Successfully completed M101P: MongoDB for developers

I have successfully finished the course M101P:MongoDB for developers, offered by the MongoDB, available at the university.mongodb.com.

The course is taught by Mr Andrew Erlichson, who holds phd from the university of stanford and is currently the Vice President Education at MongoDB Inc.

This course gives us an idea of what MongoDB is, how to use CRUD, how to design and engineer applications using schema, how to optimize performance and how to use aggregation framework.

I have received a certificate of completion duly signed and attested by both, Mr Max Schireson, CEO, MongoDB and Andrew Erlichson. I have scored 70% marks, and the cut off score to get certified for this course is 65%.

I have enjoyed the course, the way it has been presented, challenging assignments which has made me hands on on MongoDB ,online discussion forum where people were really helpful. Also, the final exam was really tricky, and I am glad that I have managed 70% overall.

Thanks for thinking about teaching and sharing knowledge with others, the journey has been wonderful.

Tell Me About Yourself - The Most Important And The Most Neglected Question

Whenever we attend an interview, or even if we have a normal conversation, we are or will be often asked this question, 'TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF'. This question is the most important question, yet neglected, not only by the recent college pass outs, but even by the experienced professionals as well as the veteran people. This question is asked everywhere, be it an interview for a job or a GD/PI for MBA or even for hi-tech courses.

But why this question is so important?

The reason that this question is usually asked first by the interviewer is that tell me about yourself is an ice breaker to initiate a conversation. Answering this question with readiness and in an articulated manner gives the confidence to the interviewer that the candidate has prepared for the interview and is serious about the job. Majority of the job interviews actually involves forming rapport with the interviewer. Candidates often think that by cramming the answers, they will get the job, where as the interviewer is checking whether the candidate has prepared for the interview, how well he/she handles the situation.

The purpose of the interviewer is to gauge whether the candidate has clear picture about the work he/she has done or still does, whether they understand the instructions,will they be able to understand and solve problems and how do they approach a problem or the work- meticulous, careful or carefree, always in hurry, are they good team player. Also, what do they do apart from their professional work. Here also, one should not say that they listen to music etc, but must tell that how does the candidate utilize the time. Tell me about yourself actually describes the candidate's true personality, both at the professional level as well as at the personal level, hence this question is the most important and must be prepared and articulated in a proper manner.

But  lot of people neglect this question. They think that tell me about yourself involves telling the entire history of their life. That's not the correct way to attack this important question. This question has to be finished in 2 minutes, and in 2 minutes, no person on this planet will be able to narrate their entire life history.

So how to tackle this question?

Well, I normally attend software engineering interviews, so my advice will be for software engineers.

First, tell from where you have graduated, in which year and the university name. Then, start with the first job designation with the firm's name, then the last designation with the firm's name. After that, tell them about the job responsibilities. Then, tell what have you done at the work, any leadership position etc.

After that, tell the interviewer  how do you update yourself and keep track about the latest technologies. And how do you achieve this? Do you listen to webinars, attend workshops and events?

Then come to the personal level. Here also, don't describe about the family details. Talk about learning, being updated with recent knowledge, any research kind of activities.

Since this is an important question, I have written my response to it. Here it is:

My name is Radhakrishna Rao L. After completing my bachelors of Technology from Guru gobind singh indraprastha  university in the year 2005 with IT as majors, I started my career as associate applications engineer with   Oracle Technologies Pvt Ltd and rose to the level of Senior Software Engineer  with PeopleTechGroup.My job responsibilities  included customizing Enterprise modules using Peoplesoft Technology. The work included communicating with team members and clients, gathering requirements, and creating solutions. I have designed and optimized application engines to automate and integrate processes of the HR systems  using sql and peoplesoft.
  
 I keep myself updated by learning new skills .I have finished a course on R and statistics from the coursera, an online MOOC platform, and also,have finished a course on MongoDB,a next geneartion of database from mongodb university.  I attend hackathons to meet new people and work in teams in order to solve problems out of my domain. I also attend seminars, and listen to online webinars which talk about new technologies and demonstrate workshops. I also write and maintain a blog.
  
Personally ,apart from spending time with my family, I like to learn languages, especially Sanskrit. I take keen interest in Indian politics, research on history of civilizations and empires, collect and store information from the newspaper articles and magazines, and like to keep myself fit. 


It is clear that I have covered everything, my education history, my job history, my work history, team player, how do I learn new things, and how I spend my personal time. Also, this answer will take less than 2 minutes to speak out.

I hope that this article will help the readers to achieve their goals.

Thanks for the read.

Madhava Rao Peshwa Thorale -THE MAJESTIC AND THE UNPARALLELED

History, for some, especially government and politics, is a tool to promote vested interests and agenda. And for others, History is a tool to study about the past, their rich culture and heritage and learn the marvelous beauty of the ancient civilization. Also, history gives us an opportunity to learn about great men, those people who showed resilience, strength, courage, conviction, rose to the occasion and hence, have got their names written as great men of all times.

One such personality, who also happens to be my source of inspiration is Madhav Rao I (or Pradhanpant Shrimant Madhavrao (Ballal) Peshwa I aka Thorle Madhav Rao Peshwa )

The last 1000 years saw a battle where , all the forces, from middle east to saudi arab, western europe, eastern europe, central asians, engaged in battle to establish superiority. The world war-1 and 2 were again the repeat of the same 1000 years of battle, but for a new world order. And this is when, a certain group, called mohammedans, arrived in the land of vedas, where they started massacring the vedic people because they questioned these marauders that why shall we follow you, you are bringing the wrong methods. Unfortunately, even today, in modern India, we have slave of such people who want hindus to act like slaves of mohammedans, consider them good. Now, I really don't want to name or blame anyone, but this also include a prominent leader of modern indians, who is considered a mahatama by everyone.

