My ILP Center
ILP which stands for Initial Learning Program, is a training program for about 3 months (precisely 60 working days), which every fresher has to undergo upon joining TCS. I joined TCS on 18th June. Before sharing my experience, I would like to let you know that my ILP center was in Trivandrum, Kerala. Many of my college mates had to go to Pune for doing this training and some were in Trivandrum too. So, as you would have already guessed, we were divided into two groups by the TCS.
First Day : Feel of being an employee for the first time in my life
When i reached there, a soothing and cool weather was welcoming me. We were given accommodation in a hotel named B.G.Plaza. At last the day arrived. We were informed to report at 8:30 am at TCS office. On the very first day, I was very-very excited and a bit tensed too. A “Suresh” bus (very famously called TCS bus there) came to pick up. We went there around 8:15 am. Upon reaching there i saw many people like me were waiting outside the gate, more were coming. There were mostly unknown faces. We were instructed to come inside the gate one by one with a valid ID proof and TCS offer letter. Then we were seated in an auditorium room for introduction. First day went doing the paper works which is necessary for new joiners. I was feeling very happy now because I was an employee now.
Second Day : the PAT test
On the second day, PAT test was waiting for us. Fortunately i came 2nd among around 300 plus people and thus got stream and base branch of my choice – JAVA/J2EE and Bangalore. Actually Aspire test results also helped in this as i had scored 100% in all tests. Again fortunately for me, I was in T15 learning group with 6 of my college mates. From next day onwards no more boring videos and actual training was going to be started and shift timing was from 02:00 p.m.to 09:00 pm.
the Dress Code
Monday to Thursday was formal day (u have to wear formal shirt and trouser), Friday was casual day (u can wear jeans and collared t-shirt) and Wednesday was the Tie day (everyone must wear tie that day). No work on Saturday and Sunday. Yuppie!!! We used to enjoy these two days most in ILP. This was the time to explore Kerala actually.
Third day onwards : Actual training starts
Our actual training started from the third day. First session was of bizzSkill. Actually in ILP there was a dedicated session every day to improve employee’s soft skill. A lady named Shantha KTS came and welcomed us in TCS. One thing I must say she was very-very beautiful. There was a surprise extempore. A team of two people was formed and each team had to choose two topics but lastly one had to speak on his partner’s topic. I was very bad in soft skill but probably my soft skill was going to be improved slowly but steadily. In the break I met with my group mates. Excluding my college mates in them, mostly were from Hyderabad.
In the very next session, JAVA/J2EE stream head came and discussed how our technical classes were going to be throughout the training period. Then our tech lead Jini Ranjan came and started the technical course. We talked with each other throughout the day in a 4 wall bounded room and time to time mam came and taught us. I told my friends, who were yet to join till then, how we face the problems. Believe me i seemed like being in captivity. The only difference was that i was getting a salary at the end of the month. That time security guards were very strict on us. If we did any kind of small mistake we were picked up and taken to the Admin. Also it was the time when we came out from college platform to office (famously called campus to corporate transformation in private companies).
Days went by, slowly and gradually. After some days, training started properly. I enjoyed especially the bizzSkill part because of Shantha only. Chart paper assignments , writing your own profile,doing your SWOT(Strength , Weakness , Opportunity and threat) analysis, few presentations , more extempore were there. She taught also how to write an effective email (written communication) , how to talk on telephone (verbal communication), how to wear a tie and most importantly what to do for a groomed facial expression every time Few role plays were there like how to meet your new boss in a party who just joined , how to meet an employee from a customer organization, how to receive a friend of your best friend working in US at airport , scolding restaurant manager for dirty food etc. We had to maintain the learning log (what you learnt on the particular day and what you can do on the basis of that knowledge just like diary writing) and time sheet entry (for how much hour you worked on a particular day - obviously it was for our salary) daily. I was smart in doing these tasks as i am considered to be a punctual and sincere guy since school days.
fear of Remedial and LAP throughout
If you are thinking that you will be able to complete the training casually without any hard work then sorry you have chosen the wrong company. The techLead after covering the topics day by day takes tests in the regular interval but the good thing is he/she will inform you about these tests probably one or two days ago. But the most dangerous is the remedial test and LAP. After the completion of technical classes for about 10 days there is a chances of surprise tests anytime. Some 8-10 people will be selected from your batch randomly and in the test if will not perform up to a certain level then you will be pushed into remedial category and in that case you have to devote extra time with your techLead to improve your technical skill. Generally there are 3-4 surprise remedial test in the ILP but the most dangerous was the last which happened normally on 55th working day if i am not wrong. If you will not perform up to a certain level in this test then your ILP stay will be extended to 10 more days so that your technical skill gets improved. Again you have to work hard on your technical topics with your techLead. This is called LAP condition.
