Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year 2011

Wishing you all a happy new year.

happy-new-year-2011-sukhbinder-aerogeek

Wish you all budding aeronautical engineers flying success in life!!!

Thanks for reading?

Some Books I Read This Year

Reading 40 books this year was one of my resolutions for the year 2010 and and I glad to say it was a resounding success.

Keeping books close by, having some of them on my iPod and on Amazon kindle app on my iPhone  helped achieve this goal.

Here’s listing of some of the prominent and new books that I have read…. Hope to surpass this list next year.

  • BLINK – By malcom Gladwell
  • Bootstaper’s bible – Seth Godin
  • The 50th law   – 50 Cent and Robert Greene
  • Flipping the Funnel – Seth Godin
  • Principles of Excellence – John A Thomas
  • CRUSH IT! – Gary Vaynerchuk
  • The God Delusion – By Richard Dawkins
  • Tribes – Seth Godin
  • The character of Physical laws – Richard P Feynman
  • Outliers – Malcom Gladwell
  • Permission Marketing – Seth Godin
  • Kind of Minds – Daniel Dennett
  • Letting Go of God -Julia Sweeney
  • Rich Dad Poor Dad
  • Why sex is fun -Jared Diamond
  • The Millionaire next door
  • What to eat -Michael Pollan
  • Freqonomics
  • Conversation confidence
  • How to think like Einstein
  • 13 Things that don’t make sense -Michale Brooks
  • Conversation confidence
  • Positioning
  • Genome
  • Omnivore’s Dilemma -Michale Pollan
  • Good to Great
  • Food Rules -Michale Pollan
  • I am America and so can you
  • The perfect murder James, Peter
  • Life support Tess Gerritsen
  • Soul Identity Dennis Batchelder
  • Empowered Unleash Your HERO -Josh Bernoff
  • Pirate Latitude – Michael Crichton
  • The tipping point by Malcolm Gladwell
  • Garden of Eden – Richard Dawkins
  • E=mc2 History of the famous equation
  • DP, Talent is Overrated  – Daniel Coyle
  • What Got You Here Won’t Get You There  Marshal Goldsmith
  • Biography of Albert Einstein
  • Mindset -Carol Dweck
  • Drive by Daniel Pink

if I have to recommend 3 books for AeSI folks, then they will be

  1. Mindset -Carol Dweck
  2. DP, Talent is Overrated  – Daniel Coyle
  3. Positioning

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

What's your resume score?

Remember my last resume post about how bad the resumes were. We are poor judge about our resumes or creations.

Well wouldn't be cool if we had some app or something that can look and analyze our resume and give us some advice on it.

As I learnt today, in fact, there's just the kind of app available on web.

So without delay, let's see what is RezScore?


"RezScore is a webapp analyzes your uploaded resume and provides surprisingly accurate advice. If you're applying for a new job and need to get your resume in shape, it could be a very helpful tool.

The functionality of RezScore is very, very simple. You upload a resume, opt in or out of being contacted about further help, and RezScore generates a page full of advice to help you improve."


Read more from Lifehacker - RezScore Grades Your Resumes and Offers Free Advice at http://lifehac.kr/hKiJxQ

Cool!! Isn't it?

more tips on preparing a super duper aerospace resume can be found via this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=aerospace+resume&max-results=100

Good luck

I haven't tried it myself, but will try to do it this weekend. Do let me know about your experience with the service!!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Stop multi-tasking in 2011

New year is around the corner and this is apt time to share with you the following post on why multitasking is not as good/useful as we might think.


"Based on over a half-century of cognitive science and more recent studies on multitasking, we know that multitaskers do less and miss information. It takes time (an average of 15 minutes) to re-orient to a primary task after a distraction such as an email. Efficiency can drop by as much as 40%. Long-term memory suffers and creativity — a skill associated with keeping in mind multiple, less common, associations — is reduced."

Read more here: The Conversation - You Can't Multitask, So Stop Trying http://bit.ly/ffLc0k


So if I have to just select one resolution for 2011 for myself, I will choose not to indulge in multitasking?

What about you?

Monday, December 27, 2010

Before you send your resume

A few weeks back I blogged about a requirement for performance engineer. It generated lot of cv's and as I asked my friend who was handling those cv's.

He was disappointed. Disappointed not because there was lack of talent, but because of poor presentation and quality of the resumes.

He said out of the 40+ resume he received, he had to modify 37 of them. That's a huge number. Only 3 resumes were ready to be forwarded further without any modification or correction, the rest had flaws.

I have asked him to share his advice on what he felt was wrong. He has promised to pen it.

Meanwhile here's 2 suggestions I will make to you regarding your resumes.

Proofread or ask someone apart from yourself to go through your resume. At this stage spelling mistakes are not acceptable. If you want a professional treatment, send a professional resume.

Write your most important information in the first page of your resume. This is the place a person reading your resume should have an overall idea about your professional life. Be relevant and crisp.


Please read all the topics on resume here on this blog and at other places, because resume is a marketing document and unless you pen it right, you won't attract the right job!!

click
http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=resume&max-results=100 for searching myaesi blog for resume tips and tricks!!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

How did I fair in my resolutions for 2010

If you remember, I had published few of my resolutions at the beginning of this year. (Post link: http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-resolutions-for-year-2010.html)


Let's draw a report card on how I did on each of them.

Continue daily updates to MyAeSI: Success. Though my frequency has been hit by lot of travel that I did this year. But I am pleased that each day, I took some time out and posted something that was useful for you guys. By the way it's a good time to thank you all for reading.


Complete 4 BIG projects in this year, 3 month for one project. Complete success.
I have created 4 excel based learning games for my daughter, developed 6 fortran games, helped creating and maintaining AeSIAA website, wrote the first draft of a office productivity ebook, created a program to write out patran neutral mesh file for any solid model and developed a VBA program to do analysis of AeSI results.

Most of the things are unpublished and I am planning to publish them online soon as I get time.


Embed the habit of focussed work, daily/weekly plan and deliberate practice in the work flow. Partial success.
All that I accomplished this year was because of applying this resolution. I created focus work schedule and stuck to it. This is partial success because I did it for 6 or 7 months and then somehow missed the plot. Would like to take this up next year.


Learn Python: Success but I still don't know python. Learning something was the actual intent of this resolution. So I set this goal. But It was a success because Instead of python, i learnt Perl. Perl happened because it was readily available in the systems that I have spent most of my time with. So I learnt Perl.

Read 40+ books: very successful. This was one goal that I hadn't mentioned in my blog entry. I set out to read more books and I am pleased that I surpassed this target. I am glad that I did it as this has expanded my horizon!

Well this was my report card on my goals for 2010, how did you fair in your resolutions?

Friday, December 24, 2010

Aeronautical Society Of India’s AGM in 2011

The next AeSI Annual General Meeting is scheduled on 16th Feb 2011 in Mumbai..

image

Are you planning to be there?

PDF link here

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Must see website if you are going for an aerodynamics / aircraft performance interview.

Going for interview on Aircraft performance, aerodynamics or flight
mechanics. And don't want to open the Anderson's book, then this is
the post for you.

Head towards this link http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay_cat/9.htm

It has Theories of Flight (Aerodynamics) for you to revise before an
interview. The link is great for quick review required for an
interview. The concepts are well illustrated.

The best thing about this is that the theory is full and you get a big
picture view of all that you have studied in Principles of Flights.

A must link for anyone going for an interview or anyone who wants to
refresh his/her memory.

More aerospace interview related stuff at this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=aerospace+interview

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Is it mandatory to pass AeSI with 60%?

A few days back I got this email from someone whom I will call Mr. R

"Is it mandatory to pass ae.s.i with 60% of marks in total to secure a
job.....i am really in frustration as i am passing paper smoothly but
fail to get 60% marks or above in every subject......pls pls pls help
me!!! "

Here's my reply.

Hi R

60% is like a lubricant. If you have it, it will be great. If you don't, then don't worry much about it.

60% is the threshold for govt jobs and having it adds confidence in your resume.

So if you are falling short on the percentage, please concentrate on increasing your confidence with other means like supercharging your skills, or by becoming a good communicator.

There are two ways you can react now?
Go crazy and mad about aesi or understand that 60% helps but life doesn't stop if you don't have it.

