Showing posts with label ECE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ECE. Show all posts

October Sky & Me!

07:11
Some of my friends asked me, why did I type in my blog post 'How I landed at IZE Creative' in contradiction to some older posts. Read this out first.
The one movie which changed my life is the biopic named ‘October Sky’[1999], directed by Joe Johnston starring Jake Gyllenhaal. The screenplay was adapted from the autobiographical book ‘Rocket Boys’ by Homer H. Hickam, Jr. The movie gives a brief account on a 16 year old boy Homer Hickam(a Coal Miner’s son ) from Coalwood,West Virginia who drew inspiration from the launch of Russian Sputnik 1 and started his voyage to become a Rocket Engineer at NASA.

Watching this movie became a turning point in my life. I became more and more interested in Engineering and once again I told to myself that I should do Bachelors in Engineering. Earlier, I had day dreams that I will become an engineer, work for a couple of years and then switch my career to do something creative (like dream for living and make movies).
:-|
The moment 3rd semester classes kicked off, I realized that engineering is not my future. Yeah I was not in love with Electronics & Communication Engineering, rather it was a mere infatuation. I found most of the theory papers mentioned in the syllabus are pointless. I don’t think anybody will ever make use of these rubbish facts. I wonder why Indian educational system gives more importance to theory portions, leaving behind practical side. 70-80% of total credits are awarded to those who learn rubbish theory, while labs, practicals and projects are considered as side business for students.

Just like all other typical BTech students, laptop enabled me enough freedom to collect innumerable movies. I had no time and often I missed my dinner at mess, but never missed watching 2 movies each working day and atleast 3 movies every weekends. Believe me, I’m not exaggerating. I am an addict, not just a mere movie buff.

Everybody who knew me advised to step aside and quit engineering. I couldn’t do that. My parents didn’t force me to take up this degree in engineering. It was me who chose this profession. I couldn’t admit that my plans and deeds are failing. I had no good reason to stick on to engineering though, but I did so. I don’t know why I decided to spend 3 more years there. Even when I had no chance of winning the game, I fought with my tongue and stated that I know what I am doing.

I was in search of solitude to think clearly. I reached at an early clichéd assumption that I might get better if I can find a profession close to my passion. I’ve never been good at anything, except in dreaming.
I tried various options during this course of time, but none went well. Most of my classmates also knew that they were not dreaming to do their bachelors within the bounds of such a syllabus and that to in such an unprofessional college.  (I’m being a bit harsher huh!?) But all of them were ready to accept the fate and do their best. But I was not ready to swim along the wind.

Why should I care others? I started acting weird like a nerd who is always interested to go beyond the bounds of syllabus. It’s a universal truth that colleagues will do their best to stay away from nerds. Don’t know why, I was Goddamn happy. May be it’s because these so called college-mates were not even close to my schoolmates. By the way, I didn’t mean that I hate anyone either. I was not happy with that campus and those who were doing their bachelors there.

_ Flashback_
I was badly missing my childhood buddies, who are perfect friends for me. I don't know why they befriended me and they never wondered why I am so distinct from them in many ways. They gave enough space when I was in need of it, and were ready to be with me when I was a bit more joyous. But time went by and Fate forced us to choose distinct courses and colleges.
_Flashback ends_

On my way to traverse bound of syllabus I became an IEEE student member and started participating various events. Even I started organizing some at my college on behalf of our Student Branch. Thus I attended several meets and conferences in far away well reputed institutions. I finally started to bunk class for reasons other than to watch movies! Meanwhile, I befriended lot many friends from these colleges too. Some are weirder than me(in their own ways) though.

June 2011, Chennai
The most memorable moments of my life till date!
Along with some of my new friends, I had an opportunity to go to Chennai and attend an unpaid internship in ‘Advanced Robotics and Embedded Systems Design’. Sounds too geekier huh!? Not that bad indeed, just play school level Hands-on stuff and we got certified. I was the most lazy student of the batch, but was blessed to win a Line Follower Robo competition which our trainer conducted. Yeah Miracles do occur! ;D

Touring all around 426 km*km Metropolitan, trying new tastes and window shopping became our routine for those 17 days. Life was too good back then but after the internship I had to return back to my college. And some idiots who thought I became a part of some supercool tech company mentioned about me that, I became the first student from our college who attained such a renowned certification after completing a complex internship. I decided not cross them, why should I !? ;D

Once I was entrusted with new responsibilities, I attained hell lot more duty leaves and continued the drama as a Nerd in full thrust. By the way, as a side business I was piling up lot many backpapers (arrears) at one end and Parents were not at happy with this. They gave me final warning to quit all event participation and coordination stuffs. To let them know that I do respect them, I followed their orders.