the Project work
After some days we were divided into group of 5/6 people for doing a project. Normally the batch is divided into 6 groups. These 6 groups is further divided into 2 teams consisting of 3 groups each. Common project is given to both teams and the project is divided into three modules say 1 , 2 and 3. If group A in team 1 is doing the implementation of module 1 then he will do testing of module 2 and maintenance of module 3. Fortunately I got the best group of working people. We needed to give some presentation about the development status of the project and some bizzSkill presentation in between. Soft skill classes rather mam’s face was refreshing me after 3 technical classes (as we have 3 technical class and one soft skill class every day). We enjoyed each and every moment day by day. We celebrated friend’s birthday with the group in the canteen. We used to take lunch, snacks and dinner together. We were more like a family those days.
Fit4Life : the best part
TCS has a nice program called Fit4Life. Skilled trainers take care of your body. You have to do some running and stretching of muscles. For every kilometer you run, TCS donates 10 rupees to charity. I was glad that I am also donating to charity indirectly now added to improvement in my physical health.
the Release
Last few days were some happy or sad moments for us. We share our experience, friend’s nature in diary. There was a closing ceremony at auditorium for releasing us. There were heart touching songs, some stunning dance performances and some comedy scripts performed by our friends. Then at Thejaswini restaurant we conducted our farewell with our tech lead. Some of my friend sang some songs. But it would not have been complete if our tech lead had not sung the song…. (I forgot the lyrics actually). The way she sang was truly awesome. We all gave a standing ovation for this performance. Lastly it would be unfair if I don’t say the commendable job by our CR for guiding us and helped us when we needed. I still miss our CR Shastry’s famous dialogue “Guys, I have an announcement to make…"
NOTE: - This is what will happen with you in ILP when you will join TCS normally. Last paragraph things were not happened with me as I already resigned TCS till then due to my personal reasons.
Few things I would like to share, there is no leave allowed in TCS during ILP. Maximum you can avail sick leave without permission but after then you have to apply for sick leave with some hearings from Admin and HR. If you are absent for two consecutive days you have to give medical certificate also. Most importantly if you are absent for three consecutive days your learning group will be changed to the learning group of same stream which is following your group there. Yes, you are guessing right. This happened with me. If you read few more blogs of mine, you will come to know what exactly happened with me.
Hope you like this blog. Share it with TCSers who are going to join.
First Day : Feel of being an employee for the first time in my life
When i reached there, a soothing and cool weather was welcoming me. We were given accommodation in a hotel named B.G.Plaza. At last the day arrived. We were informed to report at 8:30 am at TCS office. On the very first day, I was very-very excited and a bit tensed too. A “Suresh” bus (very famously called TCS bus there) came to pick up. We went there around 8:15 am. Upon reaching there i saw many people like me were waiting outside the gate, more were coming. There were mostly unknown faces. We were instructed to come inside the gate one by one with a valid ID proof and TCS offer letter. Then we were seated in an auditorium room for introduction. First day went doing the paper works which is necessary for new joiners. I was feeling very happy now because I was an employee now.
Second Day : the PAT test
On the second day, PAT test was waiting for us. Fortunately i came 2nd among around 300 plus people and thus got stream and base branch of my choice – JAVA/J2EE and Bangalore. Actually Aspire test results also helped in this as i had scored 100% in all tests. Again fortunately for me, I was in T15 learning group with 6 of my college mates. From next day onwards no more boring videos and actual training was going to be started and shift timing was from 02:00 p.m.to 09:00 pm.
the Dress Code
Monday to Thursday was formal day (u have to wear formal shirt and trouser), Friday was casual day (u can wear jeans and collared t-shirt) and Wednesday was the Tie day (everyone must wear tie that day). No work on Saturday and Sunday. Yuppie!!! We used to enjoy these two days most in ILP. This was the time to explore Kerala actually.
Third day onwards : Actual training starts
Our actual training started from the third day. First session was of bizzSkill. Actually in ILP there was a dedicated session every day to improve employee’s soft skill. A lady named Shantha KTS came and welcomed us in TCS. One thing I must say she was very-very beautiful. There was a surprise extempore. A team of two people was formed and each team had to choose two topics but lastly one had to speak on his partner’s topic. I was very bad in soft skill but probably my soft skill was going to be improved slowly but steadily. In the break I met with my group mates. Excluding my college mates in them, mostly were from Hyderabad.
