon went to HCL". He added that they have a large cash reserve of $ 2 billion are still looking for aquisitions in US, Europe, Japan etc.

Exit rate at Infosys for trainees

2008-11-21T22:39:00.004+05:30

Today was the last module re-test for us. I had already passed in the first test but there were many people in our class who had already failed in 2 re-tests before and so it was the last chance for them to stay with Infosys.

Most of them managed to pass but I have heard of people who have failed also. I personally know about 10 people who will have to leave because they failed in 3 module re-tests. Compre results are pending and there are people like me who have not failed in more than 2 module re-tests but need a B+ in compre to make CGPA above 4.

So there would be some more people who will be asked to leave after compre result is out. Overall, i estimate about 20-30 people would be asked to leave from our class. (Our class is of 200). So that means the exit rate is about 10-15%.

Dont panic after reading the above paragraph because there are also some people who have already thought of doing some other job and have known that software is really not their forte. Such people either leave midway or just drag along till they get into a situation where they are asked to leave.

The purpose of this post is to tell you people to be serious about training if you want to stay at Infosys and not just be at Infosys. The training is not tough but you need to work hard. Dont take it for granted, especially non-CS-IT people.

From .NET class of our batch, 7 people are asked to leave. (They have a class of 100). So overall, my prediction of the exit rate is approximately 10%.