I was not interested in this deep shit electronics and communication and had no intention in passing out. By mid-2012, I decided to think seriously on my ambition and future. The lead characters and the story of movie ‘October Sky’ played an important role in the most important decision which I took long ago. Then it struck me. I was moved by that movie and it made me feel that my decision to take up engineering course is absolutely right. If a movie could influence me at such an extent, I should have taken up Visual Communication or Film Technology as major for my Bachelors degree. I shouldn't have taken up a course just to make others believe that I'm educated and I work in some corporate firm.

“No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.”
-Ingmar Bergman

How true!

Paulo Coelho’s words in ‘Eleven Minutes’ enlightened me even more, “ Passion sends us signals that guide us through our lives, and it’s up to us to interpret  those signs. ”

Social Media enabled me to keep in touch with every individual who is working in movie industry. I started to beg for a chance to assist someone in direction department and set off. 
Guys, this process is not so easy as it sounds. I had no one to recommend me and I had no practical previous experience, other than being a living movie-wikipedia.

Nobody was ready to respond with a direct ‘No’ either! Each response gave me hope and made me wait until they next vacancy in their team.
As it’s said in ‘Megamind’, “ No matter how hard I tried, I was always the odd man out. The last one picked. ”

Totally screwed life and one year passed by. Yeah to worsen the situation, 4 year BTech course got completed!
You can imagine how vulnerable I would be at home. I couldn’t stay jobless forever either.

Now you may read my post (if you haven't yet), 'How I landed at IZE Creative'.
IZECreative became a perfect hide out for over 9 months.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take a long-break from IZE.

Earlier this month, I got a chance to be an un-paid intern in TV&Film Production company based in Mumbai and assist (in direction department) the team. I’ll be leaving to Mumbai soon.

In short - tiring tedious works, sleepless nights and uncertain future ahead.

I’m all excited but at the same time damn tensed, as I will have to  stay (1-3 months) at Mumbai to gain this exposure and experience. I mean Mumbai is 24 hours away from my home. Also, I will have to expertise in Hindi asap!

Good Gracious Lord, be with me.
Sigh…

“Miles and Miles to go before I sleep..”

Regards,
Lone Warrior
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How I landed at IZE Creative!

08:07
As I have told you earlier, I spent 4 years in an engineering college. They were supposed to teach me some Abra ke dabra hand's on stuffs in Electronics and Communication (or rather I thought so before enrolling myself), but my College experience's....ah let's not talk about it !
Typical Indian Parents believe that B.Tech./B.E is the 'best' option to choose after 12th and every Engineering College guarantees job.
You wanna know what's actually happening!?
1.6 million Indians are enrolled in Engineering Colleges each year, out of this 0.4 million are awarded with a BTech/BE degree certificate after 4 years. Out of this 0.4 million, majority are jobless!
Ah whatever. Leave all these. I don't wish to worry you. If you are an Indian, I bet you know someone very well who have wasted their 4 years....
Or may be even you are a B.Tech. victim....., like me!

The reasons why I spent 4 years in that College were Practicals, Projects and IEEE activities.
Of course I was blessed with lot of duty leaves and I attended lectures seldom.

Final Semester, Dec - April 2013
I had arrears and so I didn't mention in my resume that I will get graduated in 2013. A few HR leads who came to pick students from the so called Campus Placement Process, didn't like it though. While most of them were happy that I'm being honest with them. As expected, I flunked some electronics&electrical based technical round quizzes. 
Nope... I didn't care much. Because every BTech/BE victim is well known for flunking 'Viva Voce' questions during Lab Internals and Externals.
From then on, I started mentioning that I'm not interested in usual BPO and coding jobs. Which gave me plenty of opportunities and finally started attending the final round of interviews but none were interested in picking up a BTech boy. 2 of them even asked me to reach them after completing MBA.
( Yeah it's another custom seen nowadays. If a boy/girl thinks they are wasting their 4 years doing BE/BTech, then he/she will do the best to enroll for MBA courses and aim managerial posts. )