Please search through http://my-aesi.blogspot.com and you will find many posts that answers this and many other questions.

Good luck

What are your thoughts on this topic, what advice would you give to Mr. R, please do let me know in comments.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Things you can immediately do after exams are over

For some of you, amaesi exams are over, for some it will be over soon. Here I want to discuss a simple but powerful thing that you can do immediately to improve your aesi performance next time.

Access the exams you gave. How they went? What was good about each subject paper? What was bad? Which one you did good? Why it was good? Which one you didn't perform well? What lessons you can extract from that? How will you do it better if you have to do it all over again?

Yes this review has helped me a lot, in fact if you browse back in the archives of http://my-aesi.blogspot.com , you will find many posts that was just my reviews on what I learnt from a particular exam.

(update: always do this kind of review in writing)

Do this and you will be surely improve yourself in the next exam!!

Liked this. Get more at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com

You can follow myaesi on twitter at www.twitter.com/myaesi and me at www.twitter.com/aerogeek

Exams and pinholes.

Pinholes are peculiar. From the distance they don't allow you to see anything, but come closure and you can see the world.


Same are exams. From a distant you feel you know everything in a subject. But as exams come closure, you see where you actually stand.

So the more exams you give, the closure to the truth you will be. The honest your assessment will be.

The most important thing is, it just doesn't apply to exams only.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

How are your exams going on?

Just a quick post to ask you all how are your exams going on?

How are the papers? Was it easy? What was tough? Share your stories, reaction about AMAeSI exams with me in comments.

Would specially be interested in a thing that you have learnt during the exams!

So come forward and have your say.

Cheers

Don't forget to check the all new http://my-aesi.blogspot.com

Monday, December 13, 2010

5 tips on fruitful training - do this and you won...

Many who read this blog are in the training stage of your AeSI journey. I have been there and fortunately with some good friends and exceptional mentor, I had good time there.

Not only the time was good, but I enjoyed the first flavor of work life and immensely polished my skills and knowledge.

Here are 5 tips from that experience that you should incorporate in your mindset to have fruitful training.


1. Know why you are there.
Yes the beginning is to know, why are you there? What do you want out of this training? What specific skills you want to increase, what knowledge you want to polish? Know this before you get it, and you are half way there.

2. Remind yourself springboards don't help you unless you jump on them
Training by itself won't do anything to you or your career. What you do there and how you do it is what matters most. Going there everyday and wasting time in and around canteen won't accomplish anything. Daily incremental improvements in your abilities and skills is what you should aim at!


3. Technical Skills without communication skills are nothing.
Yes communication skills (oral and written) are everything. Imagine a scale. Put all your technical skills in one basket and communication skills in other, the later will always be heavier for your long term career.

So just don't hunt technical skills, tame the communications skills too.

4. Inertia is not for you. Continue the initial momentum by challenges.
The initial period is great. You are enthusiastic. You get work, you do it happily. But as months pass, the familiarity of the place, task and people builds an inertia and we tend to go on autopilot. Avoid that. Autopilot is for cruise, during takeoff and climb, always have the throttle in your hand!! Challenge yourself and even if the task is old, aim to improve how you deliver it.

5. Keep chipping and Hammering.
Training is not a taxi ride. It's not a bus stop you pass by. It's an opportunity to hone and add skills. So use it like that. It's not a place to come rest and enjoy. It should be a place to come, add and enhance yourself. So keep working on your skills, keep improving till you are out of it.

Hope this 5 tips will help you get the maximum out of your training. There's more on training on myaesi at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=training

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Ansys or Nastran

A reader asked me via comment on a blog post titled ansys, nastran how I learnt these softwares, which one is better?

Short answer: I don't know

Long answer: It depends. Both the analysis software have their own place. They fit a specific need. It's like saying which is better between solid propellant and liquid propellant?

Both are useful for a rocket. Solid propellant gives the initial thrust, while liquid propellant propels it out in space.

Likewise nastran and ansys have their own need.

But if you ask my choice, I will prefer ansys. In my opinion, the Ansys has better range. In an aerospace domain, many tasks are impossible without it.

No hard feelings for nastran though, but ansys is what I like and recommend.

That being said, as I always point out, softwares are just tools, a means; real thing is you.

So focus on increase you knowledge and then any software will be useful!

Find More on ansys on this blog by this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=ansys

Saturday, December 04, 2010

Two kinds of job

There are always two kinds of jobs.

One that teaches you a lot but pays ok and the other which pays a lot
but teaches you little.

When you start, it always better to be in the former and as you gain
experience, you will automatically get pushed towards the latter.

If you are unlucky (or lucky depending on your point of view) and you
get the high paying, low learning job at the onset, it might boost
your short term happiness but has the potential to ruin you long term.

In my over 6+ years in work life, I have seen countless examples of
this trap. Be it NAL or other private sector, the job that teaches you
more is always pays better in long term.

When it comes to choosing between working at a job that pays highly,
but teaches little, and a job that pays little, but teaches you a lot,
which one will you choose?

Liked this. There's more at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=job

Performance engineers required- tell your friends

Dear All,

There is a requirement for Engine Performance engineer(s) in QuEST
Pvt Ltd. The details are :

(1) Qualification : Grad AeSI(Proupulsion), B.E./BTech
(2) Experience : (previous performance experience is preferred but
not mandatory.)
(3) Strong understanding of Aero Engine Fundamentals and engine
thermodynamics.
(4) Programming skills in VBA/Fortran (Preferred but not mandatory).
(5) Good knowledge of Microsoft office tools (EXCEL, WORD,etc) is a
must.
(6) Excellent Analytical and communication skills are must.
(7) Job Location : Bangalore


NOTE: Good Onsite opportunities with this position for the selected
candidates.

Interested candidates can send in their resumes to
Roop.kishore@quest-global.com

Write myaesi in the subject line for better chances.

Learn all about aerospace interview and how to send a resume that
brings results by reading these posts http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=resume

Hurry!!

Friday, December 03, 2010

John backus and his gift

Most of you know that I am a big fan of fortran. Its the most known
and used programming language of the world. So how can I miss this day.

Today on Dec 3 in 1924, John Backus, who invented the FORTRAN
programming language in the mid 1950s, was born.

As long as there is aerospace and engineerining, we will continue to
enjoy his gift!!

Read more about him at this link
http://inventors.about.com/od/computersoftware/a/Fortran.htm

In this link you will find how John Backus one day walked into IBM and
revolunised the world of computing!!

"I really didn't know what the hell I wanted to do with my life... I
said no, I couldn't. I looked sloppy and disheveled. But she insisted
and so I did. I took a test and did OK." - John Backus on his
experience interviewing for IBM.

More on fortran http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=fortran

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Back to base and one exam tip

Just a quick note that I am back to base. So regular programming of
the blog will continue.

Hope to write and post stuff at our regular schedule.

But exams are here and it's feel criminal not to share this tip with
you.

Time your exams.
While in the exam hall, keep a close watch on your time. Budget the
time.

Well don't time individual question, but instead see how many
questions are required to be answered and then set the no of question
to answer in an hour.

Let's say there are 10 questions to be answered within 2.5 hr slot.
Then don't just allot 15 min for each question. Instead aim to
complete 5 questions within an hour.

This helps because it focuses your mind off the watch and forces you
to stay with your primary task.

Good luck everyone. Be a star!!

More tips in examination hall can be found here http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=exams

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Aeronautics books in digital format from NASA

Currently I am at my mom's birthplace. As my mom's relative are busy
in preparing for the lunch, I took this moment to check my @aerogeek
twitter stream.

And found this.

NASA is converting reference aeronautics books in digital format for
download. Get the first titles: http://bit.ly/bL4CW8 #NASA #ebooks

I have some of these books in HTML format but now with PDF and epub
format they will be much more convinient and richer.

So go ahead, download and READ this books.

And remember, downloading books won't make you smart, reading them
will!!

So enjoy, while I check my mom's village!!


Liked this. There's more. Subscribe to myaesi via http://feeds.feedburner.com/myaesi

Thursday, November 18, 2010

How to get previous or old AeSI Question Papers?

"How to get previous or old AeSI Question Papers?"

