All you need to know about CCEE & CCPP | All about Exams and Placements | Tips and Tricks | CDAC

Phew!!!! finally, my CDAC journey has come to an end and and the final result has been sweet as well. I got placed in the first week of the Common campus placement programme better known as CCPP itself and now i've come to my hometown Delhi to spend a few weeks with my family before starting the job in Pune. This will be a long post so buckle up.

I started with my first post when i was allotted Sunbeam institute in the first round of seat allocations. Then I wrote this post during the first week in Pune and before the start of the session. My last post was during the Diwali break and talked about the faculty and included the subjects taught before diwali break so naturally i will start from where i left.

The Faculty (...continued from this post)

• The next subject which was taught immediately after diwali break was Javascript frameworks. Believe me, Javascript is the King of the Web today. There are a number of Javascript frameworks out there and more and more are being developed and released at a faster rate than any other scripting language. It has evolved the User Experience manifold. So there are multiple reasons to learn it. This subject was taught by Kishori ma'am and in a week we were taught Javascript, Jquery, Node, Express and Angular. The angular version taught to us was 2 which was released a couple of years back and now Angular 6 is in the market. This might give you an idea about the ecosystem of Javascript and it's frameworks. Too bad that most of the class was clueless about the Angular due to lack of material on the web due to rapid development rate. But my advice will be to study angular well as it will surely help in your projects and ultimately placements. 

• Unix programming (part of the operating systems) taught by Kaushal sir which included introduction to Linux OS, useful bash commands, shell scripting using C and the practical sessions in labs. This was over in like 4-5 days and helped us to understand why one should study linux.

• Then started the subject for which most of the students were waiting for since eternity - Core Java and Advanced Java taught by none other than Madhura Anturkar ma'am. To be honest, I always wondered about this hype around Java as a programming language as it wasn't taught well in our graduation. But after nearly a month of Java by Madhura ma'am, i realized it's importance as Billions of devices all over the world are running java based apps. Coming to the teaching part, I think i don't deserve to pass some comments regarding her Teaching. She is the best in the business. All you have to do is be a regular in the class, do what is being taught the same day and voila, you are ready to be picked up by the recruiters. If you are new to Java, it will be very intimidating when the Advanced Java starts as was I. If you carefully study from a single resource, all will be clear to you. Be very careful during the Java module as it can either break or make the business end of this 6 month course. So java will be over by December starting with 2/3 subjects remaining - Dot net, Application Security and Upcoming Technologies. By this time, you will be asked about your groups for the projects and specify the technologies to be used. All being tentative. 

• Next subjects were Application Security taught by Manu Zacharia sir who is the main faculty for the DITISS course and Upcoming technologies (Parallel Computing) by Sandeep walwekar sir (I had to lookup his name as i attended only 1 of his 4-5 classes). Application security being a new subject to be included in the course talked about developing secure web applications and included demos on typical attacks on a website like SQL injections, HTML injections etc. The lab part for this module was little dragged as felt by me. The upcoming technologies module will be a good revision for operating systems concepts(if attended).

• The final module was Dot net technologies taught by Alankar Sooraj sir. I had this presumption in my mind about DotNet being an older technology but when it was being taught, i felt why CDAC has scheduled this subject to be taught at the end of the course when the students are busy in revising the modules for the final CCEE exams. It is as if CDAC doesn't want anybody to make projects in dotnet which is similar to the advanced java ecosystem and lots of other features. You will be taught a little different perspective of why we study OOPS which will be really helpful in the interviews. My advice to you will be that don't skip dotnet as there are equal or little less number of opportunities in dotnet too.

All about the Project and CCEE Exams

The teaching part of this 6 month course roughly spans about 4.5-5 months with the rest part reserved for CCEE exams, the project, the lab exams if left and a buffer time for any of the theory classes, if not completed on time. In the last month of the teaching, december in my case. You will be asked about the groups in which you will be making your projects and technologies too. 

