Indian H1B visa holder's life in the USA in 9 steps! ⌛

[Copied from LinkedIn] The 12-step Script that an Indian Software Engineer, who arrives in the USA, mostly follows 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭 As a student, work hard to fulfil 3 goals (A) Pay off the Student Loan (B) Get a job anywhere in USA (C) Get H1-B approved (This one is the most important goal). Simultaneously make elaborate plans to return back to India within 5 years 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮 H1-B approved Enjoy the influx of Green Currency. Buy a Toyota Camry or Honda Civic or Nissan Altima. Also, buy a property somewhere in India 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯 Invite Parents from India on Visitor Visas. Take them on the Char Dhaam Yatra- Niagara Falls Statue of Liberty Charging Bull in the Wall Street White House 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰 Go to India, finalize a Girl, and get married in 3 weeks - Of course it's arranged marriage Come Back to the USA with your newly married Spouse 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟱 During weekends & lunchtime with other Indian friends, endlessly discuss 3 topics (A) When are you going to get your Green Card, & what is your priority date currently? (B) How Modi is transforming India (C) Cricket 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟲 - Buy a Home in the U.S Have 2 kids. Spend the next 15 years dropping them off to various Classes, attending Birthday parties, & visiting Home Depot for various Home projects. Invite in-laws from both sides (him/her) every six months to help in house & for kids. Step 7 Green card waiting is over. You got it. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 8 By the time, you are in 40s, you have saved enough Funds. The plan for returning back to India has not worked out. Now find new ways to spend money. Buy a Tesla or BMW or Mercedes Also your India properties aren't lucrative anymore as INR has further depreciated against USD so enroll into a difficult struggle of selling off the properties in India, paying a hefty Capital Gains Tax in India and remitting the funds back to the US 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 9 Now comes the time for a midlife crisis. Another shiny new Car, bigger Home, Green Card, & a

City - Bangalore, both Software Engineers My salary - 48LPA Wife’s salary - 30LPA In hand salary both - 4L per month Yearly bonus - 8L Monthly expense - 1L Rent - 35k Car EMI - 16k Other expense - 50k Investments - Monthly SIP - 1L Stocks - 50k Remaining 1.5L saved in account for big investments and emergency Current assets and portfolio - MF and stock - 20L PF - 15L Land value - 1.3Cr Flat - 1.6Cr Term insurance - 3 Cr Health insurance - 10L

I have a strong passion in tech. I’m almost a nerd. The thing is, I never wanted to study the conventional indian way and therefore I don’t have a good academic record. 10th : 8.8 gpa 12th: 71 % Joined a civil course even though i loved tech, regretted and moved to another university after completing 2 years of civil. Completed graduation with a degree in ECE and an 8.1 GPA due to covid. My professional record is quite average with a 12.65 LPA offer as an SDE, 1 YOE. The thing is, I crave money. The current market situation and the opportunities available currently does not seem decent for me to switch and get a 20~30 LPA job. Therefore I am considering higher studies. I need some advice from people who have been there and done that. Share your opinion/suggestions, lets discuss!

Was having morning chai and realized I should write this somewhere. Not sure if there’s anything to learn here. Just one guy’s story Years 0 to 5: Small town child Was born in Bhubaneshwar, father had a government job. Very average middle class life. Middle class values. Parents always wanted me to study hard so I did. Used to be most excited about playing cricket and football very day Years 5 to 15: The studious class kid We shifted to Jaipur - dad had a transferable job. Took time adjusting to a new school but eventually made some friends. Realised I do not have any music/sports/artistic talent, but I can work hard. So I started working hard on my studies and started being top 10% of my class every year. Maths came easy to me. I am not in touch with any of my friends from this period but they have all gone on to do good things as I see from their LinkedIn profiles Years 15 to 22: IIT years

 Worked super freakin hard - gave the JEE and made it to one of the top 7 IITs in the Mech department, soon realised I do not love Mech and there weren’t any jobs as well. Started learning to code and made a few projects. Did an internship at Microsoft and another at a startup from a college alum. Ended up realising becoming an engineer is not my cup of tea long term. Took a hard turn to working on non engineering skills and jobs. 

Most importantly made so many friends, had so much fun. These are still some of my best friends and we still meet each other and stay at each other’s houses. Picked up a deep obsession with E-Sports (Counter Strike mostly) Years 22 to 24: First job Joined one of the top 10 consulting companies at a good salary. Moved to Mumbai - started wearing suits and living a great life from hotel to hotel. The job was good, but not engaging enough. Decided I should quit. But was scared to do it for 8 months. Started studying for my CAT Years 25 to 28: MBA and marriage CAT went sweet. Joined a top MBA school - the most formative years of my life to be honest. Almost close to my last 2 years at college. Met my wife there to whom I got later married at 28. I still keep in touch with a few people from MBA but not as many as I do from college. Years 28 to 32: Making it onto Tech My campus placement happened as a Product Manager at famous tech company in Bangalore where I have been for the last 4 years now. Got a couple promotions. I love my work and its impact. I still sometimes get to play my Counter Strike. As I look back on all of life, I guess the most important things I have learnt are to just stay happy and do something useful EVERY DAY. Be diligent, work hard and you’ll get where you want to. Do not stress over it. Just stay in the game. Don’t tire out. Anyway. That’s it folks!

As I'm entering a new stage of life, I'm starting to reevaluate my career priorities. In my 20s, I was all about climbing the ladder and chasing prestige. Now, I'm more focused on finding work that aligns with my values and allows for a balanced lifestyle. Have any of you gone through a similar shift? How did it change your career trajectory? And how do you define success for yourself now versus when you first started out?