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I have routinely designed large industrial buildings with up to 21,000 tonnes of steel in a single building with platforms loaded to 3 tonnes per square meter and overhead traveling cranes of up to 250 tonne lifting capacity, for various industrial projects but these were not my toughest assignments as I had enough reference material, previous designs to guide me and support from knowledgeable seniors if necessary.The toughest projects were when I designed some special structures for which I had no precedents to help me. It was during the years when personal computers had not yet become freely available.In 1986–87 I was involved in some jobs for the Defence. I can’t give too many details for obvious reasons but can discuss what is in public domain.The first of these was the Shock Testing Tank for NSTL-Visakhapatnamm (Naval Science and Technological Laboratories.This was a double walled water tank where the walls were subjected to impulse loading of up to 250 tonnes/sq meter lasting for a fraction of a second resulting from an explosive charge detonated inside the water in the tank. The tank walls had to withstand this momentary load.You can get some more information about this tank at DRDO web site here.NSTL VishakhapatnamThe part that describes generally the tank I designed as a Senior Design Engineer of MECON is shown in this screen capture from the above link.The design of this tank needed knowledge of structural dynamics and design for blast/shock/impulse loading. This is uncommon and most civil structural engineers do not have the know how. They usually deal with static loads. I had the knowledge and competence to do the structural design but lacked theoretical knowledge in handling the analysis for shock / impulse loading. I was sent to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for a three month crash course to learn the theory from two eminent professors of Structural dynamics so that I felt confident. The professors also vetted my analysis and calculations later.Another challenging project that I successfully completed was the Armour rooms at Bharat Dynamics Ltd. These consisted of chambers where the Air bottles of the Prithvi and Trishul missiles were to be filled with compressed air to super high pressures. If there was an explosion, there would be disaster inside the production shop. So this filling of the air bottles was to be done in a controlled and shielded area so that in case of an explosion the damage could be contained within the room. The room could be sacrificed but the production shop would be unaffected.Several such Armour rooms were designed by me to resist high blast pressures. The walls were also made resistant to the penetration of flying missile fragments that would strike the walls at ballistic speeds in case of an explosion. The walls were of Armour steel with yield strengths of up to 10,000 kg/sq cm.Yet another uncommon project was for CVRDE (Combat Vehicles Research and Develop Establishment) at Avadi near Chennai. Flat armor steel plates of various thicknesses were to be mounted on the the main battle tank Arjun. We had to study the shape of the battle tank in 3D from the drawings and come up with rectangular/triangular/trapezoidal/polygonal plates of various sizes, thicknesses and shapes that could be mounted and welded to the battle tanks external surface so that they shielded the tank completely and could resist penetration of bullets from enemy tank guns.I had to use space geometry to work out the profile and dimensions of all the skew plates needed to cover and shield the tank. I had to generate equations for the planes of each plate and find the intersecting lines and vertices to work out the cutting dimensions of the plates so that they matched the various irregular external surfaces of the battle tank. This job is now easily done today with the availability of 3D modeling software. I had no such software and no personal computer even to help me. Several such equations had to be solved repeatedly with different data. The drawings were hand drawn. Autocad was not available.My difficulties were that none of us had done these jobs before. I was tasked to do the job without guidance or precedents. The jobs involved extensive computations and solution of equations of planes. PCs were not available. I had to develop the required software myself and it was written in Fortran and run on minicomputers and mainframes. No text books discussed such subjects.All this was done in 1986–1987.Thanks for this opportunity to recall old memories.Edited to add further information. This was my reply to Sanchit Kumar’s comment.Yes. I used double walled vertically and horizontally stiffened orthotropic plate theories, for arriving at stresses in the plate, and empirical relations for the formula for blast pressures on walls at a known distance from a known quantity of explosive charge equivalent to a given quantity