Is coming to US or any other foreign
country
for your Master's - a good idea? And when I
say Master's I am talking about
either Data Science or Computer Science
Master's. I have been living in US for
past 13 years.
I have many friends who have done
studies here and based on that
I will give you an honest opinion on
whether you should
come to US for Master's. So US
still, even today remains the land of
opportunity.
US has majority of the software product
companies Google, Amazon, Facebook - they
all are here.
So coming here for Master's for Data
Science
or Software Engineering study is
definitely a good idea
because once you finish your Master's, you
get three year
OPT. So one of the issues that people
have
with coming to US is whether "I will get
H1B or not?"
H1B is a work visa which you need
in order to work here after your studies.
But the good thing is once you have a
STEM degree
you get three year OPT during that time
duration you don't need
H1 visa but you need a job . So after your
Master's are over
all you need to do is get a job and
you can work for three years without H1B.
Now there are many companies who do not
file H1B
okay. But if you have OPT they will
easily hire you.
Okay . So after studies three years
all you need is a job you don't have to
worry about H1B. Ofcourse people try to
file H1B multiple times during that
three time period because that's your
end goal. Because after three years if
you don't get H1B you have to go back to
your country
Worst case - even if you don't get H1B you
have to go back to your country within
three years you would have earned enough
money
to cover your tuition fees for your
Master's and also you would have gained a
valuable
experience which looks pretty good on
your resume. If you have three years
experience working for US companies
it's gonna look awesome.S o even if you
go back to your home country
it will help you in career. The only
downside would be what if after your
Master's you don't get a job at all
I know majority of the people they get
the job.
If you're super dumb and unlucky only
then you will not get a job.
There are tons of job available even
after COVID. Actually after COVID the
engineering jobs, especially software has
only increased.
So there are huge opportunities . So only
if you are
either very unlucky or you know because
of some other reasons,
let's say you don't know coding that
that well you might not
get a job. In that case you would have
paid
a lot of money as your two years study
here in US
now you're going back with all the debt.
But we have to be ready for that worst
case scenario
you know if I say okay tomorrow are you
going to be alive? Well there is still a
slight possibility that you might not be
alive.
So you have to be ready for that worst
case but
just make your decision based on the
probability, the probability that you
won't get a job at all
is quite low if you are decent and if
you are doing studies in
Software Engineering or Data Science
fields.
The bright side however is that let's
say you get
a job, your H1B is file and that part is
taken care of
now you can work for big companies, you
can work with smart people
or if you are living on East coast or
West coast there are many product-based
companies
and by the way getting into product
based companies like Apple, Google, Amazon
is not that hard
by the way. It used to be hard I think
few years back
but due to recent surge or recent
demand for these companies, these
companies need
many people. You know they have expanded
their workforce
exponentially but in US the problem is
supply and demand. They don't get
that many talented engineers . So nowadays
I think they have lowered
their hiring
bar, don't get me wrong I mean the
interview in Google or Apple
is still gonna be hard but it is not as
hard as it used to be
because they need to expand their teams
so rapidly and they're not
finding good people okay. For that reason
it's not very very hard to get into
these companies
and there is a website called
teamblind.com
If you go to this website you will see
all the offers and packages that people
get.
I was reading through some post on teamblind
and a person who had I think one or two
years experience he
he got like 200,000 dollar
offer in some company in California.
So as a fresher if you are in East or
West coast
you can get 100,000 offer easily
100,000 a year, if you go into product
based companies
it could be 150 or it could be 200.
