Firstnaukri: Hi all, Lets welcome Rajdeep to the chat session. This is a session to know about Sapient as an organization and the opportunities there for freshers.
Firstnaukri: We would request Rajdeep to start off with an introduction following which the session will be open for student questions.
Rajdeep Endow: Hello everyone, welcome to this session, and thanks for joining in.
Rajdeep Endow: My name is Rajdeep Endow and I'm a Vice President with Sapient, and the Global Delivery lead for SapientNitro, a division of Sapient.
Rajdeep Endow: I'd like to provide a brief overview of our company
Rajdeep Endow: SapientNitro is a new type of services company that helps clients solve their problems in the areas of business, marketing and technology. We work with some of the largest brands in the world like Sony, Vodafone, Stables, JCPenney, Sprint, Chrysler.
Rajdeep Endow: In India we have operations in Gurgaon, Noida and Bangalore. We recently expanded into a new space in Noida and Gurgaon.
Rajdeep Endow: We have grown to more than 9000 people globally with almost 6000 in India.
Rajdeep Endow: Globally we are known for being a great place to work, having a great culture and a tremendous reputation for developing our people.
Kaushik Das: Good aftrnoon sir!!!!!!!
Kaushik Das: Hello Sir....
mayur moon: hi
swati: Good Afternoon , its a pleasure to chat with you
URVASHI: HELLO
URVASHI: HI
Subodh Patil: Good Afternoon Sir
Rajdeep Endow: Hi everyone, welcome and I'm excited to be fielding your questions.
swati: What all technologies SapeintNitro works on
sumit: What is sapient Nitro all about, what kind of work does it undertake?
Rajdeep Endow: SapientNitro helps companies with attracting their customers, engaging with their customers and in helping their customers buy products or services from them.
Rajdeep Endow: As an example, we are working with Target, one of the world's largest retailers to define and create an ecommerce platform that connects with how Target does online advertising, and leads the customers to select products and then buy them. This is one of the most complex projects of its kind globally.
Rajdeep Endow: We work in leading edge products like ATG, IBM Websphere Commerce Server, Hybris, Interwoven, Day, etc, along with more generic technologies like Java and .Net.
Rajdeep Endow: We look for smart and motivated people who understand technology, are good problem solvers, and can work well in teams. So we hire from non Computer Science branches as well.
Dheeraj: "Respected sir I am a student of B Tech 3rd year what do you expect from freshers in terms of technical field and communications aspects, with respect to today's world."
Rajdeep Endow: As I answered previously, we expect our people to be good problem solvers, have good communication skills, be eager to learn new technologies and business problems, and work well in teams.
atul: hw cn we get into sapient ?
Rajdeep Endow: We go to select campuses across India. If we are visiting your campus, please apply through your college and we'll review all applications and short list people for the tests that we conduct.
Rohan: Sir, what are the attributes we should be looking at while targeting a company for working there? What are the key areas Sapient concentrates on for it to have become one of the best places to work?
Rajdeep Endow: That is a great question, Rohan. I would advise that the key attributes should be the kind of learning opportunities you get (in terms of skills), the kind of business problems that the company solves (the more complex) the better, and the kind of culture that the company has.
siddharth: What language or platform does a fresh engineer work on in Sapient ?
Subodh Patil: Sir i also wanted to know in which emerging technologies is Sapient carrying out their work?
Rajdeep Endow: As a fresher, you will most likely work on the Java or .Net platform but pretty soon get exposed to ecommerce or content management technologies like ATG, WCS, Hybris, Interwoven, SDL Tridion, Day, etc.
Rajdeep Endow: We also do a lot of interesting work on devices (like the iphone or ipad) and based on your skills you may get a chance to work on such projects
pranop: What technologies does nitro work on. Is it a mktg company or tech company?
Rajdeep Endow: Pranop, that is a good question. We are both a marketing company and a technology company. If you look at what is happening globally, the world of marketing is colliding with the world of technology ....
Rajdeep Endow: ... and different technologies are enabling companies to market in innovative ways (example iphone marketing, search engine marketing, touchscreen devices, etc). We do a lot of such interesting work.
