Howdy Amigos !!
Sorry for the very long delay. The trio had been busy with a lot of stuff lately and none of them could take out a little time out of their "busy" and lazy lives to update my progress here. :( Anyway, here I am, to tell you some new stuff happening with me lately.
As described in my last post, I got into the National Finals of Microsoft Imagine Cup Embedded Development category.
The National Finals were held at Microsoft's Gurgaon office on 27th and 28th April, 2011. The trio flew to Gurgaon 1 day before the finals. As for the arrangements by Microsoft for their finalists, well, I can't complain. It was too good. We were given a room in Microsoft's Guest house, local transportation in Gurgaon from the guest house to their office and back, and from Gurgaon to New Delhi where the final presentation ceremony was held. The event was organised by Mr. Mark D'Souza and Mr. Aditya Mohan of Microsoft.
Upon reaching the guest house, we met Mark. He stood out as a very friendly and helpful guy. He spent some time with all the 7 finalists, getting to know their projects and giving them tips for their presentations in front of the jury. The jury consisted of -
We had to present the project in front of the jury in 20 minutes. The presentation went well, almost as it was planned (with a few hiccups maybe, but that is not really relevant). Then followed the judges' comments. They pointed out our inability to satisfactorily justify the project as an embedded project. Another point was the feasibility and practicality of the project. Comments like "how will you convince the govt. to let you tamper with the existing infrastructure to plant the LEDs", "Why do you say it's embedded? Why don't you use mainframe computers instead of an embedded CPU" etc etc... Though the trio tried its best to answer their questions, it was clear from the looks on the judges' faces that the answers were not very satisfactory. So, that Q-A round marked the end of the judging process.
The following day we had the final prize distribution ceremony and Open Showcase at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi. The trio was asked to give a short 3 minute elevator pitch about the project to the audience. They decided that Tarin would do it, and so he did. Fortunately we got the first spot for the pitch, so the audience was still fresh and they actually listened to him (unlike the following pitches which ultimately left audience yawning and chit-chatting). So, that went well too. Then followed the results. And guess what, I didn't make it to the top-3. :( Felt bad but it was justified considering how we almost bombed the Q-A round the previous day.
So, that was pretty much it. Another big competition. Another finals. And yet another, no spot in the top-3. But I know the trio has progressed a lot since their last year's Intel IEC entry. The experience here at Microsoft was awesome. Go to know some more shortcomings in me which have to be worked upon. The trio got enough time and chances to talk to various technologists at Microsoft and they got some pretty valuable advice there. I am hopeful they will consider those advices and improve me for the next time. But wait, next time? What's next? Another competition? Well, the chances are less. I am not sure what's going on in their minds right now, but I get a feeling it's something big this time. Really big, bigger than these competitions. What is it? Stay tuned to find out in my next post. :)
Adios.
Sorry for the very long delay. The trio had been busy with a lot of stuff lately and none of them could take out a little time out of their "busy" and lazy lives to update my progress here. :( Anyway, here I am, to tell you some new stuff happening with me lately.
As described in my last post, I got into the National Finals of Microsoft Imagine Cup Embedded Development category.
The National Finals were held at Microsoft's Gurgaon office on 27th and 28th April, 2011. The trio flew to Gurgaon 1 day before the finals. As for the arrangements by Microsoft for their finalists, well, I can't complain. It was too good. We were given a room in Microsoft's Guest house, local transportation in Gurgaon from the guest house to their office and back, and from Gurgaon to New Delhi where the final presentation ceremony was held. The event was organised by Mr. Mark D'Souza and Mr. Aditya Mohan of Microsoft.
Upon reaching the guest house, we met Mark. He stood out as a very friendly and helpful guy. He spent some time with all the 7 finalists, getting to know their projects and giving them tips for their presentations in front of the jury. The jury consisted of -
- Prof. Anshul Kumar, IIT Delhi
- Mr. Prabu Kumar Kesavan, a Microsoft Windows Embedded Most Valuable Professional (eMVP) working with e-con Systems (http://www.e-consystems.com/)
- Mr. Tejas Shah, Competitive Strategy Manager, Microsoft India
We had to present the project in front of the jury in 20 minutes. The presentation went well, almost as it was planned (with a few hiccups maybe, but that is not really relevant). Then followed the judges' comments. They pointed out our inability to satisfactorily justify the project as an embedded project. Another point was the feasibility and practicality of the project. Comments like "how will you convince the govt. to let you tamper with the existing infrastructure to plant the LEDs", "Why do you say it's embedded? Why don't you use mainframe computers instead of an embedded CPU" etc etc... Though the trio tried its best to answer their questions, it was clear from the looks on the judges' faces that the answers were not very satisfactory. So, that Q-A round marked the end of the judging process.
The following day we had the final prize distribution ceremony and Open Showcase at the Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi. The trio was asked to give a short 3 minute elevator pitch about the project to the audience. They decided that Tarin would do it, and so he did. Fortunately we got the first spot for the pitch, so the audience was still fresh and they actually listened to him (unlike the following pitches which ultimately left audience yawning and chit-chatting). So, that went well too. Then followed the results. And guess what, I didn't make it to the top-3. :( Felt bad but it was justified considering how we almost bombed the Q-A round the previous day.
So, that was pretty much it. Another big competition. Another finals. And yet another, no spot in the top-3. But I know the trio has progressed a lot since their last year's Intel IEC entry. The experience here at Microsoft was awesome. Go to know some more shortcomings in me which have to be worked upon. The trio got enough time and chances to talk to various technologists at Microsoft and they got some pretty valuable advice there. I am hopeful they will consider those advices and improve me for the next time. But wait, next time? What's next? Another competition? Well, the chances are less. I am not sure what's going on in their minds right now, but I get a feeling it's something big this time. Really big, bigger than these competitions. What is it? Stay tuned to find out in my next post. :)
Adios.
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