This is the most frequent query that I get on the blog. I am no longer
an AeSI student so my knowledge in this is outdated, but I am sharing
it here in the hope that students who know better can post the correct
method in the comments.

In my days, we had two methods of getting AeSI's old question paper.

1. Directly from AeSI new Delhi
2. From GIE

AeSI used to charge a fee per
Paper and it couriered you the papers for the subject.

GIE had a bundle of these papers and one can just walk in to Gie
office and collect it from there by paying a nominal fee.

So that's it. I used GIE to get my papers.

please do let us know if there's a better alternative.

Best of luck

Search for GIE's contact detail on this blog by using the searchbar!!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Heat Transfer Simulation in Mechanical Engineering Design

Here's a Tweet from ansys.net
Nov 16 Webinar - Heat Transfer Simulation in Mechanical Engineering Design using ANSYS 13 http://goo.gl/4HBAr

If interested get to the link. 

Friday, November 12, 2010

Getting maximum out of job portals

You have your resume uploaded in online job portals and still don't
receive the right right job offers.

Here's a 3 steps that you should do to get maximum benefit from the
job portals.


Regularly update your profile with relevant skills. This widens your
chances for more job matches.

Upload your latest resume and ensure your correct contact details
(email ID / mobile number) are entered on the site. This ensures you
are contactable and can be reached by the prospective employers.


Log in to the job portals at regular intervals and apply to relevant
jobs to increase your chances of getting the next big break.

Ensuring these 3 steps will help you get maximum out of the job portals.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Posting frequency and one exam study tip

From the post frequency, you can determine that I am quite busy with
things other than the blog.

In fact, I am not busy but I am in fluid state of lots of travel and
being in Indian weddings!! So am not able to find any time to sit and
post anything substantial for you.

Hope this explains the gaps of posts. Will resume the regular
programming once I get past this state by the end of this month!!

By the way, here's a simple tip to accelerate your exam preparation.

Speed up your pace of study. Read more quickly, write at increased
speed.

Increase your pace. Just speeding up and working at more than the
normal rate has two effects. It will save you time as you will cover
more in the same time. Since you are studying a pace not your normal,
brain will work extra to caputure and won't fall to it's default mode.

So get going, if you are giving this semesters amaesi exams, best of
luck.

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Details on Job Fair for AeSI Graduates

Here's an update on job fair for AeSI Graduates organized by AeSIAA on 13th Nov 2010 

If you are eligible, then please do use this opportunity 

Good luck


Dear AeSI Graduate Members,
02/11/2010

AeSIAA Bangalore is pleased to announce about the first ever placement assistant event which includes the visit of following two companies solely to recruit AeSI Graduates. This placement event has been arranged in the campus of The Aeronautical Society of India, Bangalore branch on 13th November 2010.

Here are the brief details about the companies and their job
descriptions:
A)    Moog India Technology Center, Bangalore - A worldwide designer, manufacturer, and integrator of precision motion control products and systems. Moog is high-performance systems control military and commercial aircraft, satellites and space vehicles, launch vehicles, missiles, industrial machinery, wind energy, marine applications, and medical equipment.

Job Requirements:
1)    0 - 2 Years of relevant experience
2)    Graduate in Aero-Mechanical, preferably Avionics of AeSI
3)    Minimum aggregate of 60% is desirable
4)    Knowledge of C programming language
5)    Knowledge of Matlab/Simulink packages would be an added
advantage

Please refer to the website http://www.moog.com for further information

B)    LM WindPower, Bangalore . LM Wind Power is leading position in the international market is based on their skilled and motivated employees. To support and encourage their unmatched international team, LM WindPower strives to provide great working conditions and opportunities for development. LM WindPower knows that knowledge is our most important raw material and make every effort to cultivate it.

To strengthen the skills of LM WindPower?s international workforce and unlock new opportunities LM WindPower focus on both personal and professional development.
Job Requirements:
1)    0 -2 Years of relevant experience
2)    Graduate in Aero-Mechanical OR Aerodynamics/Structures (per the older curriculum) of AeSI
3)    Minimum aggregate of 60% is desirable
4)    Knowledge in Stress Analysis/FEA would be an added advantage
Please refer to the website http://www.lmwindpower.com for further information

If you find yourself suitable for any (or both) of the jobs mentioned,
please mail your resume to jobs@aesiaa.org the earliest by 10th Nov
2010. For any clarifications or quiries send  mails at
jobs@aesiaa.org. Keep visiting www.aesiaa.org  for more updates.

Thanks and Regards
Anuj kumar Jha
Jont Treasurere, AeSIAA

Friday, November 05, 2010

Why are you failing?

If your routine is not working, if you aren't studying, if you aren't
passing aesi exams and if you are not getting any job after so many
interviews then most likely there is one of the following two core
reasons.

Lack of organisation or lack of focus!!

Either the task or the steps towards the goals are not well organised
or there is missing or miss directed focus. Either you climbing the
wrong stairs or you are walking in the rails instead of the steps.


Yes this and only these two reasons can explain why you aren't
acheiving what you want.

Finding the reason is half battle won. So identify which of this is
dominating the ruins of your goals. And then take action to eliminate
it.

That's the only way to hit your targets.

More advice on passing aesi exams at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=passing+aesi&max-results=100

Message from AeSIAA and an AeSI specific job fair

Here's an important message that I would love to pass on to the followers of this blog. 


I have been following from it's inception and am part of it. 


If you are an aesi graduate, I sincerely urge you to be a part of AeSIAA. You can read all my post regarding aesiaa via this link http;//my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=aesiaa&max-results=100




Dear AeSI Alumnus and Students,

 

It is giving me immense pleasure to share the success story of AeSIAA on the eve of Deepawali. In last one year, with the tremendous efforts of EC members and your support,AeSIAA has become the approved alumni association of the AeSI. Now it is recognized not only by different government aeronautical labs, but also by aerospace MNCs across India. We have now office space in AeSI, Bangalorebranch. We conducted SEMAA-2010 with great success wherein all the problems associated with AeSI graduates and students were understood by Aeronautical fraternity of India and they have assured us all the support at highest level. We are arranging first ever job placement assistance to AeSI fresh graduates (0-2 years) on 13th Nov. Our website www.aesiaa.org is active and improving day-by-day.

 

AeSIAA is also organizing a glider design competition, SOARING very soon. We are in the process of forming an aero modeling club for the hobby flyers. As our commitment towards community services, we are planning an event in Dec'10 wherein AeSIAA members with their family will spend half a day with village children and educate them.

 

This AeSIAA office bearer's tenure is ending by March '11. We have to conduct AGM before that and give farewell to all the founder EC members for their great initiatives to shapeAeSIAA to serve you and the aero society at large. My earnest request from all of you is to become annual or life members of AeSIAAbefore AGM to elect the new dedicatedAeSIAA office bearers and EC members, so that this association achieve the level for which we all will have pride.

 

On behalf of AeSIAA EC members, I wish you a very prosperous, safe, and happy Deepawali!

 

Your's sincerely,

 

Rituraj Shrivastava

Hon. President, AeSIAA


Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Tips for upcoming amaesi exams

3 quick tips to study for the upcoming exams.

1. Make a list of topics for each subject.
2. Study the topics in series
3. Use pen and paper to revise. Writing things helps.

Good luck

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

New look new theme

Just a quick shout out. After a long time have given a new theme to
myaesi blog.

It's the third makeover that myaesi has received. Please do check it
out at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com

Major changes include discontinuation of google connect. I feel it was
not adding any value to the site viewers, so I let it go.

Another significant addition is the share buttons. If you like
something, you can now easily share it with anyone you like.

Please do give it a try and any suggestion, remarks are always welcome.

http://my-aesi.blogspot.com

Sunday, October 31, 2010

But it's not necessary for my happiness.

As Einstein and his second wife were visiting US, Elza Einstein was
asked by reporters if she understood theory of relativity?

Elza Einstein always replied "of course not, but knowing relativity is
not necessary for my happiness"

This is the essense of happiness in life. Knowing what makes you happy
and what doesn't!

In your job, training and AeSI days there will be numerous things that
will come your way. Understanding what to choose and which to let go
is the skill you need.

Everything is not equally important. Know which is more important for
you.


