Author / Sankaranand

Posts by Sankaranand

I'm a Web Strategist & Agile Project Manager with an Engineering in Information Technology. I specialise in creating Strategy for The Web and developing websites for businesses. I also blog about technology and life.
by Sankaranand

Preparing your GMAT like a Rockstar with Experts’ Global!

One of the growing Edtech trends in 2018 is the drive for using technology to learn with the same experience as in a classroom. Thanks to the cheap and affordable internet access that we get even in remote corners of India. Almost everyone has access to a mobile and a computer but the question to ask our self is, do we have access to a good learning resource and guidance?

I am writing this post to share my experience about Experts’ Global, an EdTech firm that helps MBA aspirants maximize their chances of securing a seat at their preferred business school, by providing professional MBA admission consultation.

Experts’ Global’s GMAT software was developed entirely in-house and has played a pivotal role in helping students to conquer the GMAT. Their training has helped students from fifty nations secure admits to some of the world’s best business schools. In fact, ten percent of all Indians studying in the top fifty American business schools are an Experts’ Global alumnus. The firm offers a number of services, designed to perfect any aspirants MBA candidature. Here is a brief overview of their offerings.

 

About the Company

Founded by Mr. Mayank Srivastava, Experts’ Global is an EdTech firm. The central idea behind this firm’s conception is to utilize cutting edge technology for the purpose of education. For the last ten years, Experts’ Global has been guiding students worldwide, helping thousands in securing admission to some of the world’s top institutions. The firm boasts of the most complete and exhaustive GMAT training software

GMAT Online Preparation

The cornerstone of Experts’ Global’s repertoire is their GMAT Online Preparation Program. This program is incredibly extensive, with over three-hundred videos, which explain every concept in the GMAT syllabus and over four-thousand questions, designed to test the student’s absorption of those concepts. Experts’ Global has taken great care to replicate the actual GMAT experience in these questions. The question screen is built to closely resemble the one employed in the GMAT exam, so as to familiarize students with the GMAT setup. The program also features a rigorous diagnostics feature, which pinpoints the areas that the students are struggling in. This makes it that much easier for the students to target and overcome their weaknesses.

GMAT Practice Tests

The second major element of the Experts’ Global GMAT training is their Practice Test series. The firm offers fifteen full-length mock tests, for their students to hone their capabilities on. This is considerably more than other firms in this field. Each one of the mock test questions has a video and textual explanation for its solution. These explanations not only help the students understand the questions that escaped them but also provide them with more efficient ways to arrive at the correct answers. These tests are also intended to be as close to the GMAT experience as possible. They have been written to mimic the GMAT questions, in terms of style, the scope of content, complexity, and overall difficulty. These mocks also employ the same GMAT-like screen and analytics software as the training questions. Even the scoring pattern has proven to be incredibly in sync with the GMAT, as countless students have marveled at just how well the mock tests predicted their GMAT performance.

Classroom Program

Experts’ Global also offers GMAT preparation classes in Noida, conducted by the company’s founder, Mr. Mayank Srivastava. As one who secured the Ninety-Ninth percentile on the GMAT and an MBA from Boston University, with a one hundred percent scholarship, Mr. Srivastava understands the GMAT like few others do. Mr. Srivastava teaches these classes out of a sincere love of teaching. According to his students, Mr. Srivastava is a highly devoted teacher, always willing to devote as much time to his students as needed as he teaches just 1-2 small batches per year.

MBA Admissions Consulting

Experts’ Global’s offerings do not end with GMAT training. The firm also offers end-to-end MBA admissions consultation. From the first profile evaluation to the final mock interview, Experts’ Global is behind its students all the way. The admissions consulting services are boutique in nature. Only a small, pre-determined number of students are trained each year. This focus on quality over quantity has clearly paid off, however, as since 2008 Experts’ Global’s students have secured admits to each of the world’s top one hundred and fifty business schools.

MBA Interview Preparation Module

As mentioned earlier, Experts’ Global offers interview training, as part of its MBA admissions consultancy. This training is an excellent example of Experts’ Global’s methodical approach to admissions consulting. First, the students are provided with more than fifteen training videos, which cover all the basic aspects of good MBA interview presentation. After the videos, the students fill out an exhaustive questionnaire, based on the most frequently asked MBA interview questions. This gives the interview mentors a baseline understanding of the students’ skill level. Finally, the student undergoes a series of mock interviews. These interviews are designed with their specific weaknesses and requirements in mind. Each interview is followed by an extensive feedback session.

