Looking Back!

Student life lingers as a seminal epoch in each of our lives. The 12 years that I spent as a college student constitute some of my fondest memories!

As I look back, those were the best days of my life. The wealth of knowledge I amassed, the wonderful friends I made, and the fundamental values I learnt, made those days exceptional.

I prize most, the years when I was a research student. I have vivid memories of one of my professors at the Indian Institute of Technology. He taught us how to 'see' things for ourselves; to explore. He emphasized the need to apply critical thinking to each problem. In contrast, my days at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Indiana University were grueling, but a lot of fun as well. I rubbed shoulders with great personalities and realized that what made them great was their understanding of complex concepts at a clear and intuitive level.

One such person was a professor in IU who taught us Mathematical Logic. He equaled mathematics to the art of story-telling. According to him, mathematics was nothing but a notational representation of 'word situations'. He even had us translate stories into mathematical notations! With that insight, building complex concepts became less intimidating. Today, it continues to help me in reducing situations in concise terms and then dealing with them. I also did all the 'regular' things that students do; some nice, some not. Even today, when I meet up with my professors, they never fail to mention that, albeit with fondness.

At the end of it all, these profound learning encounters are what I took with me. It is that 'looking for the learning' mindset that carries me forth.

Make the most of your life as a student. Soak in the experiences, the good times. I am sure you too will come out with a jarful of astonishing discoveries about your own capabilities.

I wish you all the best.

Chinese Students' Visit

A visit to remember

On September 26, 2008, 15 students from the University of Electronic Science and Technology (UESTC) visited our TCO facility in Chennai.

What's so special about this visit? Well, for one, the students came down all the way from Chengdu, China! Currently pursuing a degree in Software Engineering and Information Security, the students were here as part of their three-month long internship program at the VIT University, Vellore.

It was a pleasure for them when they interacted with Henry Yang (Head of Cognizant China Operations) and Linda Zhong (Asst Manager HR, China) through a video conference and received inputs on 'Best Practices of Cognizant China' and 'Campus Recruitments in China'. And they were taken through a presentation by Murali Vepanjeri (Senior Manager, Insurance) on the 'Necessity of soft skills in the IT industry'.

The session ended with a guided tour around the TCO campus followed by a team lunch.

Enhancing Business Communication Skills

As part of Cognizant's efforts to strengthen the industry-academia bond, the Campus Team at Cognizant Chennai organized a two-day workshop on English Language Communication for the faculty of leading t-schools and graduation schools in Chennai. 'Converze', held on September 4-5, 2008, was one of the many Faculty Development Programs organized by Cognizant. It offered insights on assorted topics including Speaking With Ease, Art of Listening, Client Communication, E-mail Etiquette and more.

The event began with key speakers from Muthayammal Engineering College, Prof. Madheswaran (Principal), Prof. Jayavelu and Prof. Rangarajan dispelling some common myths about the English Language. Sairam Muthuswamy, Sr. Manager-Corporate Communications, discussed the importance of body language, formal dressing and personal grooming for students.

Converze was also organized at Kolkata's Jalpaiguri Engineering College. The scientifically developed program for business communication skills attracted an eager group of 55 III year students. Cognizant's trainers provided them with great insights on language, grammar and usage.

Indeed a unique attempt to understand a global language!

The Cognizant Connection

Gautam Banerjea, Registrar & Member, Governing Body, St. Thomas' College of Engineering & Technology, Kolkata, talks to C2C on how a relationship that began with some question marks has turned into a very fruitful association for Cognizant and his college.

Can you recall how the relationship between you and Cognizant started?
It was in 2003. I was waiting in the ground floor reception area of the imposing, stand-alone Cognizant building in Sector V at Salt Lake, Kolkata with a mission to meet an HR functionary, impress him about my college and invite him for a Campus visit for our 2004 batch pass outs. As I waited there, little did I know then, that this would lead to us gaining a rewarding experience with Cognizant.

How did this relationship gain strength?
In 2004, the passing out students - being our first batch - participated in an off-campus drive and 46 of them (batch strength 240) got a lifetime opportunity to join Cognizant. It was just the beginning. Next batch (2005), was lucky to have the Campus visit that we were aspiring for and despite the lower slot, 40 students got in. The association was getting cemented as 63 of the 2006 batch pass outs were selected.