If you are in other part of the US of
course the
the salary will be lower you get maximum
salary either in California or
in the New York region. If you gain
experience right, let's say you are
having experience of four to five years
and you are in Silicon Valley,
a decent engineer with four to five
years experience
in Silicon Valley working for a
product-based company
would be making more than 300,000
easily 300-350. If you have 10+
experience people make
up to half a million dollar. I'm telling
you this is all truth
because I have many friends who are
working for big product-based companies,
they're even managers in these companies
like you know Apple and Amazon
and I know that this is the fact. Now the
package that you get
is not you don't get all the money as
cash
there are RSU or Restricted Stock Units
that you get . So let's say you
get hired in Apple as a four year
experienced
engineer your salary might be 200,000
base salary,
they might give you another
let's say you know like 500,000
stock options which will or let's say
they give you 150,000
stock option in the beginning and these
stock options are something you cannot
sell
in one year you you can sell it in a
four year.
So let's say in first year you get 150
divided by four whatever that number is.
But the second year
during your appraisal, you get similar
amount. So effectively
you get package around 300-350,000 dollar
with four to five years experience in
product based companies. You can even get
more if you are let's say a Machine Learning
engineer.
I was reading one post again on teamblind
where
I think seven year PhD in
Machine Learning, seven year experience
that person got an offer of
700,000 dollar
a year in Google. 700,000 dollar a year!
People make that kind of crazy amount of
money
in US and that's why I say that US was
and will remain
the land of opportunity . So if you want
to build that kind of career
of course you come here you have to work
hard, you have to prove yourself, you need
to have a discipline
and you need to network with people
there are so many things of course you
know like
getting to that level where you are
earning more than half a million,
requires some work but it is
certainly
possible . So yeah . So if you have any
doubt that okay
COVID has come and you know should I
come to US? Like don't have doubts
See there is a demand for talented
people everywhere in the world. Doesn't
matter if it's a recession or
if economy is growing rapidly. One other
good thing that has happened in 2020
election is
the new government that has been
selected is immigration
friendly. The previous administration was
not that much
immigration friendly, but new
government is immigration friendly . So if
you're coming here
you will probably have some benefit
or
some benefit from the policies of
government.
One other factor which is very important
that you need to consider
is your personality and your social
situation.
There are many people who are let's say
you know who are the only child of their
parents
and they want to live with their parents
when their parents
grow older or in general you know they
want to be with their parent because
they are the only child.
For cases like this, it becomes little
hard because many times people say okay
come to US stay there for five years, earn
some money and go back.
Look that doesn't happen okay.
99.99% people who are saying that I will
go to US
stay there for five years, come back, they
don't come back this is
the fact. I have been in this country for
past 13 years, I have seen hundreds of
people
talking about that "Oh we will go back to
our home country
India or whatever that country is" I know
only one person who has gone back
one or two person hardly . So
I'm not saying it doesn't happen there
are strong minded people who are
very clear about their priorities in
life, they
go back but other people they don't go
back.
You come here, you start earning green
currency dollars
it's so lucrative, you build nice home,
you get married, you have kids now you
want to go back but your kids, your wife
don't want to go back.
Gets complicated guys . So if your social
situation is
that you don't want to stay in foreign
countries for a long time,
I don't recommend coming here. Ofcourse
you can work for
some international company based in your
country and you can
travel here you know for two months six
months whatever.
But thinking of coming here permanently
going back after five years,
don't try to fool yourself, that's not
gonna happen.
All right . So I hope this video was
useful. If you are having any questions
on studies in US or any confusion
post in a video comment below. I try to
answer
most of the comments which comes in a
first week after posting this video . So
I'll try my best to reply to your
question and if you like this video
give it a thumbs up and share it
with your friends who might be looking
for an advice
on their studies abroad. The other thing
I forgot to mention was
I talked about only US, the other good
option
is Germany. There is a nice youtube
channel called
'Bharat in Germany'. I'm gonna post a link
in the video description below.
The studies they say in Germany is free,
I don't know how true that is "Bharat in Germany'
channel has a special video on
it . So
check it out. Germany might be a good
option as well. There are other options
such as UK, Australia and New Zealand. I
don't know much about those
countries. So yeah. So do your research
properly
and then make an informed
decision.
I wish you all the best.