Been there, done that

Some things that I learnt the hard way ..

Keep a mobile charger handy always, and your cell charged. One gets interview calls literally out of the blue.
Dont be sceptical about applying online, it does work, I can vouch for that. I applied for a job online at 11.50 am and had got the call for initial screening by 12 o'clock! 
I had stepped in the kitchen to grab a quick lunch, with mobile on silent! But I was lucky that I was called again. Opportunity rarely knock at your door twice!

When you respond to the mail asking your preferred dates for onsite interview,
let them know your Name, Date of Birth, the frequent flier #, preference for aisle/ window seat.
Most important: If you are okay to travel during the night to reach your University town the next day.

Dont put something on your resume if you cant explain it to someone in  your dreams. It was the Bandgap Reference for me :( :(

Error messages in any software are always so cryptic!

if using Cadence, MPS handle missing error: solution- select AWD in Options
Undefined instance of <blah blah>:  add model library

Why is Von Neuman architecture still used?
I blanked for a moment (must to a amused chagrin of my CompSci roomy), honestly I am a person who remembers concepts and not the jargon. I searched my mind database, and the word that 1st tumbled in my memory was Von Neumann bottleneck. The analytical me stepped in here, and I put 2 n 2 to get the answer.
Answer: Where you need flexible sizes of code and data memory.

Some really simple C questions, which are so easy that we have overlooked it in the Let us C
How does one know if its Little/ Big Endian: source

short int word = 0x0001;
char *byte = (char *) &word;
return (byte[0]? Little: Big);


Whats static, volatile: I never appreciated C so much till I used all such keywords!

Do you know so and so prog. language: I had always replied something like, if you know the basics of any prog. language, you can manage anything else with google. My friend Shrikant mock-interviewed me and made me realize that I should be saying: "I will need a syntax reference" instead.  A small change in the words makes a huge difference.