How would you explain the way the relationship evolved in the sense going beyond recruitments!
By 2006-07, the relationship had turned into a worthwhile experience. The STCET joined hands with Cognizant to award the best student for all-round performance. Sumeet Ghosh (2007) and Debduti Banerjee (2008) were the proud winners of the award. An MoU signed with Cognizant saw STCET getting support in different areas of academics and training. Naturally, STCET chose Cognizant as the most favored recruiter for campus placement from the 2007 batch. In 2008, a Japanese training program was launched in STCET. In all, 25 students of STCET are getting ready with Japanese training which is conducted during their final year in College. They are about to join Cognizant and their training will be highly beneficial.

Quickly can you describe the present state of your relationship with the company?
STCET has a unique feedback system from ex-students who work in different organizations. The feedback provided by those who had joined Cognizant is so encouraging that even a fresher joining the college aspires to get an offer from Cognizant. Surely the journey has a lot more rewarding benefits in store.

Faculty Development Program on Testing

Coimbatore campus HR in synergy with the Talent Management Testing team organized a one-day workshop at Cognizant's Coimbatore center on August 29, 2008. The workshop aimed at branding Testing as a bright career opportunity, focused on a) Testing Business Overview, b) Test Automation, c) Performance Testing, d)Test Consulting.

With participation by nearly 22 faculties from ten Engineering colleges in and around Coimbatore, the speakers from Cognizant clarified doubts and queries on various opportunities available in the field of Testing.

VIT Alumni Chapter opens in Cognizant

The good old days!

As part of our 'Back 2 Campus' program, the VIT Alumni Association Cognizant Chapter was inaugurated on August 22, 2008, at TCO, Chennai.

With the participation of over 100 VIT Alumni from Chennai, the event was a runaway success!This also marks the beginning of an important chapter in the Cognizant VIT University relationship story. Under the aegis of VITAA Cognizant Chapter, the Alumni members will initiate pied activities such as Guest Lectures, Workshops and other CSR-related programs.

Dr. Viswanathan (VIT Chancellor), Mr. Sekar and Mr. Selvam (Pro Chancellors), Dr. Pullabhotla (Dean-Placements & Training, VIT), Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice Chairman, Gopikrishnan Gaddam (Head Campus Recruitments), and Sriram Rajagopal (AVP HR) were all part of the esteemed gathering.

Cognizant removes first day jitters

Students always have a lingering hesitation on the first day of entering college. Cognizant's Hyderabad and Bangalore campus teams came up with a wonderful initiative to remove the first day blues. At Hyderabad Rahul Pratti, Director of Cognizant led an interaction of first year students of CBIT with their parents on September 22, 2008. Team Cognizant offered valuable insights on the industry with special emphasis on the IT industry.

At Bangalore, Cognizant’s HR team gave some ideas to help freshers cope with their first-day-at-college at three Engineering colleges.At B M Sreenivasaiah Institute of Technology (Bangalore), Sir M Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology (Bangalore), Kalyan Mohan, Sr Vice President of Cognizant, led the team. At NIE, Mysore, Mohana Krishna (Principal Consultant, Cognizant) presided over the event.

Inauguration of Open Source Lab,SASTRA University

Dr. GVN Apparao (Vice President, Cognizant) inaugurated the 'Open Source Lab' sponsored by Cognizant at the Sastra University in September 2008. The event reiterated Cognizant's tight connections with this famous private varsity.

High Q @ Pune

Effortless Quizzing!
With over 183 students from 16 schools, High-Q Pune was an overwhelming success! High Q is a knowledge initiative to help school students from the X, XI and XII standards enhance their knowledge and awareness on a range of topics.

The Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies at Pune was witness to nearly 61 teams participating from over 15 schools in Pune. Sudhindra Chatterjee (Assistant Vice President, Cognizant) inaugurated the event. Quiz master - Giri 'Pick-brain' Balasubramaniam stumped the audience with his unique style of questioning.

Mr. Jeyaprakash Gandhi's expert talk on career guidance and higher education opportunities got many students seriously engrossed in the event. The quiz ended with a nail-biting tie breaker. The trio from Kalmadi Shamrao Junior College - Chirag Potdar, Harsh Raveendra & Rajeev Galgali were the overall winners who grabbed attractive prizes like video I-Pods, Landmark gift vouchers and Certificates from Cognizant.