of TNT.For the design of the armor rooms I used research findings in some international structural journals discussing projectile penetration into steel given the density and yield strength of the barrier and the shape, and speed of the flying fragment to see if the plate will be penetrated.To check the integrity of the armor room structure I had to calculate the blast pressure on the walls of the room resulting from an explosion of a container filled with air and compressed to a known pressure.There was no Google, or Wikipedia those days. I had to do research surveys, visit libraries and CSIR laboratories, and talk to their scientists requesting them for reference material. I used all that knowledge and developed my own computer program to do all the design calculations.It took me 6 months to learn how to do the design and finalize the design and issue the drawings for construction. I had only one colleague to assist me part time and one draftsman to make the drawings manually. Autocad and Personal computers were not available.The drawings and calculations are under lock and key and no one can access them without permission from the competent authorities. Even I don’t have a copy. It was illegal to have one. I used to visit Defense Metallurgical research laboratory in Hyderabad, CVRDE in Avadi and the INBRI laboratory in Bangalore for discussions with scientists and was even made to do some of my work at their premises. I was given a special room where no one was allowed in and I was checked by security staff at the gate, to see if I was taking out any papers pertaining to the project when leaving the premises!Edited to add on Sept 26, 2020 in response to comment from Gene SandersThank you for your comment. Even I was diffident in the beginning but I had no choice. Our management told me that I would have to rise to the occasion and take up this challenge. They told me that the prestige of the organisation was at stake and that I had a free hand and cost was no consideration. The client was just too important to turn down. I just had to take it up.I omitted the following in my answer as most readers would not be interested. But for structural engineers reading this, let me tell you what references helped me. These references were given to me by the scientists I met in the course of my literature survey.A book by Cole named “Underwater explosions”A book by Blevins : Formulas for natural frequency and mode shapesA book by Kinney “Explosive shocks in Air”Three research papers in the ASCE journal of the Structural Division by Dr. A. Kar also helped me.Projectile penetration into steelProjectile penetration into concreteProjectile penetration into earth.The first of these books helped me arrive at the pressure on the tank walls due to a known quantity of TNT exploding at a known distance and the duration the pressure would last before the pressure fell to zero. I had to deal with what is called “Impulse Loading” and find the equivalent static load which would depend on the natural frequency of plate. The procedure was well discussed in that book. I can’t recall more details after all these years.The formulas in the book by Blevins enabled me to calculate the properties of double walled orthotropic stiffened plates which formed the structure of the tank wall.The book by Kinney enabled me to arrive at the pressure on the walls of a chamber when air compressed to a known pressure exploded at a known distance from the walls. It also predicted the probable speed of the flying fragments.The three research papers enabled me to calculate the depth of penetration of an object of known weight striking a barrier at a known speed, if the density, yield strength the Brinnel hardness number of the barrier material and the striking object were known. Shape factors were introduced in the formula to account for the pointedness/roundness of the flying missile fragment.None of these subjects were taught even at Post graduate level during my time.It took me months of effort and guidance from the professors of Indian Institute of Science before I could study all this and proceed.

Undoubtedly it has to be Dr. Subramanian Swamy. Here’s why !How it all started: Pro Nuclear Crusader[1]With a PhD in Economics from Harvard, at a young age of 24, Dr Swamy was already on his way to become a “boring” Professor for the rest of his life, but a simple challenge from his friends literally changed his life. The challenge was fairly innocent & trivial. Swamy was challenged into learning any foreign language in 1 year. The 24 year old Swamy who was hungry to take on challenges, took it seriously & set a very high bar to himself. He said to himself that he will learn the toughest language in shortest possible time. Upon a quick survey, he found that Mandarin (Chinese language) was perceived by the majority of the linguists as the toughest language to learn and it would require 2-3 years to gain confidence in it. So, Dr Swamy said to