Some tips about projects--

• Choose your partners carefully and according to the technologies you want to use in your project. 
• Most of the students prefer Java for the project but i would suggest go for dotnet as companies visiting as well as CDAC R&D require dotnet people too, so it will be an advantage for you too stand out from the crowd. Additionally you can think of implementing a REST service in DOTNET(WCF) or JAVA(SPRING) and consume using a REST client in Angular on the front. This will be a deadly combination. Also don't go overboard and try to use a technology if it isn't at all required. For example, your web application requires simple CRUD operations then don't go overboard and show your skills in services and angular just because it is flashy. Major point you should now is that why are you using a specific technology for your project. Is it really required ??
• You will get at max 15-20 days for your project after the CCEE exams. Like 15-30 January in our case. 90% of the projects will be on similar lines ie - A web application to manage something say blah blah management system, with 3 types of user viz admin, customers, vendors, login - logout functionalities, CRUD ops etc.  Do something that differentiates your project from the rest. Implement some extra features like -- Localization, Hashing of passwords, AJAX, Single Page App, Upload-Download, BLOB handling, Use of APIs, Social Login etc. This will surely give you a boost in the interviews and an edge over others. 
• Know your role in the project and the number of good practices you have employed. These things will be frequently asked in the interviews. More on the interviews below...

Now something about the CCEE Exams(8-13 Jan-2018)

• These are basically MCQ exams conducted at the end of the course for all the modules, 14 in our case.
• Each module will be of 40 marks with 40 MCQs and no negative marking and time limit is 1 hour. 
• Students from closer institutes are shuffled and they have to travel to other institute to give the exam. 
• Exams will be over in 7days with 2 exams each day. You will hardly get a sleep of more than 3/4 hours as there will hardly be any time for you to revise.
• Prepare these very carefully and with your full concentration as these marks are considered by the companies visiting the CCPP. 
• This time, the topper for the DAC course for all over India was from our class with 80% in CCEE. Later, he was recruited the first day itself by CDAC R&D. \
• Go through a lot of MCQs as you will get an idea about the questions which can be asked in the CCEE Exams. More on study materials below...

Teaching---->Exams---->Project---->????Next What

Now the business end of the course arrives -- CCPP---The placements---for which most of the students join CDAC...

A presentation is given to the students in which they are briefed about the placement process. The first thing which is mentioned is that CDAC DOESN'T GUARANTEE PLACEMENTS. They are just a tool, a guidance or a help to you to get placements. Ultimately, it is upto you to get placements. CDAC will just invite companies to the campus. If you are worthy, no one can stop you from getting a job.

Approx 1700 Students in the Pune region including 1100 from DAC course will participate in the common placement program in Pune. CDAC hires a campus in Shivaji Nagar Pune (Catering College) where companies are invited to conduct their processes. If not possible other CDAC affiliated institutes - Sunbeam, IACSD, Infoway etc are also used for the written rounds during the placements. 

The schedule of the CCPP is roughly like : 

• First Month -- Companies will visit CDAC common campus placements for the recruitments
• 5-10 Days break
• 1-1.5 month--- Off campus placements. Students will have to visit the companies to take part in their processes.
• Lastly, Local Campus--- Companies will visit only the institute from which you have done your course. Of course that will differ from institute to institute and number of unplaced students.

Some tips:

• One call === Shortlisting by a company
• CDAC R&D will be the first one to recruit the students. The process is held at CDAC ACTS itself. Almost 500 Students were shortlisted by CDAC for the first round of interviews itself. Therefore no written rounds were there. Don't waste your time speculating about the shortlisting criterias. Just concentrate on interview questions and study well.
• The companies shortlist the students not the CDAC. CDAC just acts as an intermediary to communicate this information to the students via email, website and mobile application. So don't complain that CDAC is not giving you opportunities. Even now, 18 days after the placements have started, students in my class are badmouthing CDAC for not getting enough opportunities.
• There are multiple criterias employed by companies to shortlist students. They may be your CCEE marks, Subject wise marks, 10th, 12th Marks, Graduation Marks, Graduation year, etc.
• You have to provide your details- academic, experience, and general information on CDAC Placement portal which will generate your resume/CV based on that. So be careful while filling up that info. You should be able to justify each and every thing in your resume.
• If you are a fresher with good academics, buckle up because you will hardly get any time to Study. Most probably you will get 2-3 calls daily. All you have to do is be prepared and most probably you will get placed within the first week itself.
• If you are not a fresher and have some gap in your studies or some work experience but have good academics, then initially you will struggle a little to get shortlisted by the companies but ultimately your day will come. 
• If you are not a fresher and have average or below academics, the you are bound to struggle for the placements. These students were getting very less calls and if it's your day and you have studied hard then 1 call is enough.
• For students with gaps or work experience may have a little hard time around in the HR rounds.
• Being a fresher and good academics, I got 13-14 calls during first week and luckily I got placed in the 11th one.
• Most companies will arrive for DAC students. Courses like DBDA and DIOT have very less placements. DVLSI, DESD have also fewer placements but with highest packages.
• 1st week will see highest packages for the higher packages between range 5-8lpa. But it's not guaranteed that a more higher package offering company will not visit during the 2nd week.
• You don't have a choice to choose between companies when selected by 2 companies. Once selected by a company, you can't sit in the process again.
• You can opt out of the process of a company but for this you have to visited the designated center and sign the attendance. The call will be counted if you opt out of a process.
• Behave yourselves when in the campus as the coordinators can snatch your Placement ID cards and block you from the placements.
• Keep your eyes, ears and Internet open as the emails can arrive ANYTIME OF THE DAY. If you miss a process or are absent, then you will be blocked from the placement process. Few students in our class have been blocked for such carelessness.
• It will be frustrating when you will see your classmates getting placed but you have to be patient and wait for your day. This might be a blessing in disguise as you can prepare well and go all guns blazing in the interviews.
• If you are shortlisted for multiple companies then everything will be managed by the placement team. Be sure to inform them if you have to go attend other processes.
• Most of the companies have a written/online round which consist of Aptitude and technical questions. Aptitude will be basic. Just revise the formulas and basics. Concentrate more on the technical part.
• For visiting companies list and package details, feel free to comment....

