:/ I typed out a reply and somehow lost it when I tried to
reply but here's the jist of what I said. I agree with alot of the
things you mentioned. I'm not so sure about the political effect on
big tech company hiring policies but I'm certainly feeling the lack
of engineering opportunities. I would in fact further narrow the
"employable" fields to just Computer Science engineering, banking
and consulting. The only chem engineer I know who got a job here
went into banking (through his dad's connections). I realized this
midway into my undergrad and somewhat regret taking this
path
It's not too late to consider a career switch to banking if
you have the know-how and connections. For example, if you have a
b/millionaire relative or some celebrity friends. I believe that
you are a smart, attractive and elouquent person. If you think
Engineers earn too little in Singapore, switch to banking where
there is a demand for talents like you. However, be very careful
this time with your career planning because banking jobs are very
susceptible to the economy and the job market is not that rosy like
in 2008. The question to ask yourself is: Do you want to be a
banker? There are many types too and I'm sure if you do a simple
search online, you can find out what areas they
are.
The reason why US employers are not hiring as much as
they did is because the engineering economy is not growing and even
China is not consuming enough US engineered products. Yeah they
will buy coke, burgers, a cheap laptop and a Boeing plane or two.
Microsoft only earned 6 million usd in china and google just left
the market. Cisco faces very strong competition in china too. All
the movies don't even make money in China with their rampant
piracy. In US, IT is still growing and you can really tell from
twitter, flickr, facebook in recent years. My personal analysis is
that things are going downhill further even though many people are
pinning their hopes on the green energy thing. Green technology is
not exactly advanced technology but more of a extension of each
branch of science and engineering. For example, as a result of the
need for alternative fuel sources, solar cells are now being used
widely in EE and corn ethanol in biochem engineering.
Unfortunately, it's not a disruptive technology like computers,
internet, cars, aeroplanes and will not create much wealth for the
americans other than the energy-related industries. I am very
pessimistic about the US economy and the job market so much that I
am quite jittery at every feedback I received at work. If you have
any idea about the big asset bubble in China, you will lose half a
head of hair. If that bubble pop, we are going to see a real
depression in all parts of the world especially in Singapore
because a lot of our sg banks are exposed to their environment.
Let's hope not.
I'm certainly aware things are not as rosy as some make it
out to be and that the internship hiring period is long long
over.The H1B sponsorship (I don't really need/want a green card)
has pretty much dropped by 75% and yes alot of companies that used
to sponsor no longer do so. It also seems to have affected
internships which is the first problem for me. Since I switched
majors for masters, I'm focusing mostly on learning as you say. I
actually worked as research assistant in my undergraduate, through
spring/summer and during school for almost a year, paid and unpaid.
It just seems that employers seem abit adverse to students who
seemed to have taken a more "academic" route in their work
experiences, even if it was very relevant. I worked more as a
design/prototyping engineer as compared to a laboratory assistant.
A couple of prototypes that I build from scratch are being refined
by the research group and will probably be patented some time in
future. My undergrad gpa is near perfect for a top college program
that does not inflate grades. I don't know if thats good or
brilliant any more as I've beaten myself up too much about not
getting an internship/job. Its just that they would gladly hire
someone else with just one internship with a big name company even
if they'd been there for barely 3 months (what could you
accompish?). I've thought about the Phd route but the lull in
earnings for 5-6 years is just something I can't afford right now.
Being mentored by my young prof who graduated from MIT and has tons
of funding is on face value an excellent opportunity but I'm just
not cut out for a Phd, practicality aside.
It seems like you were PhD material and could have choose
to go on to complete an free Ivy league PhD in Mech engineering
since you were top in that department. It's a waste really. You
seem to be under a lot of pressure to produce economic value and I
totally understand that because probably Singaporean you see has a
job waiting for them in Singapore and many americans can secure
jobs easily. Your education was paid by a private bank loan or your
parents are funding it?
If I may ask, why do you "need" a green card (ignore if this
is too sensitive a question)? If you are Singaporean, H1B1 should
keep you around for as long as you want, so long as you have a job
in the US I guess. I still think that from an Engineer's
standpoint, there is no doubt that US>>Singapore. My theory
is this probably stems from the costs difference and popularity of
getting an engineering degree in either country. You can look at it
from take home pay after taxes, cost of living, job satisfaction,
job variety, etc. I've done a fair bit of analysis and I think its
quite safe to say this (assuming one gets the job).