Sanatnis created two great empires to attack and resist the force of alien powers, europe and mohammedan. One was the great vijaynagara empire, which was founded by swami vidyaranya, harihara and bukka whose capital was the city of hampi, which got plundered after the battle of talikota.

The second empire came when swami samartha ramdas inspired a great hindu king chatrapati shivaji and then formed a very strong state of maratha confederacy, whose capital was Pune City.

It was Shivaji who created the Peshwa, the titular equivalent of a modern Prime Minister designation in order to more effectively delegate administrative duties during the growth of the Maratha Empire. The Peshwas were all ministers who initially started as the chief executives to the king. Prior to 1749, Peshwas held office and controlled the Maratha army. They later became the de facto hereditary administrators of the Maratha Empire from 1749 till its end in 1818. 

The first Peshwa was  Moropant Trimbak Pingle.

The Peshwa became a hereditary administration after chattrapati Shahu  appointed  Baji Rao I, son of Balaji Vishwanath (Bhat), as Peshwa in 1719. Baji rao's son was Nanasaheb Peshwa, whose son is madhava rao peshwa.

The maratha empire incurred heavy losses after the third battle of panipat. In the Third Battle of Panipat, the Maratha Empire suffered a serious blow at the hands of combined forces of Durrani Empire, the Nawab of Awadh and Rohillas under Najib ad-Dawlah. Their power was virtually wiped out of the North India and the confederacy itself experienced fragmentation. The Bhonsles of Nagpur did not participate and tried to remain aloof of the aftermaths too.

It was at this time, that madhava rao peshwa, aged 16, was bestowed with the responsibility of the peshwaship of the empire which was in turmoil. And what an administration it was. Using all the entrepreneurial zeal, innovation, he again brought the empire back to its acensdancy. The sword of maratha again started bleeding the blood of the enemies, and this time, it was even more brutle. Enemy of the state were virtually wiped out. Corrupt officers were removed (There is a hint that corruption in India has been since long time and not after 1947 as proposed by baniya BJP).

One of his biggest achievement is the victory over haider ali, the islamic marauder, in the famous battle of nijagal. Even though, secularist praise and glorify tipu sultan, they never make a point about the brutality of haider ali and tipu sultan on the hindus.

Madhava Rao Peshwa, with the help of madikeri naya of chitradurga, made sure that haider ali gets defeated. At this point, peshwas became powerful, which meant hinduism goes strong. But destiny has something else written for hindus.

Not only was he an able administrator, he also possessed brilliant diplomatic skills. An English officer Mr. Mastin met Madhavrao. He requested that two ports, Vasai and Sashti be given to the East India company to set up a military base so that they can protect their trading ships. In exchange, he offered his assistance to fight against Madhavrao’s domestic enemies in the south. Madhavrao flatly told Mastin that even though he had domestic enemies, they were Indians first, but the British who came under the disguise of trade, had quickly thrown the scale and taken the sword. The gem of this conversation is that Madhavrao asked Mastin to give the Marathas two equally good ports in the British territory where the Marathas could keep their army, build base and conduct trading. No need to say, this meeting was not fruitful for the British. 

During this time, an interesting incident occurred. Madhavrao was busy managing the treasury of the kingdom and supervising the calculation of the expenses encountered during the war. One day he noticed a large crowd anxiously waiting at the entrance of Shaniwar Wada. Upon summoning the guards, he discovered that they were the aggrievated citizens of Pune who had lost their families, house, land and wealth in the war. They had been visiting his residence for the past few days with hopes of expressing their unbearable losses. However, the guards had not allowed them to meet the Peshwa by excusing that his health had deteriorated. When he heard this, Madhavrao became furious with the guards; he immediately left all his tasks aside and stepped out of Shaniwar Wada. He personally met with the poverished families and patiently listened to each one of them. He made a note of every family’s loss and personally saw to it that these losses were compensated from the empire’s revenue. This speaks volumes about why the citizens always looked up to him with tremendous faith and respect.

His own uncle kept conspiring against him, despite madhava rao showing immense respect to his uncle. He escaped many assassination attempt which his uncle used to hatch against him in order to gain the ascendacy of the throne. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed by tuberculosis, which eventually proved out to be the reason of his  demise.

Now days, the Indian B schools, who are supposed to produce Business leaders in the field of management and administration just teach about how to make corp orates more profitable. But none of our so called cream business school graduates take charge of a fallen businesses or empires and get them back on track, creating sustainable solution. All B-schools of India must teach about madhava rao peshwas work ethics, leadership abilities to prepare better administrators. I don't see anything wrong in this. Infact, if India can include chapters on tippu sultan, akbar etc, and is ready to teach german language instead of sanskrit, what's wrong in teaching about madhava rao peshwa the great, who made hinduism strong?

18 November 1772, early morning approximately at eight: Madhavrao died at the temple premises of Chintamani, Theur. Thousands of citizens visited the site and paid their last respects. His wife Ramabai performed sati during his cremation later that day. Madhavrao was cremated on the banks of the river which was about half a mile from the temple. A small memorial carved out of stone rests today at that place as a memorial.

Assessing the impact of the loss of Madhavrao, the writer James Grant Duff eulogised:

"And the plains of Panipat were not more fatal to the Maratha Empire than the early end of this excellent prince…"