himself that he will learn Chinese. Finally, he learnt Chinese in just 3 months!!Learning Chinese language changed Dr Swamy’s life because he then started giving more attention to the political developments in China, and as a result, Harvard started assigning him more challenging projects related to Chinese economy (which nobody else in Harvard could take up due to their deficiency in Chinese language, which Dr Swamy had overcome after learning the language in 3 months).While closely tracking the developments in China during the 1960s, Dr Swamy noticed that the Chinese were very serious about regular upgradation of their military systems. In 1964, when China successfully tested its first nuclear weapon, Dr Swamy was one of the first visionaries in India who realized that India also must have its own nuclear equipment in order to defend itself from any future externalities.That’s when Dr Swamy took up the challenge of carrying out an in-depth research on Nuclear, and put extensive efforts into it for the next 5 years. By 1969, he had come up with a comprehensive analysis on Indian Nuclear Strategies with a detailed roadmap of Why India needs Nuclear and how it can achieve it in next few years.His research paper titled “Systems Analysis of Strategic Defence Needs” which was a part of his detailed analysis in 1969, is still used even today as a reference to develop India-centric Nuclear strategies.He did not stop at just researching & publishing such studies, but even took it up to the level of activism, to convince Congress politicians, who were more leaning towards Gandhian non-violence principles and hence felt India should not invest in Nuclear. While he was a persuader within India, at the same time, to the rest of the world, he had already taken up the responsibility of mediating as a diplomat, trying to explain world leaders that India is going nuclear, only to protect itself but never to harm anybody else.Transformation: Anti Corruption Activist[2]During the 1970s, when the nation was plagued with corruption, and when the youth of the nation erupted against Congress Party (under Indira Gandhi) which took the shape of 1974 Bihar movement (Total Revolution), Dr Swamy decided to take it up the anti-corruption cause, and there has been no turning back ever since.While JP & his team led the Total Revolution through protests on the streets, Dr Swamy took it up in intellectual form. After imposition of Emergency by Indira Gandhi in 1975, Dr Swamy went underground, to carry out his anti-corruption crusade against Congress party & Indira Gandhi in particular.Throughout the Emergency, Dr Swamy launched a series of scathing attacks & criticisms against Indira Gandhi, and spreading awareness among the masses about the rampant corruption of Congress. Such was the intensity of his attacks that Indira Gandhi literally had nightmares & spent several sleepless nights due to him. She even went on to call for investigations against him & alleged him of CIA agent because she could not defend herself against his allegations & evidences.When Indira had enough of Dr Swamy, she tried to frame him by first issuing arrest warrant against him, and then calling for attendance of all Parliamentary members, failing which their seats would be revoked. With this strategy, Indira knew that Swamy would definitely attend if he wanted to save his seat, and had planned to arrest Dr Swamy when he attended the Parliament, but thanks to Swamy’s dramatic escape plan, her strategy backfired. Dr Swamy managed to give attendance & also managed to escape from India through a pre-planned flight which looked like a scene straight form a suspense thriller.Next Step: Hindutva Crusader[3]Under Janata Party Govt rule, as most of the right wing & Hindutva parties (like the Jana Sangh) had come together under one umbrella, Dr Swamy gradually started taking up Hindutva causes. Unlike other leaders who just played rhetoric to exploit religious sentiments people’s emotions just for votes, Dr Swamy actually used legal (and sometimes diplomatic) routes to accomplish Hindutva causes.His most popular achievement during the Janata rule, had been the opening of the sacred Hindu mountain Kailash for Indian pilgrims. This was possible mainly because Dr Swamy, thanks to his friend’s challenge, had gained mastery in Chinese language, and hence he was able to visit China as a diplomat & won their hearts by speaking to them in Chinese. After winning their confidence, he was then easily able to persuade them into opening the sacred mountain, and thus began the regular annual trip called “Kailash Mansarovar Yatra” in which Dr Swamy himself was the very first pilgrim & led the first batch.Eventually, Dr Swamy went on to take up several serious Hindutva causes including the most popular case of Rama Sethu in which he single-handedly fought an arduous legal battle to save the Rama Sethu from being destroyed by Govt of India. Thanks to him, the ancient national