In the very next session, JAVA/J2EE stream head came and discussed how our technical classes were going to be throughout the training period. Then our tech lead Jini Ranjan came and started the technical course. We talked with each other throughout the day in a 4 wall bounded room and time to time mam came and taught us. I told my friends, who were yet to join till then, how we face the problems. Believe me i seemed like being in captivity. The only difference was that i was getting a salary at the end of the month. That time security guards were very strict on us. If we did any kind of small mistake we were picked up and taken to the Admin. Also it was the time when we came out from college platform to office (famously called campus to corporate transformation in private companies).
Days went by, slowly and gradually. After some days, training started properly. I enjoyed especially the bizzSkill part because of Shantha only. Chart paper assignments , writing your own profile,doing your SWOT(Strength , Weakness , Opportunity and threat) analysis, few presentations , more extempore were there. She taught also how to write an effective email (written communication) , how to talk on telephone (verbal communication), how to wear a tie and most importantly what to do for a groomed facial expression every time Few role plays were there like how to meet your new boss in a party who just joined , how to meet an employee from a customer organization, how to receive a friend of your best friend working in US at airport , scolding restaurant manager for dirty food etc. We had to maintain the learning log (what you learnt on the particular day and what you can do on the basis of that knowledge just like diary writing) and time sheet entry (for how much hour you worked on a particular day - obviously it was for our salary) daily. I was smart in doing these tasks as i am considered to be a punctual and sincere guy since school days.
fear of Remedial and LAP throughout
If you are thinking that you will be able to complete the training casually without any hard work then sorry you have chosen the wrong company. The techLead after covering the topics day by day takes tests in the regular interval but the good thing is he/she will inform you about these tests probably one or two days ago. But the most dangerous is the remedial test and LAP. After the completion of technical classes for about 10 days there is a chances of surprise tests anytime. Some 8-10 people will be selected from your batch randomly and in the test if will not perform up to a certain level then you will be pushed into remedial category and in that case you have to devote extra time with your techLead to improve your technical skill. Generally there are 3-4 surprise remedial test in the ILP but the most dangerous was the last which happened normally on 55th working day if i am not wrong. If you will not perform up to a certain level in this test then your ILP stay will be extended to 10 more days so that your technical skill gets improved. Again you have to work hard on your technical topics with your techLead. This is called LAP condition.
the Project work
After some days we were divided into group of 5/6 people for doing a project. Normally the batch is divided into 6 groups. These 6 groups is further divided into 2 teams consisting of 3 groups each. Common project is given to both teams and the project is divided into three modules say 1 , 2 and 3. If group A in team 1 is doing the implementation of module 1 then he will do testing of module 2 and maintenance of module 3. Fortunately I got the best group of working people. We needed to give some presentation about the development status of the project and some bizzSkill presentation in between. Soft skill classes rather mam’s face was refreshing me after 3 technical classes (as we have 3 technical class and one soft skill class every day). We enjoyed each and every moment day by day. We celebrated friend’s birthday with the group in the canteen. We used to take lunch, snacks and dinner together. We were more like a family those days.
Fit4Life : the best part
TCS has a nice program called Fit4Life. Skilled trainers take care of your body. You have to do some running and stretching of muscles. For every kilometer you run, TCS donates 10 rupees to charity. I was glad that I am also donating to charity indirectly now added to improvement in my physical health.
the Release
Last few days were some happy or sad moments for us. We share our experience, friend’s nature in diary. There was a closing ceremony at auditorium for releasing us. There were heart touching songs, some stunning dance performances and some comedy scripts performed by our friends. Then at Thejaswini restaurant we conducted our farewell with our tech lead. Some of my friend sang some songs. But it would not have been complete if our tech lead had not sung the song…. (I forgot the lyrics actually). The way she sang was truly awesome. We all gave a standing ovation for this performance. Lastly it would be unfair if I don’t say the commendable job by our CR for guiding us and helped us when we needed. I still miss our CR Shastry’s famous dialogue “Guys, I have an announcement to make…"
NOTE: - This is what will happen with you in ILP when you will join TCS normally. Last paragraph things were not happened with me as I already resigned TCS till then due to my personal reasons.
Few things I would like to share, there is no leave allowed in TCS during ILP. Maximum you can avail sick leave without permission but after then you have to apply for sick leave with some hearings from Admin and HR. If you are absent for two consecutive days you have to give medical certificate also. Most importantly if you are absent for three consecutive days your learning group will be changed to the learning group of same stream which is following your group there. Yes, you are guessing right. This happened with me. If you read few more blogs of mine, you will come to know what exactly happened with me.
Hope you like this blog. Share it with TCSers who are going to join.
1 comment:
Hi. Once at ILP, how do they allocate the base branches? Can you change your preferences from the options you gave while accepting your joining letter?
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