TWIST
One day while scanning my own Facebook timeline, I found a post that IZE Creative's hiring Social Media and Marketing Interns. I shared it a few days back from my friend Vijay's timeline. Vijay.S.Paul founder - CEO of 2 year old IZE Creative Digital Media Marketing LLP is one among my IEEE acquaintances. We have met once or twice before, in Sub-section and Section IEEE meets.
( FYI: The basic benefit of being an IEEE Student volunteer is networking. It's world's largest professional community with over 4,00,000 members. "Each IEEE member is a part of the knowledge network for you and your career".
In short, if you are an IEEE member then you have open access to 4,00,000 contacts of Engineering Professionals. )

Ah let me get back to the point. I shared the post to help him gain more reach for the same. That means, in some way I was doing the basic duty of a Social Media Strategist. After all, who is not a Social Media Enthusiast in this Era?
I thought, I should give it a try. I sent him my resume at the earliest.

Researched a bit and found that Social Media Strategist transform complex/technical information into concise, easily digestible content for social audiences.
Interesting right!?
Oh come on...
Even big shot companies and military agencies hire Data/Intelligence Analysts to get the gist of Big Data findings.
Similarly, in a digital marketing firm we will get hell lot of data on clients. We will have to research even more on the topics mentioned in it and what their target audience are in need of. Finally we are supposed to form a Gist of the whole collected data and pass it to the design team to present it with a visual impact.
IZE provides a unique way to be creative and I had no better plan till next summer. More over at IZE one can earn and at the same time learn more about internet.

I was asked to fill in a few questions online, to study my take on Social Media. Next phase was Telephonic interview and the session went well along with my final semester exams.
In couple of days, I received a mail asking me attend their direct interview at IZE's Cochin office.

May 4th,2013 - Interview
Facing an interview's like fishing. Your resume and your answers should act as the bait and attract interviewers. If you are prepared to state a point, you should make the interviewers ask about it.

Spooky theory. I decided not to act in front of them. I didn't prepare for the interview at all and I couldn't perform well. I have done way better than this case back in college campus placement sessions, but still for unknown reasons I was rejected thrice. So I had no hope at all.

After the interview, I boarded Kerala Express Super Fast Train.
I was devastated when the TTR caught me for travelling in Sleeper Class of Super Fast Train with a sleeper class(Express) ticket. I had no money to pay the fine either. But that old man was very kind and decided not to charge me.
Yeah miracle.

It was followed by a series of miracles. Two of us were selected for the same post and the other candidate let down the management and opted not to join IZE, as her parents were against resigning her current job. One champion opted out and hence I was awarded with the gold medal unanimously!
I received their official Acceptance Mail soon!!

Life at IZE Creative, United States of Cochin
Working in a start up is much better, because one get's the freedom to think out of the box and become a Jack of all trades. Yeah, you will have to wear many hats in a small team.

A corporate job has got much stricter confines and we are forced think with in the bounds.

I'm happy that I made right decision!

Phase 1 (as Social Media Intern):
Being an intern I was asked to manage various Social Media accounts of numerous clients and was given an opportunity to convey my thoughts to the design wing. I was surprised when they even gave me an opportunity to share my opinions in each crucial staff meet.
I felt sorry for those friends who didn't apply, believing the myth that intern is the code name for slave!

Phase 2 (as Social Media Strategist):
I was promoted soon after the internship period of 2 months. The data analyst job, about which I have mentioned above.
I was given opportunities to study our clients and their rivals. I was asked to find optimum ways to market the services/ products of our valuable clients. Now I was given the responsibility to directly assist marketing team in pitching business and at the same time to improvise the current strategies. More like a market analyst huh?

Phase 3 (as Digital Media Strategist):
I was asked to dive deeper into the core of Digital Branding and Content Marketing.
'Value for money' thought is drawing hell lot more of clients to Digital Branding and at the same time, 93% of companies out there are utilizing Content to market their service/ product.
Yeah great Power, greater responsibilities. Much busier work schedule, but company culture let's you love your work. Well knit and scheduled working calendar even gives a lot of free time after the office hours.

What makes IZE Creative special?
I can write an essay on this topic. I don't wish to list out every point, this post is already long!

One thing for sure, we are blessed with a Boss who thinks patiently in the company's point of view. May be that's the secret of our success. He encourages us (his staffs) to counter his decisions, when he is not so sure of them. It helps a lot in forming well refined decisions with no demerit.

No I'm not being offered with special perks for publishing this post!
Why should I lie fellas, this is my Diary!? Scroll up and read this blog's title once more!! ;D

PS: I still wannabe a Filmmaker and dream for living.
"Miles and Miles to go before I sleep!"
God Speed.

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