Lifestyle

Education in USA: Its Not About Green Card or Big Cars but Pursuit of Research

I believe the intention to go to US for a few, not if all students is not just getting a green card, big cars or luxury but sometimes pursuit of research.

The Industry life in India is really screwed, people rarely get appraisals and appreciation on talent and the work they do. Chemical people, Civil, Electronics ppl getting in Infosys..what the hell.. Infosys or any IT firm may give money but what if someone wants some research profile in his area of interest, where he can work all his life without complaining…

Students sometimes aspire for studying in US as they feel top colleges can give them platform to improve their skills in our respective fields. They have talent, they have dream in their eyes to discover, not to be bonded in the monotonous environment of Indian IT Sector.

And it’s my thought that if you aspire something without greed, you might get it. Many students nowadays don’t go to USA for this purpose, but most go with purpose and dream of night life, american citizenship and luxurious life. MS/PhD can only be successful if you have heart and soul in them, they are not half hearted or sham. I had seen this in case of many of my friends.

Later when they can’t meet the standards required, as the competition is rigorous in US, they complain about not getting a job. Genuine and exceptions to that would be there I agree, some talented people might be in same situation but most people who undergo this situation are people dwelled by greed.

Posted by Prashant at Student Life is Difficult; Returning to India

Perfect Example –

Person was working as contractor developing projects in VB.NET. When the project came for code review/testing it took several hours to execute one query to retrieve data from Oracle database. One page has to load the few thousand records as part of the application.

Looking the code, showed that person doesn’t have experience in writing efficient database oriented application when resume showed several years of VB.NET experience. So, the problem was new connection was established to retrieve single record from database, where single connection can be used to retrieve all the records. Apparently the person had Bachelors and Masters in Electrical Engineering.

Comments?

Share your thoughts about highlighted line above. I agree to that fact that coming from backgrounds other than computer science will have tough time designing or writing software code.

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19 Comments

  1. I completely agree with Sandra on this.
    It is a very simple truth that I had to learn the hard way. Those who choose their interest compared to greed, eventually succeed in earning decently, but more importantly, they get the satisfaction they are looking for. I did my BE in Biotech, but due to almost no job opportunities in India and under severe financial constraint, I took up a job at Infosys. I didnt face much challenge in picking up on work fast enough, because I have always been comfortable in handling technical work items. But frankly, even after spending 3.5 years with this company I have not been able to force myself to give heart and soul to this job, that gives me bread. My heart does not accept it. Though I am a good performer and have also got H1B visa and will be sent to US pretty soon on some temporary assignment, but i have come to realize that I will not be getting contentment I am looking for like this.
    I have got an admit and decided to quit all this and pursue my MS from US, this fall2011.

  2. i agree on this point. I have seen people with agriculture, veterinary science degrees getting into IT consultancies in USA who make inflated/false resumes. but nowadays there is a lot of scruitiny in H-1B visa filed by indian consultancy in USA and on long term vision, the third party consultancies H-1B visa people with fake resumes will not go far in their career. On the other hand, there is not such rosy picture in scientific research also. there are close to 65000 people doing post-doc after Ph.D. in USA. the academic teaching jobs available every year are only about 2500 to 3000 per year. many people spend 5 to 10 years in frustration after Ph.D. without getting jobs. The salary in hand of postdoc is less then what a janitor gets in USA. so do not have rosy dreams before starting the whole process.

    1. hmmm…Yeps that gets obvious when there are so many people aiming for same post.

      I mean in US the competing crowd is the best talent across the world. Even my senior at Cornell was telling things could be a little difficult here. Earlier i was thinking of initial aid, but now i think better to get into a good U even if funding chances are there after 1 sem..

  3. Yes this Article is True…… every student who lands or employee lands in USA thinks to complete his/her…. MS/MBA & get CPT/OPT next file for H1 & then apply for a Labour Card & next Green Card & finally US citizenship.
    Every Indian thinks in this way only

  4. I feel that in India a +2 student ( generally ) would not have enough back ground to know what his interests exactly are. You see he/she would get this kind of knowledge or outlook only if they are exposed to education fares or some activities of this sort. So it is very wrong to blame those who go into IT after doing ECE or Mech in UG. They might not be perfect but they do work hard to earn some money. It is also due to the lack of opportunities in their own field in India. If a software job pays a premium and all you have to do is work hard then there is nothing wrong in going for it. As far as the employers are concerned they think Thayer can train anyone with a sufficient eng knowledge. There is noyhig wrong in that.

    Talking about the dreams for those who go to US ; there is nothing wrong in dreaming big about life there as long as they know what they need to do to get there … I don’t think anyone who goes to US just keeps enjoying without working hard. there will always be some who do more than others … So I don’t understand the point of this article!! I have been reading all your article btw..

  5. Very true.
    Good job!!!!!!
    HSB should continue to post these kind of articles.
    Its just the lure thats driving people into US and not passion for excellence

  6. I am planning on applying fr MS in computer science in 2012, writing GRE this june. I heard from my seniors that research can be an option only if you get into top universities in US like CMU & stanford. The rest of the universities are more IT job oriented. Is that true????

  7. Hey HSB, I am planning on applying fr MS in computer science. I heard from my seniors that research can be an option only if you get into top universities in US like CMU. The rest of the universities are more IT job oriented. Is that true?

  8. Hey HSB

    I completely agree with your thoughts.
    My heartiest thanks to HSB. I remember 3 years back, during my UG program when I first envisioned to go to US to pursue my MS, I had to no idea how to carry it out and after reading HSB since then, all the credit goes to HSB.

    Hey its my humble request to you to please introduce a ‘Like’ button in your posts. Most of the posts like this are great.

  9. I have come across so many non-it graduates working in IT. Particularly non-engineering background writing bad code and no top. I would stay away from them.

  10. @HSB: Just wish what i posted in this blog gets true, i had an admit to realize my dreams.

    I had UMass, and if i could get Virginia Tech or TAMU, i might be closer to my dream, can’t apply for top colleges, lot of financial cons.

    GRE:1350(780q+570v+3.5) TOEFL:95b UG:86%

  11. How very true !
    I have gone through all of this and finally have set out to achieve my dreams.. I have done BE in Biotechnology.. and have been working for the past three and half years in TCS. Although I took up various roles and different set of responsibilities and learnt a lot during this time, my passion and interest were totally different.. my passion has always been Biology. Due to financial commitments I had to take up this job and higher studies was a far dream for me. Now I have decided no matter what I will do what I have set my heart on, although I was not sure if my long gap after my BE would put me to disadvantage. But I now have admit at North Carolina State Uni and I have lot many people to thank for including HSB. I am now looking forward to explore the opportunities ahead of me, and I urge all who are in various fields to go after their passion because it will bring out the best in us !
    Cheers!
    Sandra

  12. So true,,

    Why should a Mech. Engg. graduate work with IT companies in India?Better he/she should go to US and do some quality research.

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