Success Story : Suyog Dhanawade (IISc)

Hello Everyone, 

I always dreamed of writing my success story here. I read this blog regularly and went through every post.  I am Suyog Dhanawade, an Electronics Engineering graduate joined an IT firm.  After working for about six months I realized, I am in wrong field (though I was performing well) and really need to find better way for job satisfaction.

I came across CEED in my final year of Engg, but I somehow managed to miss the dates for next 3 years :P Finally I took it seriously and started preparing from December(I had whole year to prepare).

Every bit of information is available here in this blog,just explore Internet for updated information on Materials and Manufacturing Processes. Part-A is just to test your basics and GK. 

I was sketching portraits for years n I was good at it, but when I started preparing for CEED I completely stopped it. As I got to know I am poor sketching other things(memory drawing, perspective). I practiced drawing everyday products I see, initially with reference then from memory.
To build up memory drawing, observe an object completely and then draw without looking at it, moving from simple to complex ones.

 For Part-B most crucial thing is Time management. You can’t think of a great idea instantly, you should be prepared for it and practice it regularly. Practice straight lines, curves, ellipses. Whatever you sketch, draw it fast. Don’t go for rendering/colours, questions in exam are time consuming and you wont get time to render or colour (unless it is asked to colour). After completing your whole sketch, you can go n add some shading. Don’t go for blending, smudging (cross hatching consume less time), your IDEA counts here not realistic sketch.  Go through D’Source courses available online, subscribe to designers channel on youtube(spencer nugent, scott robertson, IDCreatures), follow them on behance, coroflot.

Solving Part-B, you should divide time frame by marks. I read all questions first, reserved time for every question. When I started drawing 1^st one, simultaneously I was thinking random solutions for 50 mark question. Difficult question for me was to make 3 products of given shape (I missed practicing this) and made regular products (toy, hammer and fan). Emphasize on Innovation here, make some good product. I think I lost some marks here.
For 50mark question I drew some 3-4 sketches. Ideation, Final product with details and How to use it. Materials, manufacturing process are also imp here. Everything you choose, you have to consider End user.

Post result I was Happy with AIR-32, but I knew this doesn’t count much after qualification. I started preparing Portfolio, generating rough Ideas on weekdays when at office and making a Fair sketch on weekends. When applied for IDC, I focused more on variety sending 1 product idea, 1 sheet of sketches and 1 calligraphy sheet (If possible send maximum sheets related to course you applying, instead of variation), As they have this forms with them at Interview and you will be questioned on it.

MVD interview at IDC: asked me where i am from, what I do. then my salary, how much I save (unexpected). Then asked why MVD, I explained my passion about it (not so good answer). then they asked me to show what i have. one professor was going through portfolio n asking me if i have done any coaching, he said "good good". watching models, asked what clay i used, from where i got it. how i made cone model. then asked what i read ( read lot f technical stuff from gears, their types, engine, differential, etc) asked to explain how engine works, i explained good n prof. asked what is TDC in 4-stroke. thought for a while n said i dont know (i never read it)

PD interview at IDC:
started with lady with my DAT model in hand asked why this. I explained, i actually made spoon out of closing lid and she liked that.  then he opened my form n asked why i choose door stopper? why toilet flush? he turn d page asked what is dynamic water tap? (sheets from my form) i started explaining, he handover it to bapat sir. sir saw n said it already in market. i said yes but its fr fix amount f water mine is dynamic (cud have answer better explaining diff between mechanisms). asked about my models how i made it. Then asked why I want to switch from company paying me good.

You must have a good a Portfolio. I did not include any digital work(all hand drawn A4 sheets). A good approach to solve problems. Always think of end user while explaining what you made in DAT(missed it).

Interviews at IDC are more like friendly talks, you will enjoy it. I was happy after interviews, hoping to get selected. But couldn’t make it, huge disappointment for me.

Then comes IISc, I started reading all needed information again. Practiced some basic mechanical numerical questions (Bending diagram, shear force), some probability calculus.

DAT at IISC: Technical paper 1st. some geometry n analytical skill questions, solved quickly. then comes engg questions. paper was tough than i thought , I practiced most f basics f mechanics, but hardly managed to solve 5/11. comes design paper next. Mahindra Reva car to draw exactly as given.questionsabt latest products n technology. to find problems in given situation(hand pump and overloaded Bullock cart) then question about materials(never heard of those names) only wrote about brass. final question was about redesign black board duster.

Interview: prof. Gurumoorthy& prof. Kailash satish vasu taking interview f my panel.
what i do in Cognizant, why i want to switch?
then i pushed my portfolio towards them. Gurumoorthy sir going through it n asked, give me 1min presentation why engineers should not be designers?
i talked for around 30-40secs. he said you still have time, but I was done :P
Kailash sir asked, tell me one good product (both way usb) and one bad product(door stopper). Asked to explain about it.
then asked to pick one product from table n describe ways to improve.
i picked stapler, explained improvement for safety, automation n wide end users.
Kailash sir asked about rpm of washing machine from my portfolio.i tried answering, he asked how can I increase its speed.
then some general questions, how much time I took for portfolio, how I prepared for ceed.
n asked about my watch(this is 3rd time I was asked about it in both f my IDC interview n then here) why I chose it?
then asked about my engg interest, what design work can b done in biomedical.
at last asked me about my clay models, n my current salary
and wished me for the results

I wrote too much in detail, but never know what will help other aspirants. Below are my portfolio samples. Believe yourself, have a passion and make sure you are heading right way.

People helped me achieving this: Prasanna sir, Rohan More, Trivikram.

Some links I went through:

http://www.dsource.in/

http://www.culturalindia.net/

http://www.worqx.com/

http://www.baddesigns.com/

Contact:

Email: suyog.abc@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/dhanawade.suyog