In my AeSI days, I realised that programming was important for me. I
found I like the mix of solving an engineering problem with
programming, so as this thought took seed I began to seek
opportunities where these skills were needed.

I actively shunned CFD fluent, designing in catia because solving
problems through developing new software tools was the area that I
enjoyed the most.

I don't know catia and fluent, but then they were and are not necessay
for my happiness.

So choose which things are not necessary for your happiness


More on tools via this links http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=tools

Education is.......

The value of education is not to learn fact, but to train the mind to
think!! - Albert Einstein

That's education. If you are doing anything else, you are wasting your
time.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Semaa 2010 a review from a student attendee

Was clearing my email backlog and read this. It made my day. Reminds
me why I have joined aesiaa. It is moments and reactions like this
that AeSIAA is working towards.


So without further adieu here's the mail.

Respected Alumni,

Firstly I wish to thank each and every member of the AeSI Alumni
Association for their dedication in organizing the informative and
inspiring (for us AeSI students) seminar on Saturday at NAL.

Right from the first words of Shri P.S.Krishnan, DS & Director- ADE on
the challenges faced by AeSI students during the length of their
course and the perseverance and success story of AeSI alumnus Shri T
Mohana Rao, Director- GTRE to the interactive session between the AeSI
Alumnus and students(especially this part) was a boost to our morale
in pursuing this degree with much more enthusiasm and inspiration.I
truly believe that every AeSI student present yesterday would agree
with me.

I only hope that the issues placed before the Panel members by AeSI
students, like the admissions to IIT's and IISc and the 'reference'
for projects at various Govt Labs would be looked into by them.

Finally from all the AeSI students here in Bangalore, we wish AeSIAA a
long life and the very best for all their future endeavours and we
assure you that we will also show active participation throughout.

Thank You,

Regards,
Raghunandan A Rao

Thanks Raghunandan for sharing this with us.

Have you attended the seminar, share your reactions in comments.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

AMAeSI December 2010 is on..,

Anil, a reader of this blog has just confirmed that the next AMAeSI
exams are scheduled to begin on 6th december.

Incidently it's my mom's birthday that day. I remember a day back in
my AeSI day when I was in khagpur iit for my Amaesi exam and went to
the exams by wishing mom over the phone from an STD shop while walking
towards the IIT center.

As I remember. It was thermodynamics exams and I passed it with flying
colours. I wish the same to you!

By the way, thanks Anil!!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Tinkering with things.

Here's a quote I believe in.

There is an immense amount to be learned simply by tinkering with
things.- Henry Ford


Most of skills I have acquired are becuase of application of the above
philosophy. From my aesi days to training. From NAL to my present job,
tinkering with tools has been the underlying truth.

Be it a new cad/cae software tool, or the trusty ms office, skills
only develop once you begin tinkering.

So if you feel stagnant in your training, bored at the mundane
assignments at your job, take up tinkering.

Treasure lies behind tinkering.

More on training at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=training

Thursday, October 21, 2010

After AeSI ebook

I am not sure if I have told you this or not, the ebook "after aesi,
career guide to aesi" will go offline in the next couple of days. I am
taking it down.

It has been downloaded more than 500+ times so far and I will be
getting it offline in the next couple of weeks.

Reasons.
I want to update it. Improve it. It's sitting online just doesn't let
me get going to refine it. So it will be offine. If you really want to
download it then this is the time.

After a couple of weeks it won't be there until the start of next year
( hopefully) !!

4 online communities you should be a part of.

Here's four communities that every AeSI graduate and student be part of.

Ouraesi. Oldest group of aesi professional around. Dubbed as Indian
aerospace community you can find a variety of people there. Http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/ouraesi
from job updates to debates on hot topics of aesi, you will find
everything there.

AeSI orkut community. No links for this one. But if you are in Orkut
and in aesi. This is the one group you should join. questions and
answers regarding exams are some of the regular posts here. Search for
Aeronautical society of india when you are on www.orkut.com to find
this community.

AeSI yahoo group. No link again. This is a restricted aesi community
group mainly run by Bishnujee Singh. It's another community you want
to be a part of if you seek advice on higher studies and inspiration.
Search for Aeronautical Society of India at http://groups.yahoo.com

AeSI Alumni Associasion aka AeSIAA. This is alumni community of AeSI.
It's the official alumni association for AeSI graduates. You should be
a member of this if you an aesi graduate. Visit www.aesiaa.org for
more information. Parallel to this there is a thriving google group
that you must not miss.

Well these are some of the aesi communities I am part of, do you know
of any other, do tell me in comments.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

5 things to remember while in an interview.

Being in an interview is like giving a driving test. There's lot of
similarities between this two tasks and lot can be learned if you
think it this way.


Streering wheel.
In am interview, you are at the steering wheel. You steer the
interview not your interviewer. He/she might start it but you have the
control to steer it to your comfort and strength zones.

Follow the road rules.
Just like on road, interview is not free form riding. Follow the rules
of curtesy. Listen to the questions. Understand what is asked. Then
reply. Blazing all about your accomplishment with no regard to what
is been asked will take you no where!!


Sudden acceleration and brakes won't help you.
Give a smooth ride. Sudden busts of excitedness and dullness can ruin
the interview. Be consistent in what you have written in the resume
and what you are telling in the interview.

See the bends.
Just like roads, interviewer will not give you straight roads. He will
throw in some bends. Make sure you know understand them. Just like at
real bends, in an interview slow down and think before you answer.


Stop at red signals.
Interviewer expressions and manners are the signals you should look
at. They are there for you to guide your way. Stopping at red signals
and moving at green is the only way.

Hope this fresh look at the interviewing process will cement the
correct mannerisms that one needs.


More interview tips at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=interview

While in AeSI, always remember this.

While in AeSI, always remember this.

College time is to challenge your mind, entertain your senses, and
expand your horizons!!

Exploring, taking interesting hobbies and best of all reading widely,
you can meet the three conditions.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Where your participation and enjoyment mix?

Yesterday we celebrated my daughter birthday with few of my collegues
here. The gathering was small. Around the cake cutting and lunch we
had lots of fun.

The most fun happened when everyone was involved. There was only one
person who I can say didn't enjoy and his non enjoyment was entirely
due to his non particiation.

This is the same that happens to you when you at your job or in
training. Active participation is directly proportional to enjoyment.

If you don't get involved, you won't enjoy. So if you aren't enjoying
your job, your training, look at your involvement. That might be the
reason.

The cure is simply to participate, to contibute to the occasion and to
make an effort.

Talking about participation, if you are an AeSI graduate, i strongly
recomend you should be involved with AeSI Alumni Association. More
info at www.aesiaa.org

Thursday, October 14, 2010

An investment that AeSI student shouldn't neglect

It's happening all over again! Competence defeated by communication.

I am sitting in some client interviews and I see this pattern playing
out again and again.

The guy is super competent. Knows all the right answers. Has good
skills. Experience match the requirement but oral communication is a
let down.

Every single time communication shot down a candidates chances.

The idea is simple, in a multicultural work environment, if you are
not able to understand and communicate your views what's the point of
having the skills?

So my earnest urge for all AeSI students and graduates is to invest in
developing your verbal communication skills.

This is an investment you shouldn't neglect.

More on other skills http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=skills

Last two days remaining for SEMAA

Just to let you know that the list of all selected students is out.
Check out if you have made it to be at the first aeronautical
technical seminar organized by AeSIAA for free.

If your name isn't there or you haven't registered yet, then you don't
waste time. Just two days left to register and for AeSI registration
fees is lowered to just Rs. 250

Visit www.aesiaa.org/semaa.html for more info.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Consistency

Greatness is directly proportional to consistency. The more consistent
you are, more remarkable you become.

Sachin became great not because he made centuries, but by being
consistent in his early days and amassing those incredible numbers.

Consistenty is everything.

From your study routine, to training and from training to your job,
if you are consistent in action and performance, you are on your way
to be a star.

If I can advice you to develop one character trait then it will be
consistency!!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Your training will be multidirectional!!

Here's the thing. You might want your training to be unidirectional,
focused but it will never be.

Your training will always be mutlidirectional.

You thought you will get the training and then concentrate on nastran
or ansys analysis. But that's not always the case.