Vishal Kumar Singh: I amvishal fromIndian School of Mines, Dhanbad."What are the opportunities for Electrical Engg. (B. Tech) candidatesin Sapient? Thank you for providing a direct platform for putting up questions
Subodh Patil: Sir i messed up my cat score and dint accept the offer that had been made by the company which i got through my campus placements.
Rajdeep Endow: We are interested in smart and motivated people, we do not restrict ourselves to a specific branch or discipline
Subodh Patil: Sir Does Sapient have any ruby on rails developers?
Rajdeep Endow: We do some work on ruby on rails, but it is not a technology that large clients use for enterprise systems, so it's limited
pavani: what qualification does this company require
Rajdeep Endow: We hire people who are BTechs/BEs, MTechs/MEs.
hari: Who are the major clients of sapientnitro ?
Rajdeep Endow: We work with some of the biggest businesses in the world on their most complex problems that involve expertise in technology, business and marketing. Some of our clients are Coca Cola, Mars, Citibank, Singapore Airlines, Target, JC Penney, Sony, Sprint, Michelin, vodafone, Unilever.
shiv: What is the career path for fresh engineers at sapientnitro ?
Rajdeep Endow: All fresh engineers undergo 3 months of intense trainings followed by a 3 month period where they shadow on a live client project and get to learn in a real life environment.
Rajdeep Endow: Following that they get staffed on actual projects where they are responsible for building a part of a complex system. There is tremendous learning as we focus a lot of people development, plus you get a lot of exposure to multi cultural teams and clients
shailendra Kumar: Sir,i m an electronics and communication b.tech pursuing student of 6th semester,3rd year.I m not that much into electronics stuffs rather more inclined towards IT and all.How can i join your company
Rajdeep Endow: We go to select campuses across India. If we are visiting your campus, please apply through your college and we'll review all applications and short list people for the tests that we conduct.
smita: Sapient has 3 divisions(nitro, global mkts, govt services) how are they different from each other and what are employment opportunities in each?
Rajdeep Endow: Thanks for asking that question Smita. SapientNitro is focused on the customer space, helping clients attract, retain and transact with customers. Think large marketing and ecommerce programs.
Rajdeep Endow: Sapient Global Markets works with some of the largest invetsment banks, energy trading companies, market regulators, commodities firms to help them address the challenges of trading and risk management.
Rajdeep Endow: Sapient Govertment Services mostly works with the US Federal Goverment on their initiatives. All of this work is done only out of the US.
rajesh: What are the Training & devlopment initiatives at sapientnitro ?
Rajdeep Endow: As you;d expect, we put a lot of emphasis on training and development - as soon as a fresher joins, they go through 3 months of intense training on diverse technologies, followed by 3 months of shadow on a real life project.
Rajdeep Endow: Over and above, we focus on developing soft skills like communication, presentation, facilitation, as well as business domain skills like understanding retail, telecom, media, etc. In addition, you get exposure to multiple cultures as well as domains like marketing and advertising.
Rajdeep Endow: I don't know of many companies who offer such wide ranging learning possibilities
Subodh Patil: I am Dreaming of a future in finance after mba and does the job experience in IT would be of any help in Finance ?
Rajdeep Endow: A career in IT would advance your problem solving skills so yes, I think it has some relevance in your chosen career. Besides a lot of finance rests on complex technical systems so your exposure will be useful is my belief.
atul: am a b.tech student currently in 3rd yr @NIT jamshedpur .... wht r my scopes fr a job in core , IT or othr fields ...the thng is i belong to metallurgical and materials engg stream....
Rajdeep Endow: Atul, if you are good at problem solving and have an aptitude to learn, I believe you can absolutely develop a career in IT.
Subodh Patil: Sir in how much time does a trainee engineer of sapient gets to work on live projects after his training?
Rajdeep Endow: Typically in 6 months, after 3 months of training and 3 months of shadow (i.e. working on a live project along with other senior people).
priya: What kind of consulting & technology services does sapient offer. Is it a solution offering or product offering?
Rajdeep Endow: SapientNitro offers consulting services. We do have a few inhouse products that we use in our consulting solutions but we are not a product company
anand: What processes does sapientnitro follow for offcampus fresher hiring ?
Rajdeep Endow: We normally prefer to hire only for campuses. However in case we consider off campus, the process is the same - online test followed by two rounds of interviews.
