SILICENE - THE NEW WONDER SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL

Silicene is a new form of Silicon, first presented by physicist Guy Le Lay at American Physics Society march 2011 meeting in Dallas, Texas. Le Lay had grown sheets of honeycombed silicon with layers just one atom thick.
Structurally, Silicene looks a lot like graphene, which is also a honeycombed sheet, but of carbon atoms rather than silicon.
Silicene has attractive and trendy properties like:

* Its 2-D Structure leads to strange quantum effects and allow electrons to streak across it at incredible speed - properties to develop electronic devices.

* It has characteristics similar to topological insulators - material that conduct electrons only on their outer surfaces.


Problems associated with silicene are:

* Silicene is super-sticky. Graphene is a stable material but Silicene reacts easily with the environment - oxidizing in the air and bonding chemically with other materials.

* Silicene's reactivity makes it much harder to produce than Graphene.

Remedies :

* Only two materials have been found to support Silicene up to now. One, Zirconium diboride, has the advantage of naturally sucking silicene onto its surface from a block of silicon positioned below. The other is crystalline iridium.

Applications :

* To manufacture electronic devices with high conductivity & minimal thickness.


RITWIZ SHUKLA

TCS RECRUITMENT EXPERIENCE – POINTS TO KEEP IN MIND FOR GETTING SELECTED

 

Hello everyone..I would like to share my experience with TCS Recruitment in my college “Moradabad Institute of Technology” on 23^rd November 2012. You can get through it and can decide your strategy for getting recruited by Asia’s No. 1 and World’s No. 2 IT giant..”Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.”

It was a two day placement process in my college. TCS has four levels of recruitment process, you have to clear each level one by one for getting into the next level. These four rounds are:

1    1)   Aptitude Test – 30 Questions of Quantitative Aptitude in 80 Minutes (Computer-based test).

2       2) Technical Interview – To check your technical knowledge & basic programming skills.

3       3) Managerial Interview – To check your managerial skills, quick decision making, aptitude level, spontaneity (quick response to situations), Value clarity and awareness level.

4       4) HR Interview – Mainly a confirmation round of the topics you mentioned in your application form like Backlogs and also regarding service bond and your keenness to join the company. It is mainly aimed at checking your communication skills and suitability for company.

Now let us start with my placement experience..

DAY – 1 – APTITUDE TEST

All the eligible students were divided into batches and the Aptitude Test was given in those batches only. I would recommend you to prepare thoroughly for this level as now TCS has modified its Aptitude test to a tougher level.

TCS Aptitude Test is an 80 minutes test of 30 questions of Quantitative Aptitude of CAT level. It mainly contains questions from topics like:

1        1) Time and Work.

2        2) Time, Speed & distance (Train type questions).

3        3) Geometry and Mensuration.

4         4) Permutations & Combinations.

5       5) Probability.

Mainly focus on the above topics and you will at least get 10 questions out of them.

Also you can follow following books and website to get a sure-shot success in the aptitude test:

1     1)      www.m4maths.com – Solve at least 20 pages of it. You will get more than 7-8 questions unchanged in the TCS aptitude test.

2     2)      Quantum CAT – Sarvesh K. Verma.

3     3)      Arun Sharma – CAT.

Follow above three materials seriously and you will clear Aptitude level for sure.

I would also recommend you to at least attempt 20 questions out of 30 as TCS Aptitude cutoff highly varies from colleges to colleges.

DAY – 2 – TECHNICAL, M.R & H.R INTERVIEWS

1) Technical Interview:

 I attempted 20 questions out of 30 and almost 18 of them were correct, so I got shortlisted for the Technical Interview round, as cutoff in my college was 13.

This round is mainly emphasized on checking your Technical knowledge and basic programming skills. I was from Electronics & Communication branch, so was a little nervous because of my weak programming skills but my Electronics technical was strong. Luckily, my interviewer was very polite and he asked me questions mostly from Electronics which I answered all of them correctly which impressed him.

Get prepared with at least 2-3 subjects from your branch as the questions asked may be pretty tough. For eg. The interviewer asked me about my favorite subject which I answered as Digital Electronics but contrary he asked all questions from Electronic Devices. So, be prepared for situations like this also.

But getting prepared with your core subjects won’t be enough. As TCS is an IT company, the technical interviews will be mainly emphasized on programming questions. Thus, prepare following topics well:

1    1)      OOPS (Object Oriented Programming) concepts.

2    2)      Basic concepts of C and JAVA.