monument & heritage of Ramayana is still intact today.Challenge of Economic Reforms: Economic Crusader[4]Way back in the late 1960s Dr Swamy had done in-depth research in Indian economy & presented his analysis in the form of a comprehensive book titled “Indian Economic Planning: An Alternative Approach” in which he had given a detailed blueprint & proposed dismantling of “license raj” to revive entrepreneurship & boost Indian economy. The then PM Indira Gandhi dismissed it & labelled Dr Swamy as “A Santa Claus with unrealistic ideas”, while the Parliamentarians cheered Indira Gandhi & burst into hysterical laughter, mocking Dr Swamy.However, over the next few decades, as India slipped into economic downturn, and after the fall of Rajiv Gandhi Govt & subsequent dissolution of VP Singh Govt, it was finally PM Chandra Shekhar who had realized the need for economic reforms. As destiny would have it, when India desperately needed a strong blueprint for economic reform, Dr Subramanian Swamy was seated at the helm, as Commerce Minister under PM Chandra Shekhar, and was given the full authority to draft the reforms.Dr Swamy eagerly took up the challenge and after months of efforts, he was ready with the final draft for economic reforms with detailed blueprint, which was unfortunately put on hold because the Chandra Shekhar Govt fell due to coalition politics.After fresh elections within the next few months, when PV Narasimha Rao (PVN) became the PM, the first thing he did was to approach Dr Subramanian Swamy and requested him to be part of the economic planning team which was supposed to navigate India through the economic disaster it was about to face. In the interest of the nation, Dr Swamy happily gave away his detailed blueprint to PVN, which was then delivered to the Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh who then implemented Dr Swamy’s blueprint, and thus India escaped from a major economic crisis and achieved liberalization.Current Role: Anti Corruption Crusader[5]Petition to strike down anti-defamation laws: In Oct 2014, Swamy filed a petition in Supreme Court praying for declaring Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code that deal with criminal defamation as unconstitutional.[27]Complaint against Jayalalithaa: In 1996, Swamy had filed a criminal complaint against Jayalalithaa which led to her prosecution, conviction and sentencing to four years imprisonment by the trial court in 2014.[28]. Later, on May 11, 2015, a special Bench of the Karnataka High Court set aside the trial court order convicting former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha, who was acquitted of all charges in the disproportionate assets case.[29][30] An Appeal against the High court verdict was filed in Supreme Court.[31] The final verdict of Supreme Court came in February, 2017 that indicted Jayalalitha posthumously and upheld the trial court judgement in toto.[33]Phone tapping allegation: Swamy released a letter alleging that former intelligence chief had asked DoT to tap the phone of many politicians and businessmen in Karnataka [34] when Ramakrishna Hegde, the then Chief Minister, resigned in 1988. [35] Hegde then filed a case against him in 1989 and 1990 [36] [37][38]Hashimpura massacre: In 1987, when Muslim youths were killed under police custody, Swamy spoke against it and sat on a fast for more than a week in Jantar Mantar demanding the institution of an inquiry. [39] After 25 years he started pursuing the case once again in court.[40] Rebecca John, a counsel for the Hashimpura complainants, told Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Siddhartha who is conducting the trial in the case, that "there is no other motive than politics behind Swamy's plea for further investigation and it would only further delay the trial".[41]Role in exposing 2G spectrum case: In November 2008, Swamy amongst others wrote the first of five letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking permission to prosecute A. Raja in regard to 2G spectrum case.[42] After not receiving any response,[43] Swamy decided to file a case on his own in the Supreme Court of India regarding the matter, which then asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to produce a detailed report on it.[44] He further called on the Indian government to re-auction the 2G spectrum without the involvement of Communications Minister Kapil Sibal.