Sources to refer for study:

• In most cases, resources provided by the teachers and notes made in the class will be enough for placements and interviews. Though can't say that about the CCEE exams for few subjects. Subjects like DotNet, Data Strcutures, Operating System, Advanced Web Programming and Javascript frameworks will require a more in depth study at your end and some extra knowledge. For that you have to refer some books or some online resources.
• For MCQs, questions can be asked from the online websites like Sanfoundary, IndiaBix, CarreerRide, Javamadesoeasy etc. But don't rely on only them. One should refer them after completing the study from the course syllabus.
• Books are provided by CDAC but most of the students don't open it. I also referred to them a few times only. Students got stumped this time after realizing that Software Engg Exam was straight from the book only.
• Extra Knowledge will never go waste. You will surely have an edge in the interviews.
• For CDAC provided CCEE exam dumps and topic wise resources, you can ask me in the comments.

Some tips for the Interviews:

• Your explanation matters more than your knowledge during the interviews. Most interviewers listen to the same explanations again and again as most of the students have studied the same thing. Explain in such a way with examples to stand out and impress the interviewer.
• Don't fool around in an interview. If you don't know or remember something, just say as it is but if you try to fool around, rejection is sure.
• One thing which will be asked in 99% of the interviews is your project. Be ready to write a code or two from your project. Sometimes your graduation project can also be asked. "Tell me about your project", "role in project", "why this technology", "how you solved this common problem" etc are some of the questions that will be asked.
• Next common question is the cliche -"tell me about yourself". If it's being asked in a technical round, keep it short and simple. Don't provide some extra detail accept academics, hometown, hobbies etc.
• Your luck matters more than you think during the placements. for example - you are giving an interview at the end of the process, by that time the interviewer might already have finalized the students already. If it's your day, everything will fall in place for you to be selected. Signs will be there too. Just watch out. There will be days when you will be down and out. Just get up and move on. There is always a better opportunity waiting for you.
• One thing i've noticed is that Interviewers don't ask very difficult questions. Just keep your basics correct and explain beautifully.
• For subject wise frequently asked question, just comment ....

For any other help, please feel free to comment and ask...

Thank you and hopefully you see this soon 

CDAC ACTS PUNE EXPERIENCE WEEK 10

This is my 3rd blog post regarding CDAC ACTS Panchawati Pune and probably the most detailed one as I have spent almost 2 months in Pune, pursuing PGDAC (Diploma in Advanced Computing). Here is what I wrote regarding the CCAT for admissions to their courses and here is what I wrote during the first week of my CDAC journey in Pune. Though I wrote last post almost 45 days ago, it feels like it was just yesterday for me when I landed in Pune. So here comes the first takeaway - The course is really FAST PACED. Note the emphasis on the words in capital and bold. You may find it hard to kill time while sitting idle at home but here Time Travels really really fast here. It's like 'Blink N U Miss'. Ok ok, let's save these tips for the <body>.....</body> 
I am writing this post while on my way home to delhi for the Diwali break (15OCT-22OCT). This might he the first time that CDAC ACTS has granted a week for holidays. Not sure about it. Let's skip to the contents of this post :