It depends on the project and work load of your mentor. If he/she is
involved in multiple projects, you are bound to get your hands in
multiple programs. So be prepared.

It happened for me and it might happen to you.

The important thing here is to see through the task and mould it to be
a stepping stone of your career.

For example, in NAL when the cad designer quit, I got the task of
doing the cad design of a centrifugal compressor. I liked the work. It
was new. It taught me a cad tool and It felt like I was contributing
to something of real use.

But quickly I realized that it was fun, but cad was not something that
resonated as a career choice. So digging deep I found, it had API's
that I can program and get those things done via programming.

So I tinkered with them and created a tool that cad modelled a
centrifugal compressor impeller without manual intervention. The tool
is still being used.

So when you are in your training period, accept all opportunities and
turn then to the stepping stones to your career goal.

Multidirectional or unidirectional, it's your career you are preparing
for.

More info on training can be found via this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=training&max-results=100

Sunday, October 10, 2010

When is the December 2010 AMAeSI exams?

Well as always queries related to this type become more frequent in
october.

Every other day someone wanders to this website and raises this
question.

My only source is www.aerosocietyindia.in, official website of
aeronautical society of india. And visiting that revealed nothing on
the date.

So I am turning to my next best source, the readers of this blog. As
they are more into aesi, this type of information travels to them
first. So can someone tell us when are the next amaesi exams!!

As always, thanks in advance!!

Also note: Did you know, there's an aesi essay competetion running at
the aesi's website. Check it out.

Friday, October 08, 2010

Fruitful training.

Training/apprenticeship is part of almost every AeSI student and
graduate.

Making it fruitful is what one should aim for.

What do I mean by fruitful training?

Fruitful training is one which builds on the knowledge of what you
have studied in AeSI!

Fruitful training is one which sharpens your various skills.

Fruitful training is one which acts as a springboard for your future
career!

Fruitful training is one which helps you define you!!

These are the things a fruitful training should be.

It's not a road to travel by. It's a runway to pick up the momentum
for the takeoff!!

How are you using it?

More posts on training in nal etc can be found via this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=training&max-results=100

Learning by Osmosis

I am attending a training on iSight. I already know the software and
in the past couple of months i have use it in my day job.

I have read through all the tutorials/documents that I had on this
software. But still I choose to be part of the training. And I am glad
I am doing it. I am learning so much by osmosis!!

The instructer is clearly an expert, 30 years in this domain, he knows
the ins and out of this tool. His slides are preety much the same but
real insights are in his way of explaining.

With the experience behind him, he emphasizes the points of mistakes,
common pitfalls and important places to look for.

Some of his analogies sheds whole new light on your way of seeing the
problem.

I experienced similar thing when I studied for AeSI and always choose
to attend lectures by Natrajan sir and others. Even if I was attending
a seniors extra classes I made it a point that I was also in the class
of a qualified, experienced lecturer for that subject.

Similar insights errupted and foggy understanding cleared as I sat in
those classes. I call this learning by osmosis.

It's like thermodynamics, the higher the temperature gradient, the
better will be the heat transfer. The more experienced the lecturer,
better the knowledge!!

So my advice to anyone in AeSI now is go attend lectures even if you
know the subject. Even if you are taking extra classes from seniors,
go for experienced lecturers. There knowledge, wisdom and experience
will seep through!!

Natarajan sir has been a big influence on my studies and you can find
evidence of that strewn all around this blog. Find it via this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=natarajan
&max-results=100

Thursday, October 07, 2010

Henry Ford on your career planning

Most of the present acute troubles of the world arise out of taking on
new ideas without first carefully investigating to discover if they
are good ideas. - Henry Ford

Similar thoughts can be expressed for apprenticeship and first job
after AeSI.

Most of trouble in training or first job comes because we take the
first thing that is offered and fail to investigate if the offer with
that particular deparment gels with our career goal.

Investingating means wait. It means mental effort. And so many of us
just latch on the first thing that is offered.

I clearly remember a guy who did his AeSI in propulsion stream but
accepted the offer to work in avionics lab of NAL. His only reason was
that it was the first offer he received and he didn't wanted to miss
the opportunity.

Career planning is not random acceptance of any opportunity that shows
up at your door but a series of well thought out steps. Remeber this
when you embark on your journey after AeSI!!

Good luck

More advice on training/ first job can be found via this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=training

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Your opinion will shape the future

Its been more than half a decade that I have left AeSI as a student,
but I still continue my journey with you all via this blog.

My primary motivation in running this blog, is to fill the gap that I
felt during my days in AeSI. I continue the blog in the hope that
somewhere it's helping, Inspiring and guiding someone.

When I began the blog it was out of curiocity. In fact I began 4 blogs
and this is the only one I still continue.

I am planning couple of changes for the blog. So I want to ask you the
reader, what do you want out of this blog?

What do you like about this blog? What do you want to improve ? what
topics to include and not to include?


Your opinion will shape the future of this blog, so please come
forward and send me your comments, remarks and suggestions.

Every opinion matters.

Use the comment field on the blog or reply via email, the blog needs
your opinion in whatever form you like.

And last of all Thank you for Reading.

Monday, October 04, 2010

6 tips for learning a new software tool.

Learning a software tool is an essential part of AeSI life. Some do it
while studying, some like me get to do it in their training days.

But whenever you are doing it, keeping this 6 rules in mind can help
you get maximum out of your tool learning experience.


1. Read the documentation fully
Before begining, have a through read on the documentation. You will
not understand everything but will get the bigger picture of what the
tool is and what is it doing.

2. Choose one set of tutorials.
For each software tool there are infinite number of tutorials, but at
the initial stage, one should choose only one and stick with it.

3. Linger longer on each exercise
Don't race through the tutorials. Think and explore. Linger longer on
one set of tutorials.

4. Explore extra.
Explore extra. Once you followed the tutorial. Explore the new things
you learnt. Look at the dialog boxes that were introduced to you.
Click on other buttons that the tutorial was silent about. In short
explore.

5. See the big picture.
Remember, softwares are just the tool. Tool for you an engineer, to
make decisions on. Use the tool like a tool. Then make an engineering
judgement. See the bigger picture of why the analysis/design is done
the way it is.

6. Initially shoot for quantity. Then chase quality.
When starting go for the number of hours you tinker with the tool not
on the number of components you design. Go for the number of simple
truss like analysis than just doing an all wing modal analysis.

Quantity should be your aim. Chasing quatily at the begining is like
trying to run before you have mastered walking.

Hope these tips helps you in your tool learning experience.

Do let me know if you want to add something.


More tool learning posts can be found via http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=tools&max-results=100

Saturday, October 02, 2010

Aerospace News Dashboard on MyAeSI

image

Staying informed is the key. Knowing what's happening in your industry, in your area of expertise is important. With this age of information and fast changing pace, its important to be on the top the things that are happening in your industry.

During my AeSI and NAL days, i scoured the net and used all the info that NASA’s website and NAL’s pasteboard provided..

At that time, the choices were limited but now the choice has exploded. Numerous sites provide tons of information.

To track all the new things happening in Indian aerospace one needs to peep into so many sites, so i build an app using Google technology and today i am unveiling it to myaesi readers..

Its a one page aerospace news dashboard, that updates itself and harnesses Google's awesome power..

You can have a look at it via this link.. or by visiting myaesi website..

Aerospace News Dashboard

Why interviews fail -join the conversation!

You come out of the interview room, you feel good. You think you gave
all the correct answers.

You are asked to wait and then the HR lady comes and says, "you can go
home today, we will call you after all the interviews are over."

You wait for the call and the phone never rings.

You wonder what went wrong. You replay the Interview scene in your
mind and wonder why you didn't get the job?

This is the precise thought I am thinking of now, so lets join hand
and answer this very question!! Why some, so called "Accha Gaya"
interview fail?

Have you had any similar experience?what do you think? Join the
conversation in comments..

Friday, October 01, 2010

Excellent resource for all kinds of Resumes

Need Resume templates…

Here’s an excellent resource…

Microsoft Office Resume Templates

It has all kinds of resumes…

You can never go wrong with investing in yourself

A couple of days back while browsing, i stumbled upon these lines.

They resonate with what I talk about in this blog, so here they go.