[45] On 15 April 2011, he filed a 206-page petition with PM Singh seeking permission to prosecute Sonia Gandhi on charges of corruption. He also raised doubts regarding her acquisition of Indian citizenship. [46] Swamy filed documents in the court to prosecute Minister of Home Affairs P. Chidambaram by including a 15 January 2008 letter written by Chidambaram to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Swamy also placed on record the certified copy of the minutes of a meeting between Chidambaram, Raja and the prime minister during the tenure of Raja as the MOC&IT. [47] Since criminal charges were filed against the accused, but no evidence was given by Swamy or the CBI, all the respondents have got bail as of July 2012.Sanction to prosecute telecom minister A. Raja: On 31 January 2012, the Supreme Court of India accepted Swamy's petition against the Prime Minister's Office in the 2G case, saying that all public authorities should give a sanction within three months against any public official if a request is made for prosecution. The Supreme Court said that Swamy had the locus standi to seek sanction from the Prime Minister for the prosecution of A Raja in the 2G case. Sanction by a competent authority for the prosecution of a public servant has to be granted within a time frame, the apex court said. Justice AK Ganguly said that the sanction would be deemed to be granted if competent authority failed to take a decision within four months. Swamy's arguments were that he wrote to the PMO on 29 November 2008, but it was only on 19 March 2010 the PMO replied that the plea made by Swamy was "premature" as investigation was being carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Raja was arrested by the CBI in the case and got bail on 15 May 2012 after spending nearly 15 months in the Tihar Central Jail [48] On December 21, 2017, the special CBI Court Judge acquitted the accused including A Raja.[49]Petition to strike down "single directive provision": In 1997, Swamy filed a petition in the Supreme Court of India to strike down a provision which barred CBI from investigating corruption charges against officers of the rank of joint secretary and above without prior permission of the Govt of India called as "Dr. Subramanian Swamy Versus Director, Central Bureau of Investigation & Anr." [50] On 6 May 2014, a five-judge constitution bench held the single directive provision as invalid and unconstitutional. The court said that "Protection of prior approval for probing graft charges against officers at level of joint secretary and above has propensity of shielding corruption"[51][52] Experts such as former CBI Director Joginder Singh praised the judgement as "Superb".[53] Incumbent CBI Director Ranjit Sinha welcomed the judgement and said, "now a very heavy responsibility has been cast upon us to ensure that no innocent civil-servant is harassed."[54]Investigation on EVM: Swamy demanded that an independent committee should be formed to check the security and safety of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) to avoid any rigging or tampering. He argued that countries like US, Japan, UK, Germany and Netherlands have abandoned EVMs and are using paper-ballot system and demanded that a printed receipt should be given to every voter after casting the vote.[55] [56] His PIL to investigate the working of EVM was dismissed by the Delhi High Court on 17 January 2012. The court refused to give any direction to the Election Commission to bring back paper-ballot system or use of printed receipts. The Commission argued that the use of paper is not feasible due to the huge size of Indian electorate. The court further asked the Election Commission to "immediately begin a process of wider consultations" and the Parliament "to go into this question in depth and decide". [57] [58] On 22 January 2013 the Election Commission informed the Supreme Court that it would include Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system which is in the testing phase after the court agreed with some points raised by Swamy who was the contender, [59] in the machines so that every voter will come to know who he/she is voting by getting a printed slip after pressing the EVM button.[60] [61] The voter paper audit trail has then been in use from 4 September 2013.[62][63]On 8 October 2013 the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to implement audit trail system in 2014 general election in phases.[64]National Herald case: On 1 November 2012 Swamy alleged that both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have committed fraud and land grabbing to a tune of ₹20 billion (US$290 million) by acquiring a public ltd company called Associated Journals Private Ltd (AJPL) through their owned private company, Young Indian [65] which was formed on 23 November 2010.[66] Through this they had got publication rights of National Herald and Qaumi Awaz newspapers, with real estate properties in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.[67] The acquired place was intended only for newspaper purposes but were used for running a passport office, amounting to lakhs of rupees, it alleges. Swamy further added that Rahul Gandhi hid the facts in his affidavit while filing nomination for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections [68] [69] It further alleges that on 26 February 2011 AJPL approved the transfer of unsecured loan of ₹900 million (US$13 million) from the All India Congress Committee at zero interest. [70] [71] Swamy argued that it is illegal for any political party to lend the loan as per violation of Section 269T of Income Tax Act 1961.