Poosarla ram Nikhita: sir,I am B.tech-ece student,I strongly want work in my core domain...What are the opportunities at sapient???
Rajdeep Endow: If you want to only work in electronics, Sapient may not be your ideal choice of employer.
soumya: I came across that sapient has featured as a case study at Harward & Yale. Could you throw some light on the same?
Rajdeep Endow: Thanks for asking that Soumya, I am impressed with your awareness. Yes, Harvard wrote a case study on Sapient that all their 1st year MBA students go through ...
Rajdeep Endow: the case talks about Sapients core values and culture and how we have built a strong global company by living these values. Harvard found us to be very different from many other companies in this respect.
Rajdeep Endow: The Yale case study talks about our passion for making our clients successful and after talking to many clients they found that the way we bring expertise and passion together to solve our clients' problems is not found typically in our space
ravi: What is ideaengineers.sapient.com?
Rajdeep Endow: Great question Ravi! Our clients tell us that we are a new and different kind of company - where we bring ideas and insights and also marry that with cutting edge engineering. That is, we help bring great ideas to life ...
Rajdeep Endow: ideaengineers.sapient.com is a blog maintained by Sapient where our leaders share new and cutting edge insights about how the internet and other emerging technologies are transforming the worlds of marketing, business and online commerce.
Shewtank: how does sapeientnitro solve marketing problems of any large organisation
Rajdeep Endow: Let me answer that with an example. Many of you may have seen the news about the "best job in the world" where you could have an all expense paid vacation in Queensland. That was designed by SapientNitro. ...
Rajdeep Endow: When the clients came to us, we looked at their problem (which was to increase awareness about Queensland as a tourist destination) and came up with this extremely creative way of achieveing this goal.
Rajdeep Endow: We have deep expertise in marketing and more specifically, in understanding how new technologies like online search, gaming, social media, etc can be used to help our clients with their marketing problems
Surya: What is the career path for an engineer who joins Sapient
Rajdeep Endow: Surya, please see my response to Shiv's question earlier
Nimish: Does Sapient encourageindividual projects or innovations. Projects which are over and above the current assigned tasks
Rajdeep Endow: Great question Nimish. Sapient encourages a lot of innovation - creativity is one of our core values. We encourage and want our people to challenge status quo, figure out new ways of doing things.
Rajdeep Endow: At the same time, we have a responsibility to our clients and shareholders and have to make sure that our innovation is creating value. So yes, Sapient encourages personal innovation while asking the individual to build make the innovation relevant for our clients and our business
Virendra: How is sapeint different from other software services companies
Rajdeep Endow: Thanks for asking that Virendra. Sapient is different from other software companies in many ways. First of all, we do not think of ourselves as a software company :) We work with some of the world's largest companies on some of their most complex problems in online advertising and ecommerce space.
Rajdeep Endow: We use some of the world's leading packages and technologies. We are among the world's most awarded and recognized firms in our space.
Rajdeep Endow: But if you ask our people, they will say Sapient is different in our culture, in the values we have and therefore the kind of experience they get. We are a very open company, that provides you with great learning opportunities working with multicultural teams on complex problems.
Digvijay: Can you let me know if its better to work for a product company or software services company .Where will i get maximum learning
Rajdeep Endow: That depends on what you want to do in your career. A product company will give you deep technical exposure but in a limited space. A services company will give you far wider exposure across multiple technologies and business problems.
mansi: Do fresh engineers get opportunities to work on client sites. What kind of training programme do you offer to freshers
Rajdeep Endow: Fresh engineers do not get to work on clients sites in the first 12 months. We need them to first learn technologies and get an understanding of different business domains before we send them to a client. However, every person at Sapient gets a lot of client exposure and all Sapient people have onsite travel opportunities. At any point in time, roughly 30-35% of our people are traveling across the world.
Firstnaukri: Let us thank Rajdeep for an interesting session. Hope that the session was useful for all who participated.
Firstnaukri: Bye for now. Stay tuned for more such sessions in future.
Rajdeep Endow: Alright everyone, it is time to wrap up. I wanted to thank you for joining the session. I hope you found it useful. I enjoyed interacting with you and taking your questions. If you have any additional question, you can write to campusrecruiting2011@sapient.com.
Rajdeep Endow: Thank you, and look forward to seeing many of you at Sapient next year!