"You can never go wrong with investing in yourself – that way,
everything that you learn and have can go with you. You can invest in
three ways – your health, your network, and your knowledge, and all
three are necessary to be successful"

While studying or doing training or in your job, investing in yourself
is the best thing you can do!!

And what's important is that this investment only need your commitment
and an hour a day.

So are you giving yourself that one hour!!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Ouraesi.ning.com is officially closed

This blog post about a small change that you might have noticed.

The site ouraesi.ning.com is officially closed.

It's was a community of aesi students and graduate.

I had lot on my plate, so wasn't even doing any justice to it, so I
let it go. And now it's offically closed.

If you try to visit it, you won't be able to access it. I appologies
for any inconvienence caused.

But all is not bad. Similar community exists in form of ouraesi yahoo
club and at aesiaa google group!!

Please give them a try. They have so many good people in it and I am
sure these communities will be enriched by having you.


Ouraesi http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/ouraesi

AeSIAA http://groups.google.com/groups/aesiaa


Hope to see you there!

Too much Wait destroys the idea.

I had this idea of writing a blog post on the mmrca and it's bidding
process. I have the graphs ready but I have delayed it long and now
the activity doesn't feel so exciting.


I just have to write an introduction and few explanation, but it's
prooving hard to sit and complete this job.

Similar thing happened to the fortran ebook I talked about. I had it
half ready, then I delayed. I waited. And the wait destroyed all my
enthusiam to complete it. Now it's sitting shelved in my netbooks hard
drive.

This is what's the problem is with waiting. It sucks enthusiasm.

Lesson learnt. Action. Take action within 24 hours.

Indeed a reason to celebrate

image

Dear fellow Alumnus,
It is my pleasant duty to inform you that Alumni Association of AeSI, formed by the graduates of the Aeronautical society of India, is organizing its maiden seminar on “Technological Challenges in Indian Aeronautics”, SEMAA-2010. Challenges associated with various national aeronautical programs would be highlighted through invited lectures by the eminent scientists of various aeronautical labs.

Following invited speakers have given their consent to be part of SEMAA-2010.


1.      Dr. Kota Harinarayana, P&W Chair Professor, Hyderabad University
2.      Mr. P S Subramaniam, Distinguished Scientist, Director ADA
3.      Dr. A R Upadhaya, Outstanding Scientist, Director NAL
4.      Dr. K Tamilmani, Distinguished Scientist, CE-CEMILAC
5.      Mr. P S Krishnan, Distinguished Scientist, Director ADE
6.      Mr. T Mohan Rao, Outstanding Scientist, Director GTRE
7.      Dr. Manjunath, RWRDC, HAL


As of today, Moog India Tech Pvt Ltd, EADS, ADE, GTRE, ANSYS, ESI and Bangalore chapter of the Aeronautical Society of India have agreed to sponsor our seminar. They would also showcase their products in the exhibition planned on the seminar day at the lawns of the CEMILAC auditorium.


I am sure that the aptness of the theme, presence of the best speakers in Indian aeronautics, participation from the private industry and support from The Aeronautical Society of India would make our seminar a big success. 

To the benefit of AeSI students, AeSIAA has waived off registration fee for the Section-B students (to a limited number). Further, as a token of appreciation to the services of GIE, Chennai, AeSIAA is sponsoring travel and registration cost for the 10 best students of GIE. 

Till date, we have received about 90 delegate confirmations from both the government and the private industries. To make this event a grand success, I request all of you to be part of the esteemed delegation in SEMAA-2010.

I am sure this seminar will give a good exposure to the Aeronautical technologies and would provide an excellent platform for interaction with the best in Indian Aeronautics. Seminar brochure and registration information is enclosed for you reference.


In addition, AeSIAA is also organizing a glider design competition, SOARING. All the design enthusiasts are welcome to participate. We are also in the process of forming an aero modeling club for the hobby flyers.


Friends, I am also glad to announce that AeSIAA has achieved yet another milestone; Bangalore Chapter of the Aeronautical Society of India has agreed to provide office space for AeSIAA in AeSI premises at Suranjandas Road, Bangalore-75.  This office would be inaugurated by the Director GTRE, Chairman AeSI-Bangalore, on 2nd October 2010 at 10:30 am.

I welcome you all to be part of this defining moment.

Dear Alumnus, our journey has just begun. We have various other events in the pipeline to cater the needs of AeSI students and for the welfare of the AeSI alumnus. Let us join hands to take AeSIAA to greater heights.


Please visit www.aesiaa.org for all the details of events and latest announcements.


Hope to see you soon in AeSIAA family.
with warm regards,
Abhishek Burman
Hon. General Secretary, AeSIAA,
Convener, SEMAA-2010.

 

So what are you waiting for?

Spread the word!!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

5 rules to study smart for AeSI

Over the years writing on this blog, i have realized these are the 5
priciples of studying smart.

They crop up in one way or another in any successful student I see.


1. Know why you are studying something?

2. Focus only on one thing at a time.

3. Keep distractions off.

4. Have a plan to execute.

5. Mix and match different subjects in a day.

Click http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=study+aesi&max-results=100
to read more elaborately on the above rules.

As always, tell me what are your smart study rules.

Monday, September 27, 2010

3 things you have that I missed in my AeSI days.

With time AeSI has changed a lot. And so has the convenience and the
choices for you all. Here's a list of 3 things that I missed in my
aesi days.

1. The online information. Back in my aesi days, google was at it's
nasent stage, aesi search didn't bring anything close to aeronautical.
And aesi's web presence was virtually non existent.

Search now and you will have lot of aesi related stuff online, not to
mention aesi's very own official website!! www.aerosocietyindia.in

2. No community. Apart from handful of seniors in GIE or the
institutes we studied, there was virtually no community of aesians.

Today, aesiaa, ouraesi and myaesi are the platforms that help you join
your fellow aesians.

3. Networking. Back in my days, networking was possible only if we
knew people face to face. Very little interactions existed beyond that.

Now with the explosion of social networks, you and yours truly are
connected in multiple ways.

So the question for you, my dear readers, is how are you using this
opportunities?

Sunday, September 26, 2010

What my daughter taught me today?

Yesterday, I was at the derbyfeste all day. It's was my daughters day
out and she throughly enjoyed the day.

Except the first hour.

In the first hour as we gathered around the show, she was
uncomfortable. Perhaps overwhelmed by so many things happening around
at the same time.

But as the day progressed she opened up and she got involved. Her foot
tapped with the music, hands clapped as others clapped. Eyes widened
to see what's happening. This is when the real enjoyment began for her.

Why am I talking about it here in this blog?

Because here's the lesson I learnt. Involvement springs enjoyment.

If you aren't participating, nothing will be good. Our participation
is the real source of joy. The event itself becomes less important.
The core is how we connect to the event.

Remember this, next time you are at a boring party, uneventful seminar
or mind melting technical symposium. Your involvement is everything.


Side note:
Talking about events, there are two events specifically meant for aesi
folks, soaring glider competition and SEMAA technical seminar. Be
sure to register and participate!!

Registration for soaring ending on 30th september 2010 and for SEMAA
on 8th October 2010

So hurry visit www.aesiaa.org now!

Friday, September 24, 2010

What is one goal you'd like to accomplish before 2010 is over ?

2010 is racing towards the end. You might have made some goals and
pledges at the start of the year.

Some of you are well on your way to those goals, some of you might
just have dropped off after a couple of days or week.

For me, I am on track in some of them and them and off track on few of
them.

So as the year ends, lets sit down and rewrite one goal that we want
to accomplish in the remaining months and make 2010 a great year?

What is the one goal you'd like to accomplish before 2010 is over?

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Two ways to add value.

Seth Godin, my fav blogger recently had a great post in his blog about
questions and answers.

To paraphase him, he says you can add value to any situation by either
knowing the correct answers or by asking the correct questions.

So true. From classrooms to board meetings, it applies everywhere.

Knowing all the answers might take time and experience to built, but
you can start now by asking questions.

So in your next class, add value by asking questions to the lecturer.
In your training, ask questions to your mentor. In the next meeting,
don't just sit quite, ask a question.

Every question, every answer adds value.