[72] On 2 November, the party responded that the loan was given only for reviving National Herald newspaper with no commercial interest.[73] Swamy decided to approach the Supreme Court for de-recognising the Congress party, while the Election Commission ordered the probe on 17 November 2012.[74] [75] The hearing of the case had been taken up thereafter on different occasions [76] [77] [78] [79] [80] with the court observing prima facie evidence against all the accused. [78] [81] [82] On 1 August 2014 the Enforcement Directorate initiated probe to find any money laundering in the case [83] while on the same day Swamy was served notice by the High Court. [84] On 28 August the metropolitan court fixed 9 December for the next hearing of the case, [85] [86] while on 12 January 2015 the judge of the Delhi High Court recused himself from hearing the case stating that schedule of cases has been changed and directed that the petitions be directed before an appropriate bench [87] On 27 January 2015, the Supreme Court asked Swamy to make out a case for the speedy trial in the Delhi High Court since the petition cannot be heard directly. [88] On 18 September 2015 it was reported that the Enforcement Directorate had reopened the investigation. [89] Following it, on 19 December 2015 Patiala House Court granted unconditional bail immediately on the hearing to all the five accused but one.[90][91][92] On 12 July 2016 the Delhi High Court set aside the trial court order of 11 January[93] and 11 March [94] based on plea by Swamy to examine balance sheets of Congress party, AJL and Young Indian from 2010-2013,[95][96][97] and fixed the date of next hearing on 20 August.[98]Swamy’s long legal battle with PC & his corrupt family is reaching its logical conclusion. Chidambaram was the architect and author of all the mega scams in India namely 2G, Coal, Non-Performing Assets (NPA) scam, Aircel Maxis, NDTV, Vasan Eye Care, Saradha Scam, Forex derivates scam[1], Airbus scandal to name a few that rocked the nation.It was Subramanian Swamy in August 2018,who unlocked the clandestine relationship between PC, Ahmed Patel with Congress party’s Karnataka money bag D K Shivakumar and handed over the evidence to investigative agencies leading to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) registering case against DK recently[2]Swamy has vowed to track down all the White Collar criminals to cleanse the politics. After hunting down Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in National Herald case, P Chidambaram & family in multiple corruption cases, BS Hooda in HUDA case, DK Shivakumar in Hawala case linked to AP & PC, Swamy is likely to push for the prosecution of the culprits in the court of law.[6]Last but not the least is Rahul Gandhi’s citizenship row.[7] The home ministry has issued a notice to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, asking him to explain his "factual position" over a complaint filed by BJP parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy that he holds British citizenship. The Congress chief has been given a fortnight to respond to the notice.Reacting, Subramanian Swamy, who has in the past raised questions about his citizenship and qualification wrote on Twitter: “Buddhu has also filed income tax returns in UK during 2004-2006 as a British Citizen as Rahul Gandhi while MP in India!!!!!’ Buddhu citizen likely to be cancelled because he cannot deny his British citizenship now. His tax returns are damning. Ensure BJP Govt returns on May 23 rd”[8]In my opinion he fits the definition of the Biggest Chowkidar.Footnotes[1] Dr Subramanian Swamy: Anti-Corruption Crusader, Hindutva Warrior, Economic Chanakya & Nuclear Strategist - Guruprasad's Portal[2] Dr Subramanian Swamy: Anti-Corruption Crusader, Hindutva Warrior, Economic Chanakya & Nuclear Strategist - Guruprasad's Portal[3] Dr Subramanian Swamy: Anti-Corruption Crusader, Hindutva Warrior, Economic Chanakya & Nuclear Strategist - Guruprasad's Portal[4] Dr Subramanian Swamy: Anti-Corruption Crusader, Hindutva Warrior, Economic Chanakya & Nuclear Strategist - Guruprasad's Portal[5] Subramanian Swamy - Wikipedia[6] Subramanian Swamy’s anti-corruption, legal battles and its effect on South Indian politics - PGurus[7] Govt Notice to Rahul Gandhi After Subramanian Swamy's Complaint Over British Citizenship[8] 'Citizenship likely to be cancelled': Swamy says Rahul Gandhi filed IT returns in UK as Brit citizen while MP in India | Latest News & Updates at DNAIndia.com