The play by Ibtida Cognizant, Pune's theater club was the icing on the cake. And the Rock show by Cognizant's in-house band 'Software Puppets', had students and teachers swinging to its music.

Skills Upgradation Program for Women

Bangalore Outreach initiative

The Centre for Women's Empowerment and Skills Training (WEST) in R.V. College of Engineering, Bangalore, recently launched a three month software training program. The training program targets 40 trainees belonging to socially and economically disadvantaged sections of society all with an annual income of less than Rs. 12,000, a majority of them SSLC or Pre-University pass-outs.

As part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives, the Bangalore Outreach team at Cognizant is sponsoring the initiative. Cognizant has a vibrant on-going relationship with R.V. College of Engineering.

WEST believes that education can be a panacea for all social ills. This program by WEST includes hands-on computer skills training. The course content includes computer maintenance, operating systems, Application Packages and communication skills. Some of the applications which the trainees learn are MS Office Suite, Tally, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Page-maker, programming introduction, use of Internet and e-mail.

The resource persons for this program are drawn mainly from the faculty of R.V. College of Engineering. The course materials are also provided in the form of handouts and books.

A monthly stipend is also being paid to each of the trainees as a motivational factor to meet their allowances. The evaluation process of the trainees includes three monthly tests and module-wise assignments. At the end of the program, a Certificate of Merit will be issued to the trainees and the program administrators also plan to take up placement for the trainees.

WEST is already planning another program on “Training in System Repair and Hardware.” The beneficiaries will again be the disadvantaged sections of society. These programs will be run with the help of NGOs and governmental organizations.

The program is the brainchild of Dr. SC Sharma, Principal, R.V. College of Engineering, who has experience in skill promotion for disadvantaged sections of society.

Cognizant flavOUr - Hyderabad

'Cognizant flavOUr' an exclusive alumni initiative, was launched by the Cognizant Campus Team, Hyderabad, at the Osmania University on September 20, 2008.

So what is Cognizant flavOUr? It's an Osmania University-Cognizant recruits’ initiative, intended to engage 1st / 2nd / 3rd year engineering students in various activities/events.

The day began well with a welcome note by the Principal and Placement Officer-Osmania University followed by a brief experience sharing session by two Cognizant associates. The quiz saw participation by over 200 students and was very popular! Certificates and gifts were handed over to all the winners.

Japanese Language Training program at Kolkata

Cognizant organized a Japanese language training program at Kolkata's St Thomas College of Engineering. In all, 25 students selected by Cognizant during placement began training in the language. Among those who participated were Tomoaki Takeuchi, Director, Cognizant Japan, Tomohiro Yamazaki, Senior Manager, Cognizant Japan and Kunio Mizutani, Senior Manager, Cognizant Japan.

November Quiz Questions

1. Which company recently decided to replace its long running 'This is Not Just Food' advertising campaign?

2. What do Hamilton in Canada, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Kingston in Jamaica have, amongst others, in common?

3. Which Swiss city, a major industrial center, borders both Germany and France?

4. Seymour Powell is a name associated with which of the following businesses: a) Event b) E-learning c) Product designing d) Security solutions

5. THIS & ASIA: A CATCH Unscramble the above for a name that became identified with Tories ever since a 1978 poster!

6. Arun Ramanathan is India's new ...?

7. Colors is a TV channel belonging to a joint venture between which two companies?

8. Topical. Expand CDO.

9. EMG is the stock symbol of a group at the London Stock Exchange. Can you name this group, identifed with literary awards?

10. Why is John Emburey's score of 46 for an England XI vs Hobart in 1986 a record in First class cricket?

September 2008 answers

1. Wordscraper 2. Mary Slaney 3. Marriott International 4. Celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor 5. Kenichi Ohmae 6. Universal exports 7. Alcoa 8. Croquet 9. Kinetic Motor 10. Donna Karan New York

Winners of the September 2008 Quiz

1. Anjana Devi N, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore

2. P. Sirisha, SreeNidhi Institute of Science and Technology, Hyderabad

3. Nandish Benchalli, SDM College of Engg and Tech, Dharwad, Karnataka

4. Parvez Shah, RCC Institute of Information Technology, Kolkata

Edited & Supervised by the Corporate Marketing & Communications Group. Send in your feedback/suggestions to C2C@cognizant.com or vandhana.sundaram@cognizant.com