A quick note to all Gliding competition enthusiasts :

Registration for glider competitions are ending on 30th Septermber, so
hurry and register.

More info at www.aesiaa.org/soaring.html

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Airbus FYI - An opportunity for you

Today's blog post is about an opportunity. Opportunity named Airbus FYI.

image
What is Airbus FYI?
Airbus FYI is a contest that challenges students worldwide to develop new ideas to deliver a greener aviation industry.


"It's a rare opportunity for tomorrow's generation to join Airbus in our vision for the eco efficient aviation industry of the future; to tackle the two percent the industry contributes to manmade CO2 emissions and meet the needs of air transport in a sustainable way; and to win EUR30,000."


Round 1 has started but you can register up until 30th November 2010!


What is the competition about?
Airbus FYI involves three progressively competitive and challenging rounds - judged by a panel of Airbus and industry experts - concluding with a live final. It's not just about engineering; students are encouraged to think about the overall Life-Cycle:

1) design; 2) supply chain; 3) manufacturing; 4) aircraft operation; 5) aircraft end-of-life. The teams selected for Round 2 will be asked to develop their ideas with support from Airbus staff. The five teams shortlisted for Round 3 will win a VIP trip to the final which will be held during the International Paris Air Show - Le Bourget in France, June 2011.


During the final, the five finalist teams will present their ideas to an independent jury - including industry experts - for a chance to win EUR30,000; the runners up will share EUR15,000. Students wishing to take part must register correctly as a formed team of between three and five members by 30 November 2010.


who can participate
To participate, they must be registered to study full or part time at a recognized degree-awarding institution and could be studying a Bachelors, Masters or PhD level degree in any discipline - from engineering to marketing; business to science; philosophy to design. There is no age limit. And students within a team do not have to be of the same gender, nationality, from the same University - or even the same country.


Airbus FYI involves three progressively competitive and challenging rounds - judged by a panel of Airbus and industry experts - concluding with a live final during the International Paris Air Show - LeBourget in France, June 2011. The competition timings for FYI 2011 are:


Registration: Closes 30 November 2010
Round 1, Project Proposal: 01 September 2010 - 10 December 2010
Round 2, Project Submission: 17 January 2011 - 15 April 2011
Round 3, Project Presentation (development): 16 May 2011 - 17 June 2011
Final, Project Presentation (live): June 2011 (International Paris Air Show -Le Bourget, France)


Read the complete FAQ here  http://www.airbus-fyi.com/pdf/Airbus-FYI_FAQs.pdf
More information: http://www.airbus-fyi.com/

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Getting the best of your training - blank slate

After AeSI, I landed in NAL and joined clocter lab as a graduate
trainee.

Nothing shaped me more than the 12 months that I had spent there.

I was a blank slate when I went in. Except some programming skills, I
just knew the names of cad/cae softwares. Though close to a computer,
I have never seen or used catia, ansys or any other software before
entering NAL!

This simple fact is what I attribute my good stint in NAL. Since I was
not hang up on doing one specific tool, I had the advantage of trying
everything and getting to know what I enjoyed the most.

This non fixation to particular tool, helped me see other
opportunities and helped me work on varied projects.

So my advice to everyone who is looking for training after AeSI is to
stay clear of fixing your mind on a tool. Having a generic goal of
learning and applying your fields knowledge beats any tool anytime.

Read more on how to get training and all else via this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=training&max-results=100

Live like a sprinter, not a marathoner

Studying or learning any tools or working for an office assignment, it
always better to be sprinter than a marathoner.

Giving your total attention to your immediate task for the short time
and accomplishing something is much better than sitting on the task
for whole days and weeks and doing a marathon!

I knew a close friend of mine who was a marathoner. He used to study
all day, had a book with him always. I knew he wasn't as productive as
we saw his day dreaming while having a book in his hand.

There was this other guy who was a sprinter. He studied few hours but
he was focused in those hours. We rarely saw him sitting at his study
desk all day.

All day marathons may be easy but it's the sprinting that brings
better results.

So are you a marathoner or sprinter?

Sunday, September 19, 2010

A simple list of Aerospace Companies of the world

My posts titled List of Aerospace Companies That AeSI Graduates Are Working In and List of Aerospace companies that know about AeSI are quite popular, so thought of adding one simple list of Aerospace Companies of the world!!

Let me know how many of them you already knew?

While you are at it, List of Aerospace Companies That AeSI Graduates Are Working In is two years old, can you help me update it. Please comment on it and add the ones i missed..

Thanks a ton for reading!!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Be a realist and connection between opportunity and initiative

Here's a fantastic quote to pep up your day.

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to
change; the realist adjusts the sails." – William Arthur Ward

Adjust your sails.

As I said before, the problem is not lack of opportunity but lack of
initiative.

Don't agree with me, then tell me how many of you have taken the
awesome opportunity that SEMAA 2010 presents?

SEMAA 2010 is a great networking opportunity. A chance to listen to
industry leaders. And most of all it's free for Section B students.

Opportunity is waiting. Take the initiative. Adjust your sails.

Register and know more about Semaa by clicking this link http://www.aesiaa.org/semaa.html

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Constraints and how they can help you?

Having choices is good, but when choices become abandant, you need
constraints to be productive.

Good contraints give rise to worthy challenges, and worthy challenges
give rise to success, whatever be the endevour.

Say for example your resume, you have done lot of projects, you have
good skills and your experience is varied. But if you want to have an
effective resume, you need the constraint of brief resume. Constraint
of just having 2 pages.

This constraint will help you think and put only the relevant details
in your resume. This constraint will make you decide what is worth and
what is not.

Likewise, if you constraint yourself by choosing only one base book
for a subject, you become consistent in your terminigy of that
subject, you build concepts faster and your studies are more
productive than if you had several books to hop around.

Constrainting yourself to one tool is another way of being good. If
you don't put that constraint, it's more likely that when you are
stuck at one tutorial of ansys, you mind will want to wonder to the
tutorial on nastran.

But if you have just chosen to work with one tool, you know you have
no other choice and you will dig into your problem more earnestly!!

Constraints are good, if you see yourself deviating from your semester
goals and targets, apply this concept of constraints!!

More advice on how to be productive can be found via this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=study+aesi

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Three simple Resume oversights for a fresher to avoid

Saw a resume today. It was well formated, liked the color. Liked the
content but!!

Yes a big BUT.

It has 3 glaring mistakes or I should say simple oversights!

1. The resume was in PDF format. Cool it may be but HR always likes
things in doc format. That's the norm, that's how resumes are logged
into a computer database by the company. So sent a doc format, not PDF
unless otherwise asked!

2. If you have work experience, and are employed, then don't emphasize
your subjects in the first page of your resume. That puts you back
into fresher bucket who is just oyt of college. You love
thermodynamics, keep it to yourself. Instead promote your work
experience. Highlight your most relevant skill that you used in your
last project.

3. The length of your resume grows with your experience, so if you are
on the runway of your career, keep it short. Unless you are applying
for a post graduate degree in a foreign university, keep the resume
brief. Anything more than 2-3 page is never turned on. Aim to stick
within that limit.

And last of all, your resume is your marketing document, it's a hook
to get that interview, so make it interesting not a thesis on what you
know!!


Want to read more resume tips, get to this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=resume

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Attention AeSI students - options before you

Talking about options, among all the options viaing for your time and
attention, the one option that you as an AeSI student wouldn't want to
miss is the Aeronautical seminar in Bangalore!!

Invited talks from India's top aeronautical experts, oppportunity to
network with fellow AeSI Alumni's and a chance to peek into the future
challenges of Indian aerospace. That's what SEMAA is all about.

SEMAA is jointly organized by AeSI Bangalore and AeSIAA. The theme for
this years seminar is "Technological challenges in Indian aeronautics"

And if you are a Section B student of AeSI, then there are some
limited free seats up for grabs. Head over to the new overhauled
website of www.aesiaa.org and register yourself.

You can also use the online form (linked below) on this website to
register.

So hurry up, seats are limited and you don't want to pass this option!!

Find more about semaa (and the registration form) on this blog by
following this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=semaa

You can have anything you want!!

Read this lines and immediately thought of sharing it with you all.


"You can have anything you want. You can't have everything you want,
and if you try for everything, you probably won't get anything."