ISB Admissions Consultation

With the popularity of the Indian School of Business amongst their students, the admissions teams at Experts’ Global have made it a point to develop an impeccable understanding of the ISB admissions process. Since 2010, ninety percent of the Experts Global ISB applicants have been called in for an interview, by that coveted institution. The firm is so confident in their ability to crack the ISB admissions that they even have an ISB interview call guarantee.

Over the last ten years, Experts’ Global has developed a well-earned reputation for excellence. Their consultation teams are extremely well-trained and dedicated. Their methodical approach to GMAT training and admissions, as well as their constant innovation, makes them the prime choice for every MBA aspirant.

by Sankaranand

The pros and cons of working remotely

Its been one year since I started working remotely and I am writing this post to share the pros and cons of becoming a remote worker from my personal experience. I decided to write this post after reading this interesting post on remote working. I started my full-time career in 2010 as a web developer in a French startup where I had to work about 9 hours a day for as low as 150$ per month. (Yes, you read it right “per month” !!). I have experience working in local as well as aboard another country where I had to overcome some challenges. My life changed when I decided to become a remote worker and be own boss.

Working in an office (Local)

Pros:

  • You don’t have to commute too far
  • Socialize at work
  • Get to meet and work with people in person
  • Team outing, Person – Person meetings
  • Gossips, fun and some office fights
  • Management Team, team workshops, training
  • Sharing food and other office activities
  • Water cooler chats
  • Staying night to meet the deadlines
  • Live with Family
  • Home Food

Cons:

  • Fixed working hours
  • Dress Code
  • HR and IT rules
  • Whacky Computer Infrastructures (Raise ticket if your 6 year old headphone is not working !)
  • Restricted Internet access
  • Fixed holidays and leave
  • People peeking at your monitor
  • No privacy

Working in an office (Out of country/town)

Pros:

  • Bigger package
  • New lifestyle
  • New Experiences to try

Cons:

  • Relocation Costs
  • Away from Family
  • Eat out
  • Alien to the place
  • Feeling lonely
  • Setup everything from scratch
  • No friends at the beginning
  • Start from scratch to socialize
  • Plus all the cons of working in an office as above

Working as remote

Pros:

  • Literally no need to commute (saves a lot of time)
  • Work at your own flexible hours
  • Everything is just an inch away
  • Work in your own space with your own choice of devices
  • Build your dream workspace as to your taste
  • Sufficient time for other activities and social life
  • Fat package

Cons:

  • Lonely at work
  • If you are a potato couch, you will have higher chances of exploiting your lifestyle
  • If you don’t use a private space, you will be distracted by your family, kids and regular visitors to your house
  • Lack of inspiration (if you don’t know how to organize your work and time, you will easily end up losing inspiration to work)

 

 

by Sankaranand

My consumer experience in buying a water purifier

After making a lot of research on Amazon and Google to buy a water purifier, I decided to go with Aquaguard. Because of my past relationship with EurekaForbes and experience using their water purifiers, I placed my interest on their website. In a while, I got a call from their sales team to confirm my interest and another call from a local sales representative to book an appointment.

The local sales rep has arrived on the appointment day not by the time he committed but late by a couple of hours i.e during the lunch hours. He quickly explained the product and suggested us to buy a variant which does not have UV.  I was keen to buy a water purifier with UV because my existing purifier has one and proposed my preference to them. I was recommended to buy Dr. Aquaguard Magna Nxt RO+UV. I did a quick research to see if the price they were offering was costlier than what I can buy from an e-commerce website, however, I was not able to find this specific product in any site probably because it was a newer model. The physical difference is the word NXT and some additional sticker on the product.

I was not shown any demo of the product and I really didn’t care because Aquaguard has my trust already. The most frustrating moment of discussion with the sales rep was when I was asking questions, he was very keen on filling up the form and getting the payment. By his attitude and action, I was hesitant to purchase it but then realized I don’t have to worry about the sales rep because I trust the brand.  I am buying this for my office and I gave all the details to him including my business card and GST details. I wanted to make sure I receive a GST bill, so my company gets a GST credit. The transaction was made and I was provided a debit card transaction slip. I was promised the product will be delivered within a couple of hours. They also charged another 500rs in cash saying they will give this to the installation guy.

Was hoping I would receive the product at least end of that day but there is no update from anyone about it.  I called the sales rep again next afternoon to remind him to deliver the product who told me it will be delivered in few hours but the same story continued. I did the same thing the day after morning and then finally they delivered the product by evening. I looked the invoice and noticed there is no GST number so I realized they forget to update my company GST number. While making the transaction, I wrote my GST number in a paper and sent the same in WhatsApp as well. I told him constantly to ensure he enters the correct GST number so my company gets GST credit, but it is a #fail.