The Faculty - 

• So let us start with the first subject that is taught for the DAC course - CPP Programming. This subject was taught by Praful Kolte sir and he is already the best teacher ever for me. He also taught Data Structures and Algorithms to us. The best thing about him is that he makes you understand the concepts in the easiest of the language with heavy doses of examples from the real life blended with humor. This makes you enjoy his lectures as well as understand the concepts like never before. I wish every teacher was like him. I remember him saying to students in first or second class that he won't let us sleep in the class. This sentence has 2 interpretations - "Either he will pin point to students sleeping to wake them up/send them outside" or "he will teach you so well that you won't feel like sleeping". Here it was the later case. For this to be followed, there are some prerequisites that one should follow. Follow along what he is teaching and you need to have some pre-knowledge about the programming otherwise you will find it difficult to follow and in the end, blame it on the teacher. He would tell you stories from his life, previous batches and IT industry and correlate the with what he is teaching which would make his class, a treat for the ears and mind. The more doubts you ask him, the more you will gain from him. The class would be there for no more than 4 hours (mostly 3 hour classes). The only downside was that due to less time, he has skipped Searching,Sorting techniques. I wish the management allotted him more time. and here's a bad news(hopefully false) for the CDAC ACTS Pune hopefuls. This was the last batch that Praful sir taught (said by him) due to time constraints between his job, personal life and his teaching hobby. That means we were the lucky ones. I hope this will not be true and he would rethink this decision. These 2 subjects would be completed in one go, that is no break of a week or days in between.

• Second subject which started during the first week was Software Engineering taught by Dinesh Anantwar sir who also teaches at Sunbeam Pune. He would start with one and half hour introduction of himself which includes his work experience, early retirement at age 39, his hobbies - trekking and his social profiles and his social work. He is one of the most friendliest, well learned, soft spoken teachers around. His presentation skills are excellent and there is no one close to him. One thing which works against him is that the subject Software engineering is a theoretical one and has a lot less to cover for the time allotted relative to subjects like CPP Programming or Web Programming. The ones who have studied this subject in college would agree to this. To compensate, he would often extend a topic for hours. But he would try to make them interesting with a lot of examples, role-plays, activities etc. At times you will feel like sleeping in his class. However, it is OK to sleep and he also won't disturb anybody. A lot of things will seem obvious when he would explain the concepts but the point is that only a handful will think of these obvious things before he explains. These classes would take 3.5-4 hours with a few 5 hour classes (Don't worry, there will be breaks in between). He would always try to make the sessions interactive which is a plus point. This subject will be completed in around total of 10-12 classes. For us, it started in August and there was a long break in between before it's completion in 1st week of october.

• Aptitude and Effective communication (2 different classes) also started during the initial weeks. These are the 2 most important things which you will need to get a job. Aptitude will clear your first hurdle while the English will help you in the interviews to explain your technical understanding. From our batch, they have also include a test for aptitude for the final exams along with the main technical subjects. Aptitude is being taught by Vikrant Sir. He won't waste much time to explain the basics as it is a given that most of the students know some of the aptitude as they have cleared the CCAT exam. So he will prepare you for the worst case scenario with all the questions that aren't generally asked in a normal aptitude test but considering he is working closer to the industry and knows the current situations well, I would rather listen for what he has to say. He would also give you advice for like 20 minutes in every class which will motivate you. The point he makes is that almost everyone thinks of preparing for the aptitude during the end time, that is, near the placements, one should do it consistently over the course of 6 months. Even if you do just 2-3 questions a day, it would hardly take an hour. and after you get a job, aptitude is the last thing anybody is going to care about (unless you plan to give government job exams side by side). Coming to effective communication taught by Eileen ma'am- these classes will make you feel relieved and lighter in your head after all the technical stuff you see everyday. The point is that the more you speak in English, the more you will get comfortable with it. Even if you know only a few words, you should at least try. The first class will require each student's introduction in front of the class of around 50-60 (DAC -240 Students - 4 batches of 60). You need to prepare presentations in groups of 10 on any topic for the internals. Make sure you don't speak in Hindi during this class as you might have to sing or dance in front of everyone, if she catches you. You will be provided a booklet for the exercises regarding English grammar which will be done only during the class, and the answers will be read out aloud by each student turn wise. YEAH!! School Like.😂

• Then started the Operating Systems taught by Rajesh Sola sir. This subject felt like a whirlwind. There is always one such subject which comes and goes and mostly no one knows what is going on.😋 This is rather an overstatement. It wasn't that bad but it felt like one relative to the high bar set by Praful Sir and Dinesh Sir. Adding to the misery, the labs were not scheduled along with the theory classes, so there was a large void between what he taught and what we understood. Even till Diwali, there are no lab sessions held for this subject. 