One of my best career opportunities so far came in the form of an e-mail from WIRC. I applied for the industrial training campus placements which were going to be held on 17th Feb, 2019. Soon, the list of companies that were coming for recruitment was shared, and I was quite excited to see some really promising names:Thermo Fisher ScientificJSW Holdings LimitedBDO India LlpLupin LtdJ.P MorganColgate Palmolive India Ltd.Duff & Phelps India Pvt Ltd.Hindustan Unilever LtdCRISILCiplaBefore I go on to share my experience with the interviews here is my background.Work Ex: 2 years at Kalyaniwalla and Mistry LLP, an upper mid-sized firm, in the audit and assurance team. Handled assignments of statutory audit, tax audit, limited reviews, with some exposure to forensic audit and financial due diligence.IPCC: Group 1 242/400 (Nov ‘16), Group 2 173/300 (Nov ‘17)CPT: 131/200 (Jun ‘15)XII: ISC 90.20%X: ICSE 91%Interview #1 - Thermo Fisher ScientificThis was the first interview that I had attended. TFS was interviewing candidates for vacancies across functions - financial reporting, internal audit, MIS, FP&A, indirect tax, direct tax, accounting and a few commercial roles.There first interview was conducted by the managers of the departments that were hiring, the questions that stood out were:(Apart from the general questions such as “tell-me-about-yourself”-type which was common across interviews, so I will not be repeating them in the interest of brevity)What are the recent changes in the financial reporting / audit reports?This was hinting at the recent changes brought about in the audit report due to the revision of SA 700 and the introduction of SA 701. We exchanged opinions on why the changes were necessary and the additional communicative value of the new report.What is Islamic Banking and Finance?The interview noticed that I had published a paper on the subject. We had an in-depth discussion on what are the key differences between Islamic Banking and banking, as we currently understand it, and the roadblocks for implementing the same in India.(you can read more the subject here: The Islamic Banker)This was followed by a brief HR interview which covered the details of the role being offered.Interview #2 - BDO India LLPBDO was offering a role in its M&A and Advisory team. The interviews were being conducted by the HR personnel. No technical questions were asked. The questions were geared towards why I had decided to switch to industrial training, my interests and career ambitions. The selected candidates were going to be interviewed by the manager/partner over a phone call.I was shortlisted for the phone interview but could did not go ahead with the same as I was already placed before the interview could happen.Interview #3 - Colgate Palmolive India Ltd.Colgate was hiring for vacancies in the FP&A and Customer Finance teams. Only shortlisted candidates were allowed to interview. There interview was conducted by the manager of the Customer Finance team:What is your experience with SAP? Which t-codes are you familiar with?This was a fairly easy question as I had worked quite extensively with audit clients that use SAP. We followed the practice of extracting the data from the system directly, as opposed to requesting it from the client, which helped us learn SAP in a very hands-on manner.He gave me some tasks on excel involving pivot tables, sumifs, countifs and sort/filter.What was your experience where you added value to a client or had a great impact?I shared an experience where during a due diligence engagement due to certain miscommunication between the firm and the client, they were a little hostile and unwilling to co-operate.Our team worked closely with them, accommodating their limitations (limited staff availability due to training and integration activities done by acquiring company, tight deadlines, unavailability of a lot of required data) and by the end of the engagement we had met the deadlines and the client had a very positive outlook of the firm.Final ThoughtsI chose to go ahead with Colgate because the commercial role being offered was quite fascinating. There was strong emphasis on impact and customer-focus. This aligned with my personal values and work ethic.The preparation that had gone into shortlisting the candidates (the only company to do so), conducting a test on the required skills and the direct involvement of the manager indicated the inclination of the company to invest in their trainees (which proved to be right!).Overall I had a great experience at ICAI’s campus placements. The arrangements made by the WIRC placement team were truly impressive.The only point of improvement I would look forward to is better communication of the roles and pre-requisites before the day of placements. This would help both the companies and the candidates focus their efforts.The roles being offered were not shared with the candidates up until they were in the interview. This put them in a serious disadvantage in terms of preparation or selecting which interviews to attend.It slowed down some interviews for the companies as well as a few of them had strict conditions for shortlisting candidates (attempts, rank, attempt for finals) and they often interviewed candidates only to realize later that they did not meet the requirements.