Date : 31/01/2015
Two Professors (P1 and
P2) both over 50.
P1: Nikhil, are you a fresher?
Me: No Sir. I have been working for Citicorp in Pune for
over six months now.
P1: What is your role at Citi?
Me: I am an application developer in Citi Private Banking
technology department.
P1: How big is Citi in Pune?
Me: We are a 1500-odd employees, but the number is increasing
at a rapid pace. Citi Pune plans to be 2000-strong by the end of the quarter.
P2: Nikhil, do you know how much money was given to Citi
under TARP?
Me: I am not aware of the exact figure sir. But I am sure it
was in billions of dollars.
P2: That’s okay. But you know what TARP is, right?
Me: Yes Sir. Troubled Assets Relief Program. US Fed and the
US Govt. came together to save a few banks, which were too big to fail, while letting
some like Lehmann take the fall.
P2: Who was the CEO of Citi then?
Me: Vikram Pandit
P2: What was so special about his tenure?
Me: I am not sure sir. Maybe he resigned on account of Citi’s
poor performance.
P1: What are you working on in Citi?
Me: I am developing a reporting tool for analysts using
Qlikview, which itself is a BI tool. It shows the complete portfolio of
clients, securities that are about to mature, opportunities for cross selling
etc.
P1: What is the difference between BI and Data Mining?
Me: Both involve extracting information from raw data. BI is
more BAU, it is run on data that is business critical and used on a daily
basis. Whereas, data mining is done on historic data to study some trends. We
use data warehouses to store historical data.
P1: Any other difference?
Me: I can’t think of anything else sir.
P1: What is modular programming?
Me: Told, in detail
with example
P1: What is object oriented programming?
Me: Told, in detail
with example.
P1: How is testing done?
Me: Explained the
whole process, unit testing, integrated testing, user acceptance tests.
P1: What is cohesion and coupling?
Me: Told what I knew.
P1 seemed dissatisfied.
P1: What do you mean by core banking solutions?
Me: Told in detail.
P1: What is
Sensex?
Me: Told
P1: How is it
measured?
Me:
Performance of the 30 companies that fall under it.
P1: So if I
give you their balance sheets, will you be able to tell me the value of Sensex?
Me: I am
sorry sir. It is measured by investor sentiment.
P1: What do
you think is happening with its value now a days?
Me: It is
achieving new highs almost daily.
P1: Why do
you think so?
Me: Right
wing political party, clear majority, cut in repo rate, fall in oil prices,
promise of investment in India by Obama.
P2: What do
you do in your free time?
Me: I like to
write, mostly poems. I have a blog.
P2: What kind
of poems do you write?
Me: Mostly
fictional, conversational. Would you like me to recite one?
P2: Sure, why
not?
Me: Recited one of my self-composed poems.
P2: Who is
your favourite writer?
Me: I don’t have
a favourite writer, per se. But I do have favourite poems to which I turn to
when I need inspiration. Some of them are, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”,
“The Song of Myself”, “The Road Not Taken”, etc. But if I had to choose a favourite
contemporary writer, it would be Salman Rushdie.
P2: What kind
of books does Salman Rushdie write?
Me: Magical
Realism.
P2: What is
it?
Me: Told in detail.
P1: What do
you think of Obama’s visit to India?
Me: I think
it’s more of a propaganda than anything else, but there have been talks of
liability law and investing in India, which is definitely a step forward.
P1: What is
liability law?
Me: Explained.
P1: So you
think the liability law and the investment more than compensates for the money
that has been spent for hosting him.
Me: I wouldn’t
go as far as saying more than compensates. But he being arguably the most
influential person in the world, tongue-in-cheek I will accept it
Both: Thank
you Nikhil. We are done. Take a toffee.
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