I immediately called him and said I need a bill with my GST number in it. He assured me it will be provided by EOD. Here I am talking about 29th March 2018. After that, I used to call him every day in the morning as well as in the afternoon to remind him to provide my GST bill.

This is where things get intense. I called almost 40+ times in this 13 days and today is 11th April 2018 and I still didn’t receive a bill with GST. I get the same response from him every time I call and found there’s no use pursuing him. I was thinking about the nightmare of what will happen if I have a service issue and how long it will take? Because just for a bill I had to pursue these long.

Finally decided to call EurekaForbes Sales customer care. This is where the fun starts and a real test for my patience. My first call was to their online sales where they heard my whole story and handed me a number to which I should call because they can only handle online sales and not offline sales. So, I called the second number and after hearing the whole timeline of incidents, they gave me another number. I was like what the hell? I told them I was rerouted already and they said like no sir you have to call this number and register a service request. But after I insisted, they have raised a complaint and still asked me to send a message to that number to get my service request. While I still have no faith, I also raised my query to their twitter handle to ensure it gets the required attention. Finally, I got a couple of calls from EurekaForbes. One of the calls from their Chennai HQ branch was assuring and promising. They assured me the problem will be resolved within 24 hours and if not they asked me to return the product. Looks like it is not assuring as it sounds because nothing happened :(.

Today, it’s 12th April 2018. By 11.30 am, one serviceman from EurekaForbes visited thinking I have a problem with my purifier. Explained him the actual situation and he was kind enough to share me his superior number from Pondicherry.  He saved my day.

I talked to the Superior and his accountant who resolved the problem in just 10 minutes. They felt very bad about the experience I had faced. I got my invoice within 10 minutes via email. I also told them the extra amount that sales rep charged which they said it is not necessary and asked me to get the money back. They assured me if he is not giving it back, they will raise a complaint to the head office and make sure I get it. That’s a bliss.

Finally, when I was writing this content, I asked myself why am I making a fuss out of it? For expression of my anger? I think it is more than that. Sharing experiences like this would be useful for someone who comes across a situation like this. And at least I get a chance to update my blog 🙂

by Sankaranand

Thoughts of a frustrated Logitech customer

After having bought a Logitech M235 Wireless Mouse, I used it for a year or more without any issues. Finally, it began to show signs of wear and the left button was not working anymore. Being a laptop user, I am not so comfortable with a trackpad and always dependent on the mouse as my mainstream device.

The Logitech M235 mouse was bought on a lightning deal for about 549 RS. After it stopped working,  I started looking for a similar mouse. It was one of my friend who advised me of its three-year warranty and the ability to get it replaced in Logitech Walk-In Center (WIC).  That’s where the problem is about to start.  While the product is just 549 Rs, I really don’t want to make a fuss about it. However, it is the experience that I had with these WIC in Pondicherry I wanted to talk about.

On a hot and sweaty weather of 5th October 2017 by the morning, I thought of visiting the one and only customer center available in Pondicherry listed on their official website.  Tried calling the no about 10 times only to end up no one picking it. The address is located just 3 km from my house, however, in usual traffic, it takes 15 to 20 minutes to reach the place. After having reached the place, I find no trace of such center. I roamed like a lost guy in a foreign land asking neighborhood about such a place. Using the Google Maps, I stumbled across several streets and finally after a 30-minute quest with no help from anyone I came to the same place again as listed in both the website and google places. Waited in the exact same location for about 10 minutes to see if I can find someone to ask.

Finally, an old man arrived, whom I went forward to seek assistance by showing him the name of the customer care center and a picture of the signboard I got from Google. He claimed that he is a watchman that works for this so-called place and handed me a visiting card saying that the place was shifted recently. He also said that they started taking requests from today since the shifting is all done. Finally, after an hour of pursuit, I found an answer to my quest.

I am sure Indiana Jones would have felt the same after finding the treasure.

Tried calling the phone number mentioned in the visiting card and again no one picked it.  After betting on my life, I now have to travel 4 km to their newest location. Yes, I am talking about something that takes 30 minutes in usual traffic to travel. With the intention to finish this task, I took the risk of going there.

