Friends, In this intern season, there is an important message to all of us from one of ou r distinguished alumni, Siddarth Saxena bhaiyya(2003

passout). Read the mail earnestly before you start further apping. ____________________________________________________ Dear current DOD students, In past few weeks I was struck by a string of emails that motivated me to write back to you. If you are someone who is applying for internships/ research positions/ MS in various schools or companies (in India or abroad) , then hang on and listen to some important stuff that I have to say. I think, this will really hel p you in being more succesful in your search for whatever you are looking for, and will also help in maintaining reput ation of the school that you are graduating from: First some unarguable facts: 1) All of us have a stake in maintaining reputation of the Department of Design. If due to any reason, reputation of our school/program goes down, it means less opportunities for all of us (alumnis and current students combined). 2) When we send out "sucks" the response rate is only 10-20%. Each one of us have mastered the "Art of Sucking" (you know what I mean). All of us come to IIT, learn from our seniors about how they got that cool internship in Europe or that coveted GA/TA/RA position in a US univ. Obedient and smart people we are, we formulate our own sucks, "customized and tailormade for our situations", and the competition then is who sends out the most sucks in a night . Correct? The news is that every prof I know personally, knows about this process. Because guess what, this is the sam e prof who received a barrage of such emails every previous year. And over time, they too have gotten smarter, and a l ot of them now ignore such emails. Ever wondered, why only 10-20% people reply to your "sucks"? This is the reason why. 3) Should we stop sending these sucks out? Short answer is Yes. Well then how do I get those cool internships and GA/TA/RA positions? Start sending out real and genuine emails.

As the saying goes: "Practise what you Preach (and vice versa)". I too am guilty of the same. Maybe because no one told me the correct way. We we re the second batch of the program, and there was just no precedance before us. No alumni ever told us that when ordinar y people receive a standard IIT "Suck" they are left speechless, astonished and dumbfounded (Okay, maybe not all three together, but one at a time). But having grown wiser over all these years I feel that its my duty to te ll the current students that the standard method of sending "sucks" is so 1990's. We are now in 2008. The rats (read profs ) have learnt to skip our mousetraps (read sucks). We need a better designed mousetrap (do they still teac h such stuff in DOD ;). So lets do a critical analysis of some sentences from standard sucks that I received (I won't tell who sent that to me. Ever. And it is not even my remotest intention to embarrass anyone. So don't get dishearte ned if I used your email. You can still count me as a friend.) ------------ --------- --------- ----Dear Sir, I am a Pre-final Year undergraduate student (3rd year) pursuing Bachelor of Design in Design Departmen t at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati - one of the premier institutes of technology in India and among the most prestigious undergraduate schools in the world. . . I have a fervid desire to do my summer internship under your able guidance durin g the period May-July,2008. . . I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere interest in pursuing my summer internship during the period May - July 2008, under your esteemed guid ance. It would be a rewarding experience for me to expand my knowledge boundary under a person of your stature. . . Sir, I am writing this mail in order to explore the possibility of doing a summer project/internship in your co mpany during May-July 2008. I am inclined to do a summer internship in the field of "Human Computer Interaction, Usability Engineering,

Interface Design" to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary for a future career as a professio nal. I am a highly motivated and hard-working student and am willing to take on any available project that would be relevant to my area of study. . . I have been a hard working student right from my schooling days and I assure you the best effort from my side.I have an inherent curiosity which drives me to the fathom of the subject and has thereby helped me to develop a strong conceptual foundation. . . I would be extremely fortunate to get an opportunity to work in a distinguished company as your's and gain practical knowledge in the field of design which will help me shaping my future. . . Please give some time to evaluate my chances of getting an opportunity to do a p roject under your company as this would really play a significant role for shaping my future. ------------ --------- --------- --Dude and Dudettes, I'm embarrassed. I am not God. And I definitely don't have a "stature" of Abhraham Lincoln (if that's what you meant). I am sure you are a hard working person, but so is e veryone else. And I absolutely do not care about your "fervid desires". And most of all, I don't have a "distinguished comp any" nor do I have any role whatsoever in defining "your future". You future entirely depends on you an d you alone. When you send out an email, that is what defines your future. No-one I know in industry will give a c all back to someone who sent such an email. Now when I think about my own history, maybe that's why I myself could never get an internship in Europe. You need to learn from your senior's experiences. A professor from my grad school told me last year (and this is a fact too btw). He said "I think I am fed up with students from your undergrad college. They see m to have these illusions that by sending out such emails they will suddenly get a windfall of assistantship. It j ust don't happen that way. And what is it with everyone sending similar sounding emails? Do they have essay classes in Ind ia where they are

taught to write in a specific way?" Friends, this is killing the reputation of our school and reducing the chances o f your future success. You and you alone can get this back on track. The season of sending out "sucks" is coming rapidly. This time (just for a change), write a simple, concise, short email. so mething like. ---------------Dear Mr Smith, I read from your company's website that you are looking to hire some interns in your division. I am a final year undergraduate student from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Guwahati, and have strong interest in this internship position. My skillset is in the area of: - Rocket Science - Building Demolition - HaptiK Interfaces - Neuroscience - Super Computing I have done several projects that might be interesting to you. You can find more details about specific projects o n my portfolio website. Please let me know if we can schedule a phone conversation to give you a better understanding of my skillset and abilities. I am also attaching my resume with this email, and I can provide strong references on requ est. With Regards Hare Ram Krishna Goswami ------------ --------- Believe it or not, small emails like this will firstly your email is read. Secondly, It will leave the reader received an email from an actual human being (and not a robot). Thirdly, it will leave a door inimum effort, if someone did not respond back. Address people by their name, not "Sir". alk on phone. Provide your phone number, and be prepared for phone chats or interviews. ebsite. ensure that with the feeling that he open to ping back with m Today, everyone want to t Always have a portfolio w

Resumes is another story that probably deserve a whole long email of its own. But to briefly mentio n, stick to 1 Page resumes for internships

and a max of 2 tightly organized page resumes for Grad School Application. I kno w senior Directors of Development, PhD's, and VPs who have 2-3 page resumes. And nothing beats a 1 page resume (for underg rads). Btw, in you resume, no-one cares about your Sex or sexual orientation (for that matter). Nor would anyone in thei r right mind read every single word of that 2 paragraph description of your cool project. Unless you have a really relevant project, don't ever put the whole shebang of courses that you have taken in your massive 4 years of undergrad life. Think in this way. It is fair for you to think of your emails as something that is very important to you. Because your career is at stake. So you tend to fill up the email with details about your projects, past internships, profs with whom yo u have worked for. But for a second stop and think from the perspective of the reader. They don't care about any of the s tuff you will write (unless of course you won a Nobel Prize in Design). Your email is just another one in their busy inbox . Stand out by writing short email, and easy to read crisp resumes and portfolio websites. And as always, ask your alumn i or seniors if you have any questions. Don't address your alumni as Sir. We have not yet gotten that "Order of the Brit ish Empire". Write to me anytime (ssaxena@gmail. com). Or better call me (001 812 340 4725) or ask me to call you, if you want to have a chat. Hope some of these things will make sense to you. Good luck with your search. Sidharth DOD class of 2003 Indiana University class of 2005 Oracle Corporation ------------ -----p.s.: Many current DOD students might not be on the Dodians email list. Could someone please forward this email to 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students? Please CC me on it. All the best!!! -M.Jayachandra, 6th Semester, Department of Design, IIT Guwahati.

email : c.jaya@iitg.ernet.in Mobile : 09954248779