Friday, July 21, 2006
Status Update aka Thank You for the job offers
In my last post, I wrote
"Aaargh! someone give me a job in the USA (or even better, an admission into a good PhD program) please! I give up on this country!"
A few readers (4 in all) were kind enough to write in with job offers in the USA! Nice! Even better, no one offered me an "enterprise" job. Two were in AI (related) companies and two in compilers.One of those jobs is veeeeery tempting.
Must-resist-temptation :-)
Thank you all. I've written to all of you individually.
That reminds me.Here is a long overdue status update.
I will be working on the "compiler project" (this needs a good name) till about the middle of November.
Then it looks like I will be working with KD building some stuff for his startup. KD and I think very differently so expect some fireworks. He will probably throw me out of the company the very first day :-)
My decision to leave India in 2007 is unchanged. I plan to try for a PhD rather than a job. That way I don't have to play the "H1 game" and sell myself into wage slavery immediately:-). Having said that, one of the job offers had a "higher education allowance" perk.
Hmmmmmm.
Update: The "blogspot ban" is partially removed. The "dangerous" sites are still blocked. Most of them are terrible and not worth reading (Of course I read them all. The best way to get people to do something is to forbid them to do so!). The only (somewhat) interesting nugget was Nathuram Godse (Gandhi's assassin)'s speech from the dock. If the Intelligence Bureau thinks these sites are going to "incite violence" they need their heads examined.
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5 comments:
Ravi,
from your post I gather than you ARE planning to leave India and get to USA with a green card rather than going through the travails of the H1. If thats the case, I cannot recommend it enough. I think thats what all capable people looking to move to the US from india should do. All the best.
Chandrakant,
That was sloppy writing on my part. One sentence was missing. (Now corrected).
I don't think I can get a Green Card unless I marry an American citizen.
We have a saying in Malayalam (my native language ) which goes " To kill a rat you shouldn't burn down the house". Getting married for a green card would be "burning down the house". :-)
I'd rather be a bachelor in India (or Afghanistan for that matter) than married in the USA :-)
The options I have are that I can either get a job (and get an H1 immediately ) vs apply for a PhD (and try for a student visa).
Since I don't want any enterprisey jobs and I do want to study in a good university, the student route looks better.
Of course getting into a good PhD program is going to be very tough for someone like me who is almost entirely self taught and barely scraped through my Industrial Engineering B.Tech, but I'll give it a go.
And post PhD there is still a need for an H1 , but that is some time from now and a GC should be easier with a good PhD (and a good job) than without (I think).
Nutshell:- I don't want to be underpaid (and/or do crap work) because I am a "cheap Indian" waiting for a GC , if I can help it.
Thanks for the comment. I should stop typing stuff into blogger's text box without editing.
The ideal visa would be an O1. No question of "cheap" that way. But that would take some doing :-)
OK - I thought you were getting your green card processed through an indian company with a US presence and then using it to come over. I am not sure of the technicalities and legalities there, but I have friends in indian software companies that talked about it.
You are right about the rat and house proverb...marriage is too much of a sacrifice, even for something as valuable as a green card!
I have always wanted to study a masters in the US but have not been able to so far because I feel I am not ready to spend that much to get into a recognized university with a good program...and they dont hand out scholarships to residents in the US. But study is not limited to a certain age in the US so I am not ruling anything out!
I would say that you are choosing the right path by coming in as a student. The application process is not so straightforward (by that, I mean its not based purely on merit), but definitely worth a try. Yes, after that you will still have the headache of going through the H1 process, but at least you will not be at the mercy of a mindless contracting shop.
Well, for an O1, all you have to do is write a framework like Rails and market it well :). DHH went that route and came on an O1. Or maybe a hardware interaction framework using Forth? ;)
"Well, for an O1, all you have to do is write a framework like Rails and market it well :). "
Heh! "All I have to do" is write something like Rails !
Naah not much hope of an O1 :-) As you said the student app is "definitely worth a try". If I get through, good. If not we'll see. After all practically everyone is given an H1 these days :-). I know whole companies full of fools who've got H1s. :-)
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