• The next in line was DBMS (MySQL) which was taught by Rahul Bansal sir. He was also one of the most friendliest teacher to teach us, moreover he had a good rapport with the students. He would teach in Hindi and English (occasionally) and type running notes during the class, later distributed to students. He would be there for full time, so learn as much as you can from him while he's there. Praful sir was one of the lab faculty in this subject. His knowledge in every subject is worth a mention. Keep asking your doubts from them and you will get extra knowledge each time. Remember : Knowledge never goes to waste.

• The next subject which was completed just before the Diwali break was Advanced Web Programming taught by Shrilata ma'am. Some of the technologies you will learn in this subject will be HTML, CSS, Javascript, XML, JSON, AJAX, PHP. This is one of the most important subject with a lot of technologies taught in a very less time. So it might get a bit overwhelming during the classes. The key is to ....... OK, let's include these tips at the end so that I can generalize for all the subjects. W3Schools will be your go to website for this subject. That doesn't mean ma'am doesn't teach well. All you have to do is keep practicing what is taught the current day. That way you don't have backlogs to cover for later time. 

How to Study

• The first and most important tip is to just revise what is taught the current day. You may complain of lack of time but you have to take out an hour or two to go through the current topics apart from the practicals. Many students would leave what they don't understand or even understand to look up at later date or during the placement preparations. Believe me, there will be no later date. All you gotta do, you have to do it today itself. 

• I can vouch for the quality of teaching that is better than any other private and many government engineering colleges. Can't say about comparison with IITs or NITs . That will be like comparing apples and oranges. So all you have to do is keep asking doubts. The teachers will be there between the breaks and after the class ends for doubt solving. However that doesn't mean you ask lame or minuscule doubts or keep asking the teacher for everything that is, spoon-feeding. Just rethink what you did, ask you friends, look up on the internet and then approach the teacher (My Tip).  Protip :  Whether you have any doubts or not, just go near the teacher's desk where all other students are asking there doubts. There will be times when you can learn more from these doubt solving sessions than the whole class.

• Always look for extra knowledge than your peers. Each student in your class is being taught the same thing as you but to rise from the herd, you have to be a little different. That'll only happen if you have more knowledge than your peers. Always question WHY are you studying this technology??, what is it's use??, how is it better than alternatives??, what are the alternatives??, where will it fir in the bigger picture?? etc. If you don't have answers for these questions then there is no point trying to cram up stuff just for the placements. 

• The above point can be followed by looking up multiple sources. Multiple sources include your Teacher, The books provided by CDAC, online forums like Stack Overflow and the most important - The documentation of the technology. Never take what you read from a source at it's face value. If most of the sources are saying the same thing, then only you can be sure that what you are studying and understanding is correct. 

• Remember : Treat you teachers like God, always follow what they tell. However that doesn't mean follow them blindly or don't question them. They can be wrong too. 

• Lab session are of 3-4 hours and they are there for a reason. There is no point cramming up the theory unless you put it to good use. The labs are open 24*7 for the boys and till 9 or 10pm at night for the girls. That doesn't mean you have to go to the lab during extra hours because everyone else is doing it. You can study at your accommodation on you laptop too if you don't get distracted by everything else (that may take a little more hardwork to get the required software up and running). There will be distractions in the labs too. So choose wisely.

Now the DO's and DON'Ts

• Don't get late for the class. Sometimes there will be someone from the management waiting for you outside the class. Never argue with them. Always maintain a good rapport with them. Only they will come to your help for your problems.

• There are a limited eateries around, so if you are not eating from the CDAC Canteen, you better hurry up as the seating may get full when you reach there to have your lunch. The food quality is the same everywhere, that is disappointing for someone from Delhi.😑

• Mange your time well. Take a minimum of 6 hour sleep. There is no point sleeping during the afternoon/evening and stay up late at night to study. There will be times when you will fall asleep in the class or feel sleepy. But if you just open your phone and look through some stuff then VOILA! all your sleep is just gone. That's because the stuff teacher is teaching is going over your head. It is ok to sleep in the class but remember to find a seat at the corners or the last rows.😀

• Always sit in the middle column (especially for DAC Students) as the students are around 240 and the teacher stays in the middle most of the times. Don't follow this if you plan to take a nap. 😊

• The syllabus will be over by December (August to February batch). and them exams, project and placements will follow. So prepare as you study the subjects then and there itself.

