Mu Sigma - Review 2

EXPERIENCE AFTER JOINING

DAY 1:  Reached Bangalore Railway station via Rajdhani Express from Delhi early morning at 7AM on Aug 1, 2012. It was Wednesday. Next day was my joining. I came out of the station and asked for an auto for Kundalhalli. He asked me Rs. 750. It was horrible. I opened bag, took out my specs and wore them. Just across the road, there was a bus stand. I crossed the road and reached bus station. I tried asking for Kundalhalli from every other person but neither they understand English nor Hindi. And I know no other language. So I decided to say "Kundalhalli, Kundalhalli" only. This word won't change even if spoken in Kannada. Few people tried to help me. But it was something like ನನಗೆ ಗೊತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. How would you interpret it?
Luckily a bus-conductor told me to go on stand-number 17. There I got the bus and reached Kundalhalli gate in Rs. 15 only. I reached the destination and made my entries in register as per instructions by a Nepali cook who was already there waiting for me. It was a grand 3 BHK flat at 6th floor in an apartment. Facilities were ultimate.  Scene was beautiful. We had Wi-Fi internet provided at company cost. There were already 4 more guys who were to stay with me (2 from Hewlett-Packard and 2 from Mu-Sigma). I was the third Mu-Sigman to enter the flat and there was one more to come just 5 minutes behind me, coming in the same train as mine, but later on, in auto paying the amount written above.
I enjoyed that day. I called home being my SIM still in roaming. Used internet (I put torrents) and slept under AC at a temperature of 16 degrees.

DAY 2 & DAY 3 : Tan-Tana. The joining day. I woke up at 8:30. Joining was at 9:30. Reached in time. We were given the time-table for the entire month. And then they told us the real facts about money. The first hike in money was not after 1 year. It was after 1.5 years. I joined on Aug 2, 2012. So on August 2, 2013, I will get a bonus of 75 thousand, true. BUT the monthly salary will be as usual, for another 6 months. My monthly salary will rise only after Feb 2, 2014. It is something like the image given here.

Mu Sigma salary structure (Time in years, Salary in INR)
(Salary includes PF, variable performance bonus etc
which is not credited to your account on monthly basis.)

Here, the gift boxes are Stay Bonus. A small gift means, stay bonus of INR 75,000 and a large box means a bonus of INR 1,50,000. (This image is not provided by Mu-Sigma. I made it). Mu Sigma tells you this money in terms of annual pay and talk in terms of numbers. Looking at numbers don't help you much getting the insight of what actually you will get after the end of month. Moreover, they have devided it in such a fashion that you don't even get the money which I have shown in this graph. After subtracting all PF, performance bonus etc, eventually you get INR 23,700 only at the end of the month (if you are not absent for any day).

Both days, we were busy scanning our educational documents and mailing them to MSU (Mu-Sigma University) email. We has lecture sessions also regarding various things, which included no studies but other important things like
1) How to save your tax
2) How many holidays you get (well, you get 16 casual holidays and 6 sick-leaves in 1 year, that also divided on quarterly basis as 2-2-1-1. So, no continuous 6 holidays.)
3) What is the organisation of the company
4) Getting new laptops (means, now you are screwed. You need to work)
5) Getting company I-Cards
6) Visiting the company's new location where I was supposed to work after the training in MSU is over (that location is known as ITPL. MSU is at KTPL)
7) Opening bank accounts in HDFC
Both days, I went home at 9:30PM

DAY 4 ONWARD : Now MSU starts training you in various subjects. Daily, in-time was 9:30AM sharp and out-time was a variable ranging between 6:00PM to 9:00 PM. After 26 days of rigorous training, exams were to be held in 4 different subjects
1) MS-Excel
2) R
3) SQL
4) Statistics
I knew a lot about Excelby self experience (I learnt it when I made huge data about placements of college being the PR of computers in college). SQL was in my syllabus of Computer engineering (ironically, that's why I didn't know SQL so much. But I was better than those like my new friend from IIT, Madras-Civil Engineering). Statistics was only "Prabability from M-3". (If you are from Pune University, you know what M-3 means).
The only new thing was 'R'. It was to be run in 'R-Studio' and it was a horrible subject. If you get into Mu-Sigma, please study this subject with full concentration. Earlier, Mu-Sigma used to work on SAS. Recently they have switched to R. So, most of Mu-Sigma employees are trained in SAS only. These two things cumulatively make the soul of Mu-Sigma.

DAY 29 & 30 (EXAM TIME) : On August 29, we had exam of Excel and R. I scored full in Excel and Zero in R. If you fail (like I failed in R), you get another chance next month :). Today is August 30, and I had exam of SQL and Statistics. Most probably, I passed both of them. Result is yet to come.

NOW WHAT : Tomorrow is the last working day of the month. So, I will get my first salary. We were allotted projects in the mid of month long back and mentors were assigned. I (along with my team of 5) got a project of 'Cardinal Health' - Rank 17 among Fortune 500 companies. We used to have mentor-meetings at regular intervals and proceed with the project step-by-step. Next 3-4 days are specially allotted for project work. We have to finish it by September 6. After that, I (with other 60 from my batch) will be transferred to ITPL office and according to schedule - it be the beginning of 'Life in Delivery'. Although, MSU was supposed to be of just one month. We were recently told that is has been extended to another 5 weeks. We will have to learn Java and VB in that period (MSU keeps changing their policies over time). Being a BE from Computer Science, Java and VB are nothing for me. So, all I am going to study for the next month is 'R'.

FINAL OPINION: Mu-Sigma is a great place to work. You will make good friends. Company is composed of only young minds full of talent. If you are a part of it, it is a privilege. But it makes you work a lot. Payment is not as much as much you work. Life is as hell in Mu-Sigma with no money. But it is just like the days when you used to prepare for IIT-JEE. It is pain, but it is useful for future. Mu-Sigma experience for just 1 year is also in huge demand. Even if you leave the company in just 6 months, you will have better offers from many other companies. Nothing is better than Mu-Sigma to start you career as BA. But staying for long is almost impossible. It gives you an experience like Pre-MBA which no other company can provide. There are both pros and cons. Choice is yours.