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Nothing can be and cannot be one, and yet I am...
I am Pratik Stephen. |
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| I’m from Pune and
have completed my 3rd Year of Engineering in Information
Technology, at the Army Institute of Technology, Pune.
I’ve lived in this beautiful city all my life and have
studied in St. Vincent’s High School & Nowrosjee Wadia
(Junior) College. |
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My first call to
Computer Science came during my 9th Std, when I stumbled
into Infosys’ “Catch Them Young” Program (for
15-year-olds in Pune). I went on to win it and developed
the front end for their Online Library System. Also
earned my first pay cheque! : )
Then, in my 2nd year, winning the AIT Programming
Contest got me selected for an internship at Indigo
Architects, Pune (after some grueling & really
interesting tests!). I learned ALOT at Indigo and this
is where my quest to “Build Insanely Great Software”
began.
I had the opportunity to work on a live application at
Indigo, for the 4th largest Online Travel Company in the
world. I’m proud to say that my component (fuzzy data
matching) has reduced days of manual data analysis work.
More importantly, it’s been instrumental in increasing
sales by over 15%. |
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I want to rock the
world! And there’s no better way, than by BUILDING
INSANELY GREAT SOFTWARE!
The power to affect people – “the way we live, work and
communicate” - through software is unparalleled today!
That’s why I love it! The high one gets from knowing
that people all over the world are using to their
benefit, technology designed by you is indescribable!
(and immensely addictive!)
I’m also passionate about wild life and the environment.
One of my ambitions is to improve education, and reduce
ignorance & intolerance in this world (making common
sense a little more common). |
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I’ve always been
crazy about Maths, puzzles and brainteasers. Nothing
like the joy of cracking a good problem really quick!
I like to look at technology from a Design perspective -
Software Design as well as the Usability, Human
Interaction aspect. I also have a nascent, budding
interest in AI and networking (& security).
I love working with people and am fascinated by human
social dynamics, interaction and psychology. (Especially
female ; ) ) |
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- My Family – Mama,
Papa, Seema didi (elder sis), Sneha (twin sis)
- Sport! – Basketball, Cricket, Tennis, TT …
- Muzic – From Rock to Hip Hop to Clayderman to
Jagjit-Chitra (simply timeless!)
- My Guitar – I play rhythm for my college band - Chordless. (did I mention something bout rockin the
world?!)
- Trekking, Rock Climbing, Biking … (Planning a
Himalayan trek sometime soon!)
- Movies n TV – Comedy, Parody, Action/Adventure,
Suspense/Thrillers …
- Books …
- Hanging out with my friends… chilling, having crazy
discussions, making outrageous plans… (you might find
details at
http://www.orkut.com/Home.aspx?xid=2736728985557691289)
- Taking Photos (Say Cheeeze!)
- Meeting people - seeing new cultures & perspectives …
- Garfield!
- Writing silly rhymes …
- Sleeping!
I do what I love and I love what I do! : )
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It has been an
enlightening experience, to say the least. I’ve met
these fantastic people (top 20 and other interns) from
all over the country.
I’ve learned sooo many new things here – from foosball &
volleyball to philosophies of life and new scientific (&
a lot of other) theories!
This is a brilliant initiative by Microsoft. They get to
hand pick the best in the country, while we get to work
on really exciting projects, limited only by our own
creativity. Synergizing with the best, and competing at
the same time. It doesn’t get any better than this!
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Have you ever looked
at satellite photos of a building in Virtual Earth --
and wished you could zoom right in and see its floorplan?
Maybe navigate through the interiors and see what it
really looks like from within? Imagine making a dinner
reservation at a restaurant and reserving a table based
on ‘virtually’ sitting at different tables to select the
best view.
My project is to design a web application to easily
enable this and much more, building upon MSN Virtual
Earth. |
For me, the best
things about Microsoft are:
- You can find every possible area of technology that
excites you right here.
- You have direct access to so many super-intelligent,
visionary, pioneering minds!
- I love the work culture - no unnecessary formalities!
Work, play, learn, innovate...
- Don’t even get me started on the Microsoft Campus…
It’s simply AWESOME! |
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| Here
are some of the questions that the code4bill contestants
answered. How about trying your hand at them? |
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Multiply
14332 represented in base -7 with 16430 represented
in base -8 and represent the output in base -9. |
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An array
contains 9 occurrences of 0s, 8 occurrences of 1s and
7 occurrences of 2s in any order. The array is to be
sorted using only swap operations. What is the minimum
number of swaps needed in the worst case to sort the
array? |
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You are given an infinite number of cookie boxes containing either 6, 9 or 400 cookies. You are allowed to use these boxes in any combination so desired. What is the maximum number of cookies that you cannot give out using the above boxes? |
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