• Always maintain a good company, that is of knowledgeable students.You can always learn new things from them. Stay away from stuff which gets you high. You know what I mean to say.😋

• Get up before anyone else if you have to bath daily because after that you won't find time to go to the bathrooms.☺

• The proxies can be done (just like college) but if you are caught (low chances) then GOD BE WITH YOU. Before taking an urgent holiday, please inform your course coordinator beforehand.

• Our course coordinator told us that more companies want students proficient in .Net. So choose your project wisely.

• Always complete your assignments on time as lab evaluation may consist of viva or checking of those programs or a practical for the pair of students. This is different from the practical exam. 

• There will be 2 students on a single system in the labs so choose your partner carefully.

Stuff provided by CDAC

These are the books provided to us by CDAC along with a Bag. Remember : NO one will read all these books but always refer to them if you want to look up a specific topic.

Now I sign off . I don't know when will my next post come but I am sure it will come. Thanks

If you have any doubts, you can comment here. I will try and reply you.

CDAC PUNE ACTS Week 1 Preparations PG Hostel Food Weather

So I was offered Sunbeam Pune for course PGDAC with rank 576 (A+B) in the first round of seat allocation of 1st counselling. That was, when I wrote my first post in this blog.
In the second counselling, I got The Pune CDAC ACTS which is considered as the best CDAC institute. The registration at the centre was scheduled for 16th August, 2017 and subsequently we booked the flight tickets for Pune for the same day ( as I had to fly Kites at Home on 15th August :) ).

As I was leaving my home with my parents and travelling to Airport in a Cab, nostalgia crept in and all memories of my 21 Years stay in Delhi made an appearance in my mind. All the familiar roads, familiar buildings and the thought of 'How will I manage without my Parents in a stranger town??' made my eyes wet but I held them in my eyes only, with a heavy heart. In hindsight, my mom also was trying her best not to cry but I saw her effort to keep the rolling tears off from her face.

The flight took off at 3:30 in the morning and by 5am, we were at Pune-Lohegaon Airport. This was my first experience with Air Travel. And it went like a breeze except a few moments at Take off and Landing. We were welcomed by a little cold weather in Pune, partly due to monsoon season and the other reason being transition from hot and humid Delhi. My friend from College (and also school), who also was offered CDAC ACTS Pune in the first round of seat allocation itself, had booked space (PG) for 2 of us in a 3-sharing room. We took a cab from Airport to Panchawati Pune. We could see a few flat-on-top hills during the journey. Panchvati or Panchwati or the more acceptable Panchawati felt like a Hill station up north.

This colony is home to many retired Army personnel and Government employees. So cleanliness was obvious. Ours' was a bungalow situated in Madhukunj Society (one of the first societies after CDAC ACTS) with with 4 floors (roof included). Just a 3-4 minutes walk and you are in CDAC. As it turned out, my room was on ground floor which also has a bigger hall and a kitchen in between. The capacity of the bungalow for the students stands at 25. The students here are from all over India. Some being fresh graduates, some who have tried various fields like Bank Jobs etc. and some very elder than you.

Main Panchawati Road

The registration process began with the teacher/staff handing us a registration form to be filled with our details. We also had to attach a set of photocopied certificates and degrees with the form and keep the original ones with us for when the teacher asks for verification purposes. Me, along with some other DU students had to go through extra scrutiny due to the nature of our undergraduate course but in end, all just went fine.

We were also informed of the induction ceremony/Orientation which was going to happen the next day at Pt. Bhimsen Joshi Kalamandir in Aundh (4-5Km form Panchawati). The orientation programme included presentation from the CEO of Amdocs which is a recruitment partner with CDAC and formal speeches from other dignitaries from CDAC and a retired Army Colonel who was also an ex-CDACian. We were also informed that our classes woud start from 21st August -Monday which invited huge applause from the students. That meant that we had a 3 day weekend before the course started. Next was a free lunch😀😀

Now that these 3 days are coming to an end, it felt like it was just yesterday that we had arrived here. In fact, you won't feel the measure of time here. In these 3 days, we have explored the Panchawati region from a student's perspective who is coming from somewhere like Delhi-NCR and below I will share some tips for the same.

