Back home...

Just returned back from California.. Everything looks like a mess as of now.. I just didn't want to be back here.. which means I had a great Spring break.

I seem to have forgotten everything. Everything is kinda messy.. kitchen, room, acads.
The only priority this week: Clean-up and catch-up!

Alrighty. Later then.

Cool-it in California

So, I have been rocking California with my cool-it friends. There seems to be a lot of interest in going to places. But, isn't the real thing just to hang around with your buddies.

We did have some cool conversations though. Guys having settled in jobs and all, are now looking for what-nexts. Typical of cool-it meets, we had all sorts of conversations about marriage, wives, honeymoons, investment, raising children, going back to India etc.

Nishanth is as sexy as ever. Basically, doing his routine as best as he can, and then looking for some company in life for the weekends. People are suggesting a dog or a cat, it seems. With a double-bed and a nice car and apartment and a job in Cal, he is getting 'mentally ready for marriage next year'. :)

Keshav is as Berkeley-ish as ever. He once again brought our sensibilities to test with his arguments for marriage and child-raising. I wont discuss this here for the sake of sanity of everyone. :)

Santosh is as kiddish as ever. His 10000 watt smile and 10000 gallon stomach are very much in form still, and hopes to continue in the same way, till his wife comes up and closes his mouth. :)

Sandy is as strategic as ever. Started working for Cognizant through a consultant on Nestle's account. Wow, he got us a bunch of really cool chocs. He convinced himself and his parents and his employers that he could do a software job really well inspite of having a bachelors and a masters in civil engineering. Economics is the degree to package, he says. No arguments, lets just do that, okay. :)

Bazzi has been travelling a lot. He bumped into his old buddies at Kodak theater - just as it happens at a Brigade Road or an RK beach. His client is T-mobile, so he is probably sure to be back here.

Cool-it rocks.

I just wish I never moved from here.

Intuit interview

The interview with Intuit went really well. Felt good about myself after a long time and then, it was so good to see how HCI academia translates into HCI corporatia :) I must admit that I was pretty scared about 4 interviews (with the director of the team, a senior UI designer, and a couple of senior user-researchers), and if that was not enough: there was also a 1 hour presentation of my projects that I had to give to the UCD team. Wow, did I apply for a CEO internship position? :)

But then, the Intuit's UCD team at San Diego made me feel totally at home. Probably never before in any interview have I been so much just-me. Perhaps thats the way of a true designer - "just be yourself". The toughest part was to bear the weight of my suit. Oh man, I hate suits, and I told them that. :)

Anyways, they seem to have liked what I had to say. They did mention that I touched upon numerous issues that they face daily through my presentation. Even I liked the feel of the HCI workplace: casual, caring, and conscientious - why will the entire team listen to a 1-hour long presentation given by a kid who doesn't even know what it is like to design in the real-world.

They were also pretty excited by the idea of voting for taking decisions and all the designerly fun we have. I do have a feeling from the conversations that they are looking for some fresh-breeze thinking in their team.

Many people ask me wouldn't it be a boring company to work for. Yeah, taxes are unanimously boring and complicated... but there exactly lies the appeal. There are lots of challenges in designing for uninteresting but important things.

It would be good fun if I were here for Summer.