The Day I Appeared for Interview at ISRO
Career, Mistakes and Job Satisfaction?
With the ring of the alarm, I woke up at 6.30 in the morning, it was a special day today as I was getting ready for an important Interview. I would not say this was my childhood dream, because as a child or while I was growing up I was most inclined towards sports, and was not into science.
Anyway, I was sitting in bed and thoughts were lingering all over my head. A 22 years bachelor, living alone in 1 BHK apartment was somehow managing life after graduation.
During the final semester of my engineering, one of my friends informed me about the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) notification for the recruitment of scientists cum engineers, and it was the last day of submission.
Those were days when technology was not fully integrated, we had to fill up the form online, and had to submit a challan towards the exam fee in the post office. It was afternoon, and I had only a couple of hours to fill up the form and then pay the challan at the post office. I rushed to a cyber cafe to fill up the form online, and then immediately ran towards the post office to submit the challan. I was running like an idiot, as back then I did not have any vehicle. Also, it was not required as I was living in a college hostel.
Anyway, after a few days, I received my admit card for the examination. It was an exam for the position of scientist, and scientists have a special place in my heart for their contribution to society, and probably I was not aware that what it takes to become a scientist, and here I was appearing for the position of Space Scientist.
Little did I know about the exam, I reached the exam centre. As expected question paper was tough, and the guideline appeared to me as “Attempt the question which you can solve, do not try to guess the answer” 🙂
Well, I was a good student during college, and I also used to teach my fellow batchmates, seniors and juniors, and therefore those questions did sound familiar to me, and I appeared almost all the questions with my pre-existing knowledge by deriving the answer. I was relaxed, as I had no expectations for the result!
To my surprise, After a few weeks, I received the call letter from ISRO for face to face interview for the final round - I jumped with joy and happiness. But, I was not very serious thinking this was just an interview where our skillsets, and attitude, and aptitude would be discussed, and most of the time was dedicated to my college exam, and after the exam spending time with my friends as we were in the final semester of the engineering.
Finally, the day arrived! The Day before the interview, I reached Bangalore for the overnight stay at my friend’s place, as the interview was scheduled in the morning.
I woke in the morning with the ring of an alarm and sat on my bed. I was feeling uncomfortable, touched my body, it was smoking hot as I was down with fever 104!!! ( Not sure whether I was nervous, or it was a bad day but I was severely ill )
Somehow I managed to get up as I had to report at ISRO satellite town at 11 AM. I woke up, brush up, dressed up, booked an auto and reached the Interview location. Amazing feeling it was, standing in front of ISRO, I was getting the goosebump, and my mind gave me all the dose of a scientist, and I started weaving my future.
After frisking, security check, I was allowed to enter the site and there I sat in a row waiting for my turn for reporting. To my surprise I was not called even after a few hours, I was feeling low due to fever, and also hungry as my stomach was empty. I was nervous, I could not take a proper meal at night.
Anyway, I took permission from authority and walked into the canteen for breakfast/ brunch. Afterwards, I was waiting for my turn, and I was called in for verification of my marks. The gentleman there offered me a chair, along with some snacks and tea. As soon as I returned, I was called for document verification and asked to wait outside for a while. Afterwards, I was sent to a room, full of grey hair people, the scientists!!!!
(The good things about such exams are people treat you with respect because they know your worth, and you are an asset for them, not just head count. They would do everything to make you feel honoured and valuable)
I checked my watch, it was 7 PM in the evening, and I was the only candidate left for the interview panel. My legs were shivering, my mouth was dry not because I was nervous, but my health started deteriorating due to fever. Though the interview panel was kind and offered me a seat, still I was not able to calm down my breath. One of the panellists asked to sit for a while, and take some water, which refused as I did not want to spill the water on the table. Anyway, after a while, the interview process began.
The Interview started with the introduction of the panellist, the chairperson had about 20 years of experience, and they were 7 in numbers. As soon as Introduction got over, they asked me to get up and walk towards a whiteboard for further discussion.
I was expecting a normal verbal discussion, but then I realise there are only 7 space institutions in the world, and ISRO is no less than NASA. And, it deserve all the respect which you would give to an agency like NASA. Though it was a shocker for me, as it was unexpected.
One by they all started shooting their question, and asked me to derive the details with relevant fundamentals, and concept which I had studied during engineering. Luckiely most of the questions were from antenna and field theory, my favourite subjects as I was most inclined towards classical physics than modern computer science.
One by one I started explaining the theory and doing the derivation simultaneously on the whiteboard. Most of them were correct, especially the question on antenna and field theory. And, I was appreciated too!
Once I was done with those sets of questionnaires, the chairman finally shoot his question, which I still remember, he asked ‘how would you get a serial and parallel bit from a CMOS. Can you design?’ Though I knew the answer, was not very sure and I thought to skip it by saying ‘Sorry’. Seems this did not please the chairman, and he asked another Question on UART, which again I had to skip. And this was the last question for me, afterwards, I was asked to leave. My answers were appreciated and applauded by most of the panellists.
In my mind, I thought the interview went well, and eagerly I started waiting for my final call letter from ISRO. Though I had a JOB offer from TCS, I did not want to join. After few months, one fine evening they announced the result, ideally a snack time for me, but I skipped it. I stepped inside my room, saw the result and started crying, it was not the joy of tears, but I was not selected. I could not make it to the final list!
It was a disheartening moment for me, an exam result had never affected me this much. I am a carefree person, I have not failed once but at several questions, be that the engineering entrance exam, AIEEE or IIT JEE. I never secured the rank, as the study was not a priority. And, if you have not studied enough, you can’t complain about the result.
But here, I was passionate about space science, I had slowly started developing an interest in astronomy, and astrophysics, and it was a moment for me to contribute a little towards the same.
I still wonder, what went wrong, and why I could not make it to the final. Despite getting good written marks, and doing well in interviews, why I was not selected? I still don’t have the answer, I would say I was not competent!
Since I could not make it to the final list, I joined TCS, as I needed a job to pay off my education load and that turned out to be my worst decision. Not because of TCS, but because of my interest! Despite working hard, and doing well in IT service, I could not adopt it and stayed dissatisfied in my career even after working for 10 years.
It’s not that, I did not try for ISRO again but the job was so hectic that I was not prepared for this exam and all my concepts, and fundamentals slowly vanished from my mind. And, I could not make it.
If you are still reading this, I would like to say everyone has a different personality and there are various factors that affect one’s mind and body. There are people who run after money, and least worry about the kind of job they do. And, there are people who give priority to their passion, even if they have to compromise their financial security.
What matters the most is, what is your appetite, you should understand your mind, body and soul. You should first identify what you really want in life, and start working towards it. And, if you’re really lucky if you find the right mentor, which I never had in my life. Though I am technically sound, I was good in academics and my work, but I never met a godfather or mentor who can guide me. A coach can make your life easier, and can put you on the right path!
To young graduates, before you start your career do validate all the options you can have, and plan accordingly. You would really feel honoured to work with a premier government institution, be that ISRO, DRDO or BARK. Though they do not sound glamorous they can give you job satisfaction, financial security and most importantly, such a position would give you a sense of worth, which no amount of money can give you! But again, no profession is bad, it’s about your interest and passion.
Target the Bull’s Eye, Don’t miss your goal!!
( Everyone makes mistake and then learn, but don’t repeat your mistake and learn from others. The time is limited, the youth is limited, everything is time-bound. Though it’s good to be carefree, it’s also necessary to do justice with your knowledge and life )
~CoolSage