February 10, 2001

Fantastic images at the Internet Ray Tracing Contest and at POVRay.

Prof. Vijay Kumar was kind enough to give us hints on how to prepare for placements. How to prepare for interviews Have a list of intelligent but unoffensive questions for each company. Contact alumni who are working there, and find out what work is like. What should I find out How does the work improve my employability or value? Specifically in terms of the Nature of work The experience that I get Skills acquired What will the salary growth be over time? What are the perks at different levels? What are the promotion and growth opportunities? What industries does the company focus on? How many people are there, and what is the employee growth rate? What do clients feel about you? (Talk to clients themselves – maybe friends in client organisations.) Which is the largest office? Where are most of the projects executed? (It makes a lot of sense to get into this office. Project staffing is usually done with people in the same office.) What should I question ...

Yahoo’s auction listings fell 82% when they started charging for auctions. But the sales apparantly is steady, and quality of listings is going up. Amazon may follow suit. Looks like the pay-model is the one that will survive on the Net.