PPO kat gaya

I remember this time, last year, I received that e-mail from Microsoft where in I was searching for “Congratulations” but all I could find was “Unfortunately”.

Hurts. Hurts like hell. 5 stages of grief kick in. Or maybe more appropriately 50 shades of grief. If you are lucky like me, you atleast know that why you didn’t receive it. But unlucky are those, who did everything real well, and still didn’t get the great corporate validation of a PPO(Pre Placement Offer)after sloughing for 2 months in their respective companies.

People are gonna tell you stories like

There is this cricketer Abhimanyu Easwaran, who averages more than 47 in both First Class and List A matches(basically the stepping stone to International Cricket). His father owns the Goddamn Stadium where his Ranji Team plays the matches. But he is yet to get his first India Cap even though he has scored truckloads of runs. Some might consider it a failure for such a talented person, for a person from such an affluent family.

There have been government policies with the best of intent, all of the government machinery at hand from IAS Officers to the Group D service, and still they have failed.

But maybe the Government is inefficient. Then on the other side of the paradigm there are Startups where the team had the best educational and business background, best work ethics, best culture, best funding and still might fail.

You might be the best doctor, but if the symptoms do not match anything you have ever seen, you cannot do a Diagnosis.

The point is that you are human after all, and other humans will always play a part in your story. Whether they will be heroes or villains, inconsiderate people or people bound by their own limitations, no one knows. But that will make your luck .

But from experience I know that , knowing that, life is unfair and other people also have had a lot of tough times, is not the best coping mechanism.It doesn’t help. Someone else’s misery doesn’t reduce my misery. Like all this sounds good in theory, but in practice it all sounds the biggest bullshit.

The point is that, you had made up dreams about working in that company, you had made up dreams about enjoying the 7th semester, you had put in the effort and time and to see it all coming down at this moment, it is all gonna hurt. I would say, It better hurt.

Unless until you are a stoic, it is gonna hurt. And whatever I might say, whatever you might think, this hurt is not gonna change. There is only one entity capable of reducing your hurt at this time. And that is time. It is gonna reduce slowly, slowly, slowly, to a point where in you will be putting in screenshots of the rejection mail in one year in random articles on Internet.

Believe me, this company is like that crush you wanted so much to date, whom you thought is the most beautiful perfect person in the world, and you will never be able to love anyone like this again. But they reject you and then you get heartbroken. But we all know how the story proceeds where you again in some time find some person who is even more perfect and beautiful and you can never figure out why you even fell for the first person.

In due time, you are gonna have moved on .

But when the due time comes, if you would have wasted the time till then, in just being miserable and sad and lonely, it will hurt you even more now. Because the placements are near. And you are gonna do bad.

These would be my tips to you on how to proceed in the wake of the crushing pain you are gonna experience daily :

• Never be seen complaining : In my experience, the more we bitch about our manager, our team, it all leads to a negative connotation of emotions and never lets us focus completely on the task at hand. It is a general rule of life to never be seen complaining, but it’s even more important to not bitch about things not in your control.
• Make Habits: Don’t leave your study habits, timings and hours to your mood. Because your mood is gonna be sulken for the next couple of months. Just make it a point to study for 6 hours come what may and just sit down to study. Once you have done the hours, you can cry as much as you want(but I am sure you will not, because the endorphins are gonna kick in now). Make habits pertaining to how much you study daily irrespective of how you are feeling that day.
• Get the second best company : Let’s just assume that you are right, and this was the best company in the entire world, nothing can ever even come close to what this company offered(by the simple rules of market, this cannot be true, because why will a company offer LOTT more than the competitors). So even if you could not get the best company, try and get in the second best, the third best, the fourth best. It wouldn’t really hurt to get in the third best company. They are all good. We all wanted to get a top 100 AIR in JEE Advanced, but we couldn’t , only 100 of us could. But we don’t really regret that now, do we ?
• Fight : Now that you have decided to fight for the second best company, fight like your life depends on it. Let the predator in you rise, and fucking hunt this company down. Use all this negative energy stored in you and make it bundles of positive energy.
• Don’t be afraid of the hard work : At the end you are gonna learn more about your subjects, about yourself, about friendship, more in this 7th semester than in your entire college life. For the first time you are gonna be extremely helpful, towards people whom you are even gonna compete with. Embrace the experience. Anyways, What is an IIT Life experience, without sitting in placements.
• None of us is judging you : Simple as the fact, that no one is thinking that you getting an internship was a fluke. Anyone who has ever worked a day in corporate, knows how much luck is involved in it. Only people who have got no exposure think so and then they dont matter. And on the same note, because the last time was not a fluke, you will get a great company this time too, even if it takes a lot of hard work.
• Be a Man : Take things in your strides. Shit happens to everyone around us. Army guys lose their best friends on the battlefield and still kill the opposition. We can take this rejection and continue fighting for the next best company, can’t we. Let your animal spirit take over and just hunt what you want.

The problem with the philosophy of always believing in actions is that, you do not blame your luck and stick to your actions. But I implore you to believe in bad luck for this one time.

Corporate is a madhouse, where skills are not always appreciated. Market conditions, personal relations, exposure, timing anything could and can play spoilsport.

Be hurt, but continue moving and stepping ahead. Don’t worry about the opportunity cost but rather see the opportunity right there in front of you.

But you will be able to handle it all. I know that because each year I have seen people combat it all and eventually land in companies better than the ones they were hoping to get a PPO in.

And you have been plain and simple unlucky.

But but by the law of averages, the next time you are bound to get lucky with more probability. And then you might get the company which you might not even be imaging right now, and that happiness is gonna be worth it all. And then when you will look on this journey, you will not be able to help but be proud of yourself for even continuing when the spirits wern’t high, for not letting your emotions be a master of yourself, for not letting yourself be defined by the Great PPO game , for letting the predator in you alive and on a prowl for a fresh milestone to gain.

See you on the other side of the important 7th semester of engineering.

As Goggins would say, “Stay Hard”.