That's how things work. You can have anything but you can't have
everything you want. Choices always come into the picture?

Do I study for the next hour or go see the movie?

Do I attend that class or study for myself?

Do I learn cad or analysis tool? Do I take cfd or fem? Do I learn UG
or catia? Do I spend an hour on nastran or ansys?

You might want to learn everything? But you will prosper and do well
if you choose one!!

So choose, apply some constraints and be a star !!

If you try for one thing, you will definitely get everything !!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Aero Modelling Design Competition for Aero Enthusiasts

AeSIAA soaring..... Aero Modelling..... AeSIAA is organizing its maiden aero modelling design competition for aero enthusiasts. Both students and alumnus of AeSI can participate in this event. Winners of this event will be awarded during inaugural function of SEMAA-2010.

Last date for registration through mail: 30th September, 2010

Rules can be accessed from : http://www.aesiaa.org/pdf/soaring_rules.pdf

Email: soaring@aesiaa.org

Convener: Mr S Shyam Sundar

Contact: 944818042, 990005372

Read more at www.aesiaa.org/soaring.html

If you are in Section B then you can register to attend SEMAA- 2010 for free. You can register here

Read Get Read For SEMAA?

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Section B avionics Stream June 2010 Analysis

Which stream is better in getting marks, avionics or aero mechanical? Does Avionics 1 gets you more marks than Avionics 2? Which is the best marks earning subject in this stream?

All these and more is revealed… so dig in.

The BoxPlot

Avionics june 2010 Amaesi resuts

 

  • The first thing that strikes is none of the core avionics subjects had got into the 80% band.
  • 79 in AGS being the maximum marks in core avionics subjects
  • Median(the yellow triangle in the graph) for AV2 and AI is 60.5 and 64.5 respectively. This means more than 50% of the students got more than this marks in this subjects
  • MRCS has the lowest median of 53, meaning 50 of student appearing in this subject got less than 53!

The Stacked Column Chart

 

Avionics june 2010 Amaesi resuts

 

  • The first thing to notice is the numbers. Observe how low they are except in AM2, APSC and MS which is because these subjects are common with various other streams
  • The low number indicate less people take this stream in section B
  • Among the Avionics 1 and Avionics 2, AV2 seems to be doing good as it has got more students passing in the band between 60 to 70.
  • AI also shows the similar trend of more people being in 60 to 70 marks band.
  • AV2,AI and AGS are the only core avionics subjects where some students have got more than 70 marks.
  • AI is the best scoring subject in core avionics subjects as close to 65% students got above 60 marks.

If more interested, study the graphs yourself and you will find more insight. Hope this helps you in your strategy to study for this semester!!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Section B Aero Mechanical June 2010 results analysis

Is propulsion 1 is more difficult than propulsion 2? Which is the most difficult subject in Aero Mechanical stream? Which is the most mark getting subject in aero mechanical stream? which is better in terms of mark, aircraft structure one or two?

All this reveal in the two plots from the analysis of June 2010 results, So dig in..

The BoxPlot

aero mechanical amaesi results june 2010

[click the image to zoom]

  • Except P1 and P2, all subjects had highest marks in excess of 80!!
  • AS2 with 91 got the highest marks of aeromechanical  stream.
  • In P1, more than 50 % of the students got less than 52 marks as suggested by the median of P1.
  • AERO has a median (the yellow triangle) of 64. It means more than 50% of the students has got more than 64 marks!!

 

The Stacked Column Chart

aero mechanical amaesi results

[click the image to zoom]

  • P1 is tougher than P2. No one got more than 70 in this subject. More than 90% of the students just got less than 60 marks in it.
  • Aero has the highest number of students who got between 60 to 70 marks followed by APSC..
  • Among AS1 and AS2 , AS2 is definitely gave more good marks, with some four students getting above 80 and one getting above 90.
  • AM2,AERO,APSC,AS2,MS and AD are the subjects which has produced marks in above 80.
  • Aero is the subject in which maximum people got marks between 70 to 80.
  • P1 remains the lowest scoring subject in this stream followed by P2.
  • Numbers in the box indicates the count of students in that band of marks.

 

All this reading and analysis will be waste if you are not taking any action.

Friday, September 10, 2010

One Option

While travelling to office today, this thought popped up.

If I had the option of Reading just one blog, what blog would it be?

Just as soon as the question popped up, I knew my answer.

If I had this same question during my aesi days, I know my answer. And
it is this answer that I want to recommend to everyone studying for
aesi!!

If you have to read just one blog, then if you are a student, dig into
the archieves of studyhack at www.calnewport.com/blog/

I came to know about this website when I was out of aesi, but as I
read it, I found i used so many of it's ideas in my aesi days. My only
regret is that I wasn't consistent!!

The site is an enormous resource to be a remarkable student. So if you
are a student I highly recommend it.

Just like everything, the size and shape might not match, every idea
might not be practical for you, but just read and see what sticks with
you.

Apply what gels with you and be a star!!

Good luck!!

Remember the gem for students is in the archives. So dig in

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Statistics

Every since AeSI days, statistics has been my interest. Crunching
numbers and getting something meaningful has been my passion.

As the reader of this blog, you might have since manifestation of that
in this blog over the years.

I have done these analysis of amaesi exams since 2000! Playing with
those vast arrays of numbers have since been a routine yearly task for
this blog.

Now what has this simple interest has done for me?

It has taught me excel, it has taught me graphs, it has taught me
animation in excel. It has taught me statistics in action.

The whole point of the post is follow your interest. Do something with
your interest that you can share. This will only make you better!!

What are your interests?

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Section A June 2010 AMAeSI Results Analysis

Unlike all other exam result analysis that i have done on this blog, this time I gave myself the challenge to use just two charts to analyze the June 2010 exam results.

[This is fairly a long post and if you are not an AeSI student, you can skip the post!']

My aim was to capture all the info and insight in just two charts!

I have selected a box plot and a stacked column chart to capture the information!!

The Box Plot

Section A June 2010

Click the diagram to see better.

Boxplot shows the spread of the marks and the stacked column chart shows the count of passing students!!

In the above diagram, it shows what is the mark spread of each subject in section A!!

As you can see strength of materials had the highest marks in all subjects followed closely by applied mathematics 1!!

The yellow triangle indicates the median of all marks students got.

If we lined up all the students who passed engineering thermodynamics in terms of the mark in ascending order and asked the one in the middle what is his marks, this is what 58 indicates for ET in the chart.

Median represents the middle of the marks!!

This plot reveals that SOM, AM1, EDD, ET, and FM are real high scoring subjects and one can aim to get 80+ marks in each of them.

And the subjects EE, WT, MSE, and IA are the low scoring subjects. They had medians below 53!! This means most of the students just barely passed!!

The length of the box represents the variations in the marks, the higher the box, the larger the spread of the marks in those subjects. As expected with high marks, ET and SOM had the highest spread of marks ranging between 50 to 65!!

It's interesting to note that the lowest maximum marks was above 65!!

The stacked column chart.

results_8726_image001 Click the diagram to see better.

This represents the frequency of marks obtained by students in each subject.

The blue colour indicates number of students who obtained marks between 50 and 60, orange represents the marks obtained between 60 and 70, orange represents the count of students who obtained marks between 70 to 80 and read represents number of students who obtained marks between 80 to 90.

As you can see, In EE, electrical engineering 90% of the students came under 60 and 10 % got between 60 t0 70!!

MSE was the subject which has close to 94% of students getting less than 60!!

SOM, FM were the two subjects in which 8 and 3 students respectively got more than 80%

SOM,ET,EDD,FM were the subjects that  some students got marks between 70 to 80.

Numbers on the bars represent the number of students falling under the band of the colour.

Sum the numbers in each band and you have the number of students passing the exam for that particular subjects.

As you can see, except for ET and then SOM, the blue band of students is highest.

You aim should be to get out of this band. You aim should be to get into the red band..

So what does this all mean!!

These plots give you hard facts, facts to arm you to set your own targets for these subjects. They give you the insight to let you decide on how to study for each subjects. These graphs reveal the trend that you can use to your advantage while studying.

Would love to hear what you think of this? Please send in your comments!!

In next Post, I will post similar charts for Section B, so stay tuned.

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