Food :

• You won't find the usual Rajma Chawal, Bhindi etc. here most of the times, neither in Cafes, Dhaba's or the tiffin services.
• There are a few (like 5-6) eateries here in Panchawati and mind you, these are not restaurants. Here you can find snacks for evenings, dinner, lunch and breakfast.
• The taste will surely differ from what you are used to and for ones who have never been in a hostel/pg before, it will take some adjustments.
• Domino's, McDonald's etc are present but not in Panchawati, nearest ones are 3-4Km from Panchawati but they do deliver.
• Haldiram's or Bikaner are not present nearby. They are very far, usually on highways or big markets. 
• Prepare yourself to see a watered Dal with actually no dal present and many big onion and tomato pieces in it if you are looking for tiffin service.
• It won't be possible to eat from outside at all times since you will be at CDAC most of the times. CDAC has a canteen/mess for students at ground floor which isn't state of the art either. Our food (for us 25) will be prepared in thr kitchen in this bungalow itself. So it will be easier for us to travel here during breaks and eat.
• Fruits like Bananas and Apples are easily available.

Weather :

• The weather here is cool for someone who hasn't lived anywhere with extreme temperatures like Delhi but Pleasant for anyone from up north.
• At times, one can feel cold irrespective of their past experience with weather. So one or two jackets are recommended.
• I, personally have seen sunlight for only 4-5 hours total in the last 5 days. In fact, it has been raining since last 20 hours here at the time if writing this post.

Scenery :

• You can get a view of hills from anywhere near CDAC ACTS, Panchawati. The hills behind Panchawati, Panchawati Hill walking trail is hugely recommended. The view from the top is mesmerising. You can either walk or climb your way to the top. Attaching some pictures here :

  

  View of CDAC from Panchawati hill

  

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  Lake on Panchawati hill

  
  

  

  View from Top

  

  Sunset from top

  On the Panchawati hill, you will find an abandoned mining site with a small lake (called ARAI stone quarry). This is a Hidden gem which is not yet commercialised. So enjoy while it is still there. There is also a Pashan lake not far from here.
• I haven't seen much of Pune so won't suggest some place in Pune as yet. For a 2-3 day weekend, you can travel to lonavla (60km) and Mumbai too.

PG/Hostel/Accommodation near CDAC ACTS Panchawati Pune :

• It will be better to book your Accommodation - rooms or PGs a week or before in advance. You need not be present here to Book it as the brokers or owners can send you the photos of the rooms on WhatsApp. Though you can Travel here and walkthrough the PGs yourself. Protip: Never finalise the first one you see. There will always be a better one.
• If you don't have any problems living in a room with 6-8 other students with negligible space for even standing, then you can book them. But the cost of them won't be like half of what is considered a better one. You can save a 1000-2000 per Month here but is not recommended from my side.
• Most of the PGs provide facilities like Geyser, RO/Aquaguard, Washing Machines, Wifi etc so please confirm from the brokers or owners before booking the accomodation.
• The parents of the students who wish to see off their child can also stay here, there is absolutely no need to book a hotel. Hotels aren't there in Panchawati. Nearest ones are 4-5km.
• There is absolutely no need to book PGs/rooms away from Panchawati like Aundh or Pashan.

Costs :

• Apart from the fixed fees of courses (except the Big Data Course which has 20K higher fees) other costs can vary but not much.
• You can get an all facility PG at 6-8k per month. (FOOD EXCLUDED)
• Food-Tiffin service can cost you 3-4k per month with Breakfast, Lunch and dinner included.
• Most of the brokers will demand 3-15k security deposit which is refundable.
• Transport may not cost much if you are in Panchawati and will be going CDAC only. For occasional travelling outside of Panchawati, you can hire the Cab service Ola and Uber which are aplenty in Pune. Ola share and Ola Auto are cheaper according to me.
• For larger distances, example lonavla, you can travel by bus.

Few doubts solved : 

• What if you haven't got the degree form the college, university till the registration day : No problem, you can get a provisional certificate from the college/university along with the final marksheet. Otherwise you have to sign an undertaking to submit the degree within the next 3 months. In my case, it is 30th November, 2017.

I will keep posting about my experience at CDAC in this blog. Here is the view from my room and terrace :

Gearing up for CDAC - PGDAC at Sunbeam Pune

So, the 4 year B.Tech in Computer Science is complete from DU. Yes, this is the University of Delhi from where I and a thousand strong more did a B.Tech which, I think is pretty much unheard of. But believe me, it did made a lot of noise about 4 years ago when the then HRD Minister decided to port all the 3 year courses at University of Delhi to 4 year courses in a program called the Four Year Undergraduate Program (FYUP). Adding more mockery to this, B.Tech was also started.