That’s the second round of challenge in my pursuit to find my quest. I roamed around 15 minutes in the same street multiple times because there was no door number or no signboard or even any signs of such location.  The neighborhood has no idea about something like that. After doing my math (Counting the door no using Odd and Even formula) and trying to figure out the exact door no, I ended up in a place that looks more like a residential apartment than an office. I opened up a metal gate like a stranger who has no idea where he was going and went to the first floor. Finally !!! I reached where I should be “the Logitech WIC”.

With still the sweaty body in a hot noon weather, I entered the place where I got a straight to face answer that they cannot handle or take any request because there is no internet or network. It was a damn straight answer like a dirt was shovel upon my face. That’s when I realized I wasted 3 HOURS OF MY LIFE which I cannot get back. That’s when I realized I should probably write a blog about it. However, i never did.

Then one fine Saturday of 14th October 2017, I called the WIC office and this time I got lucky. Someone picked the phone. I told them I wanted to hand over my device.  The guy at the other end told me someone who takes care of this is away and suggested coming on Monday. I told him Monday is a weekday and would prefer to come the very same day. His next answer was that server is down and they cannot accept any requests. He also told me that the stock is available and I can get a new replacement immediately on Monday. I got surprised by his variable response. First, it was someone who is not available and then all of a sudden it was server that is down.

After appreciating myself for my level of patience, I had called again today to give one last try and got a response that I can come and submit my mouse for inspection. Finally, I took a 20-minute drive to reach the place. This time I need no directions or assistance as I know exactly where the place is. Went inside, waited for around 15 minutes and then signed a receipt and was told there is no stock and I had to wait 2 days to get a new one.

What ? Seriously? Just for a mouse that is worth 500 bucks, you want me to travel this many times? My hourly rates are nowhere near the price of this mouse but still what I am trying to emphasize is “the experience” one gets in believing it.

Sorry to say this Logitech but for being a long-term customer (Logitech Keyboards, Speakers, Mouse and Cam), this experience has changed my decision on not to rely anymore on your products.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

by Sankaranand

Copy macOS Sierra Installer for installing in multiple systems

If you have multiple systems and wanted to install macOS Sierra, please find this guide to backup the installer.

After downloading from the App Store, Simply quit the installer (Install macOS Sierra) and navigate to Applications folder via Finder.

Copy the file called “Install macOS Sierra” and paste it in any of your backup folders.

You can trigger the installation by just clicking the copied installer.

by Sankaranand

CHARGEKEY – my obsession of stylish iPhone charge cable

11-21-2013_ChargeKey_Hero_Sidebyside_1200x1200

I own an apple iPhone 5 which I am totally in love with because of its design factor and powerful computing. My phone is my oxygen, it has evolved from need to necessity. As a regular traveler, it always run out of juice due to constant usage of songs, maps and social networking.

So i ended up carrying the iPhone charger with me always. Wherever i stop by, i look for a charge point in MRT, bus stations and airports.  After considerations, bought power bank to charge on-demand but still have to carry the long iPhone charge cable. Because these power banks usually don’t come up with lighting cable and iPhone does not use a standard charging port like other android phones.

This completely does not serve my purpose of carrying a slim phone with bulky charges and cables. Looking at options, I had opportunity to try the CHARGEKEY from Nomad.

ChargeKey-iPhone5It is a portable lighting cable that looks like a key chain. Best part is it is Apple Certified. It can charge and sync as well. Look at a situation where you need to copy some pictures from your iPhone and you can always pull up your keychain to do so.

Using Nomad CHARGEKEY for iPhone, I always feel like an international spy with high tech gadgets, it makes me distinct in a crowd. The best part is the key looks so thin and light but at the same time it is very rigid and rugged in quality.

It can hold your iPhone seriously !!!!!

Read more about the CHARGEKEY in Nomad Site.

by Sankaranand

Google Chrome didn’t shut down properly – Fix

Looking at the title, you might be wondering why I would post an article about a basic error message shown by the Google Chrome Browser. “Google Chrome didn’t shut down properly” was a normal error that you see when the browser or system crashed during the usage. But for some, it is a daily welcome message. There is this on-going issue which some users experience with Google Chrome browser. Every time you open Chrome, you see this error message appearing on your browser, in spite of closing properly.To me, this is annoying issue – completely, I don’t want to see it at all. Although there is no official fix or answer from Google, a deep search for solution in several forums resolved my problem. I have consolidated the steps for you.