3    3)      DBMS.

4    4)      Basic programs like making number structures etc.

5    5)      Pointers and Looping concepts.

Non-CS candidates can take help of their CS friends and also go through the book “Let Us C”. It will surely brush up your programming basics.

Also, prepare some puzzles as they are frequently asked in this round.

Having a good communication skills can help you to clear this round. Maintain an eye contact with the interviewer and confidently answer all the questions. Compulsorily, Speak in English as they expect it from you as an engineer.

My Technical Interview was for 20 minutes and after that I was recommended for the third round i.e. Managerial Interview.

Always remember, TCS recruitment process in a round-wise shortlisting process. So, give your best in each round to get shortlisted for the next round.

2) Managerial Interview:

In this round, I was interviewed by a 40yr old Senior Manager of TCS. I was interviewed for around 25 minutes in this round and the questions asked were mainly regarding my Final Year Project, Industrial Training, Interest in TCS and suitability for TCS instead of having EC branch. Also some Situation reaction questions were asked.

This round is mainly focused on your Resume. Just go through your resume thoroughly and ascertain a significant reason and explanation for each point of your resume. For eg., if you are mentioning about your Final Year project in the resume then you must have detailed knowledge about it including Circuit Diagram, Working, Applications, Merits and Demerits.

Remember, this round is on accessing your managerial skills, your response to various situations, quick decision making, enthusiasm, confidence and interest & knowledge about the company.

Like, Questions asked to me in this round were:

1    1)      How was your technical interview? (Always reply positively and truly, Don’t Lie)

2    2)       You are from EC Branch, then why should I select you? (Show your credibility for the company. Like I answered that TCS has many Telecom Projects & Clients which only an Electronics engineer can handle better and can understand the requirements of the client)

3    3)      Tell me about your Industrial Training? (Told about Projects undertaken during training, electronic equipments on which i worked and what I learnt)

4    4)      Tell me about you Final Year Project and why you selected this? (Gave detailed explanation including its merits & applications)

5    5)      Why you want to join TCS? (Tell about projects, various activities and responsibilities undertaken by TCS and how you are related to the company. Show your urge to join TCS and express your deep knowledge about company, its projects & clients)

6    6)      Whom are you most attached to in your family? (I answered Father)

Then, he asked Suppose you got selected and is posted to Bangalore but your father told you about some family obligations and asked you stay with them, then what will you do?  ( I answered: Sir, if there will be less serious family problem, then I will convince my father but will stay in constant contact to my family and will also try to visit them once in a week or month. But if, there will be a serious problem, then I will leave the job and will stay with my father) I told you this because always keep in mind, never contradict your previous answers. Previously, I answered that I am attached to my father. Thus, I must not answer to the next question that “I will not leave the job and will join at Bangalore anyway”.

7    7)      Do you want to ask any question? (Always ask a sensible question about the company or your job profile. Never ask any question regarding your performance in the interview)

Always remember, have a detailed knowledge about your resume & the company profile like its Clients, Projects, Profit, Revenue, No. of Employees, Board of Members, Business and social responsibilities undertaken, etc.  More knowledge you will have about the company, more convenient and confident you will feel during the interview & your answers will be more precise and impressive.

Then, after my decent performance in the Managerial Round I was shortlisted for the last round i.e. HR Round.

3) HR Interview:

This round is the easiest of all the three rounds. I was interviewed by a pretty TCS Lady HR. She was very polite and sweet. But don’t get carried away. HR’s are trained to take out the true individual inside you. So, stay focused and listen to her properly and answer all the questions with just the aim to impress her.

My interview lasted for only 10 minutes and the various questions asked by her were:

1    1)      You have written your hobby as travelling, tell me something about your travelling experience and places you travelled to? (Also prepare good explanations for your hobbies and interests)

2    2)      Why you want to join TCS? (Try to give an impressive answer)

3    3)      Do you have any current backlogs? (Answered No)

4    4)      Do you know about the TCS Service Bond? (Answered Yes)

This was all asked by her. Remember, be confident and precise to your answers. Have a confident voice, proper eye contact along with a smile on face.

That was all about the Aptitude Test and three interviews I went through the TCS Recruitment Process. In the evening, the results were announced and my name was the first name in the selected students. Felt extremely happy on getting placed and finally being a TCSer, as my hard work paid me back.

I hope this post was helpful to you. Feel free to contact me for any help. 

RITWIZ SHUKLA

(ritwizshukla92@gmail.com)