I'm not gonna dwell into those 4 years to explain how the FYUP was rolled back after a regime change and how a protest by a thousand strong made our B.Tech stay and get an AICTE approval.

4 years went by and the inevitable happened which was already expected by almost all the students. No Placements arrived. No IT Companies visited. No Mass Recruiters visited leaving this standalone batch hanging in mid-air.

I decided to pursue a 6-month Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Computing (PGDAC) from CDAC (Center for development of advanced computing). I heard of this from my mother after she came to know of someone who also studied from CDAC. It also provides M.Tech program for 2 years with tie-up with regional universities like IP university in Delhi. But since, a job was the priority, I gave the entrance exam called C-CAT to get admission to the training centers and other private institutes affiliated to CDAC. I gave the exam at CDAC-Noida. The exam was computer based with an option for students to bring their own laptops.

The exam is pretty simple for the CS students who have also given some other entrance exams like CAT or GATE. The C-CAT exam for CDAC is held twice in 12 months for 2 batches a year. One in June (for august admissions), other in December(for February admissions).

The syllabus for the 3 sections A,B,C are given below. Each section is of 1 Hour and section A is compulsory for admission to any course. Depending upon your choice of course, you will have to give exam for either Section A only, Section A+B or Section A+B+C. More detailed information can be found in the Admission Booklet.

Syllabus : 

• Section A English, Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning 
• Section B Computer Fundamentals, C Programming, Data Structures, Data Communication & Networking, Object Oriented Programming Concepts, Operating Systems  
• Section C Computer Architecture, Digital Electronics, Microprocessors

Note: Each Section has 50 Question

So that makes it 50 Questions for 60 minutes.

Since I was opting for their flagship program PGDAC, I gave Section A+B on 25 June 2017 at their CDAC Noida center. The exam started an hour and a half late due to some server problems. Since the exam is computer based, all you have to is open a browser (preferably Mozilla Firefox) on their system and go to the URL provided at that time. Login with the details on your Admit Card, carefully read instructions and wait for invigilators' go. After each section, a break for 10-15 minutes will be provided. The aptitude part is pretty easy but can take time so brush up your skills. The computer science part is easy, only if you remember everything you studied in those 4 years and remember the concepts to the detail. 

Only a few questions (5-7) out of 50 for Section B will be straightforward. Rest will require some thinking to do. Overall, you can complete this part easily before time and still go through all the questions once before submission.

I attempted around 32 questions in section A, mostly with confidence when the time ran out and around 40 questions in section B. The results came : I got rank 786 for section A and 576 for Section A+B. That means my rank that mattered for the admissions was 576 among all those who gave section A+B exam.

From what I searched on the net about CDAC, the city Pune will be frequently discussed as the CDAC Headquarters are located in Pune itself along with other top institutes for PG Diploma like Sunbeam, while other centers like Noida, Mohali etc don't find a mention anywhere. Bangalore and Mumbai are also above average if I go by the information available on the web and take them at face value.

With rank 576, going through the 480 seat strong top 2 institutes - CDAC Pune and Sunbeam Pune seemed probable as each and every student ranked better than me won't select the same PGDAC course or same center in their preferences. As it turns out, i am allotted sunbeam Pune. That means now I am inside the 480 odd students opting for CDAC from either CDAC pune or Sunbeam. My chances for CDAC pune seem improbable but not impossible as I wait for the 2nd round of seat allocation in a few days. The CDAC Pune chapter seems final now as I prepare myself to live alone for a 6 months (or more....) which I haven't till yet but ultimately, it had to happen at some point. 

CDAC Pune or Sunbeam Pune don't Hostel facilities available but they have tie-ups with independent PGs and accommodations. I found a list with the contacts of the PGs online for Sunbeam Pune here.

But I don't think the choice of room to sleep will matter as most of our time will be spent at the centers only.

I have to report to the center on 16th August while the session starts the next day. Going through the Sunbeam website, I went though a notice for the Sunbeam Karad students (Near Pune) which gave some instructions before the start of the session. Some of them are :

• Formals for Mondays and Thursdays
• An assignment in C language and Data structures to be submitted before the session starts.

This really prepares one of what's to come in the next 6 months. Since I am also admitted to Sunbeam, the instructions will be more or less same. So, I better start brushing up the concepts now itself. 

I will keep updating this blog with more insights in the coming months ( If I find time :) )