Fixing the error message:
1. Open Google Chrome, Go to Settings, click Show advanced settings, and scroll down to the bottom.
2. Under System, uncheck “Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed” and close the settings tab.
3. Go to About Google Chrome (Below Settings), in About Chrome Page, click the Chromium Link. The Chromium site is opened in another tab.
4. Close the browser properly. Wait for 5 Minutes. Restart the computer.
These steps look completely idiotic, but who cares? My issue is resolved.

Another Alternative Solution:
Delete the user account and disconnect the google account. If you don’t really need a Google user account linked to your browser. (I personally don’t prefer this option because I wanted all my plugins and settings to be synced across different devices).

by Sankaranand

How Two Factor Authentication should change in the future using mobile phone

This is my 50 cent suggestion of how two factor authentication should change in the future. With an increase in sites adopting them, you will end up having an average of more than 20 different two factor authentication codes in your mobile.

86/365+1 Cryptic

Two Factor Authentication codes via sms are just optional and purely dependent on your mobile network availability, i don’t prefer receiving sms codes for each of my sessions. The best so far is the Google Authenticator tool which is available in all cross platform mobile operating systems. So like an RSA key, the Authenticator tool can generate the codes offline and does not require data connection.

So what is going to happen in the future ?

I have 5 accounts linked with my Google Authenticator that includes my two google accounts, dreamhost, lastpass and dropbox. Evernote and Linkedin have introduced two factor authentication and they are going to be in queue for me.

There’s no doubt that i will end up having a minimum of 30 accounts very soon and the current Google Authenticator tool will let me scroll to search for my code out of this 30 accounts. By the time i locate the right account and enter the code, the time expires and code changes. So in terms of usability there is necessarily a change.

So here is my proposal (sorry if it sounds dumb)

Instead of entering the code manually for every account, each account added in Google Authenticator should have a unique callback url or Google should provide a push service which securely allows third party services to send request to our Google Authenticator client in our mobile.

Update: After having a discussion with my friend Srinivasan Annamalai, one of my Technology Evangelist, we concluded few things for better security and also in terms of usability, Google should provide a service to third party services which gives permission only to trigger an action to Generate Secure code associated with concerned account and pop up the same in user mobile screen (on-demand action).

So the next time you want to login using step two authentication, all you have to do is take your mobile, fire up the app and wait for a request made by your service provider to Google, the app will Generte code and pop it up. So you enter it. Thats it. Tada !

By this way you can manage N number of two factor accounts using a single authenticator application…

by Sankaranand

Activate Airtel Voicemail service for free on your Prepaid Mobile

Airtel provides Free Voicemail service for all prepaid customers but unfortunately no one is aware of it. Even Airtel website or customer care representative is unaware of it.

Activation by Call Code:

  • Call *321*671# for Activation
  • Call *321*673# for Deactivation

Activation by SMS Code:

  • START VMS to 54321 for Activation
  • STOP VMS to 54321 for Deactivation

Voicemail Account Management:

To access your Voicemail Account Management, call Dial 52555 from your registered Airtel Prepaid Mobile. For the very first time, it will prompt you to set a 4 digit passord. Next time you need to enter the password to access your profile settings.

With your account Management, you can do the following things

  1. Change your language presence
  2. Set your Own Custom Voicemail Message
  3. Hear, Save and Delete the received voice mail messages
  4. Change Voice mail box name

You can press the following numbers to perform action on your current running Voicemails

  • Delete – 3
  • Reply – 4
  • Save – 5
  • Previous Voicemail – 6
  • Replay Again – 7
  • Next Voicemail – 8
  • Settings – 9

Settings Page:

  • When you login to setting, Press 2 to change language presence
  • Rename Mailbox Name – 3
  • Change Password – 4
  • Hear or Change current welcome message – 7
  • Remove current Welcome Message – 8

Let me know if you have any issues in activating the services. Enjoy ignoring those unwanted calls 🙂

 

by Sankaranand

Enable and Allow Remote Access to MySQL Server

By default your MySQL Server has default configuration to allow only local connection. So if your application connects MySQL in localhost, then the basic configuration can be left untouched.

If you are planning to allow and enable remote access to MySQL server, then follow the steps below :

Find the MySQL configuration file which mostly is located at /etc/my.cnf. Using a shell editor like vim or nano, find the following line and comment it

bind-address = x.x.x.x (x.x.x.x points to the ip address you wanted to access from remotely, incase multiple servers, just comment it like below)

#bind-address = x.x.x.x

Also for people using old MySQL server, make sure you also comment the following line

# skip-networking

Restart your MySQL server

service mysqld restart

and try to connect your application with database present in remote server.
Note: You also need to give GRANT access to the db user on that particular DB.