H1B doesn't give you any job mobility. If you are under H1B
from a certain company, it is not possible to switch companies with
the legal complications and if you are fired you will most likely
not be in time to file for H1B the same year and you have to go
back home. Green card is also for enriching your
next generation and extended family. You can put your children
through the best colleges using federal financial aid and be
assured that they have a future in this country because they are
not F1 students like the rest. Of course, if you have the green
card, you can invest freely in their stock markets without any
restrictions and enjoy many benefits (7k if you buy a house, with
social security you will have free health insurance after you are
retired, unemployment benefits etc etc depending on which state you
are in). If I had served NS for USA instead of Singapore, I will
have alot of additional benefits as well but too bad for
us.
You're quite accurate in describing the influx of foreigners
in US universities. In one of my classes, 95% are chinese/indian
and probably among the brightest as well. This has made things very
difficult for me academically. While doing Mech, I more than held
my own but since going into Indus, my lack of foundation knowledge
has hampered my performance. I'm taking it as a learning
experience. In terms of job searching, I feel that most Chinese
want to do a masters/phd before returning, whereas the Indians are
desperate to stay. They are essentially in the same boat as me
except that I like to think I can communicate better. Returning to
Sg, leaves me no different from having gone to say NUS or NTU,
except with this "branding".
It used to be quite
different when the computer/IT/semiconductor industry started its
boom in late 90s and early 2000s and there was a shortage of
engineers. If you asked those Asian engineers in their 30s, they
aren't really from the top universities like we are. One of my
ex-Indonesian engineering manager was from Arizona State University
and he just got his US citizenship. However, it's quite different
now. I doubt any international student from ASU can even get an
internship as a janitor in the tech companies. The chinese aren't
really expressive people unless you know them well. I doubt anyone
will want to go back to their country if they are offered a job to
stay here. Where else can you get $70-100K USD for an engineering
job? Chinese engineers earn less than $20k a year. It's all plain
economics.
I'm very disillusioned with this 200+k worth of "branding"
and honestly do feel it was a very poor investment, maybe even
cheated. Most of the $$ goes into research funding and what I have
is no more than a overpriced piece of decorated paper like coe. It
also only matters on the first job generally. In my case, its seems
like it won't even matter at this rate as I'm probably headed for
grunt work that won't use my knowledge.
Don't be.
I know how you feel. I was jobless for 1 month before I got my
interview with my current company and that was exactly how I felt.
I started feeling shitty in my last semester in the school because
most of my "scholar" friends went back and immediately take up
senior officer positions in the civil service. Their facebook
pictures were always about eating at nice places, clubbing with hot
girls and new cars etc. I remembered I deactivated my facebook for
quite a long while because I can't bear to watch others bask in
their excesses while I hang by a thread.
I'm finding it very hard to feel positive, since other
facets of my life aren't doing that great either. I think I'll stay
my hand that would be taking my life for now as I do think about
what my parents would do/how they would feel if I did it. That is
truly the only reason that's keeping me alive.
It's time to be stronger. The toughest time will be very
helpful towards your character development. Be stronger and hope
that opportunities pop up in Fall or in Singapore if you are going
back in the summer. You never know.
I've heard quite abit about banking (one of my roommate's
parents is with citi) and while the money is good, I don't know if
I can appreciate the lack of job security. However, due to my
current predicament, I know I can't just restrict myself to
engineering jobs. Unfortunately, I don't know too many
b/millionaires or celebrities directly lol. Some of my Sg friends
here in college however are associated with such people through
blood or acquaintance.
Lol this China-US relationship has been a talking point for
perhaps the last 2 years. I think this recession will likely
continue for another couple years until more debt has been
deleveraged. We're not quite ready to resume normal service and
unfortunately this directly affects fresh grads like me. It is
however out of my hands, lest I strike some stroke of genius and
discover a limitless form of renewable energy. As it is I already
worry about the asset bubble that Sg is developing, not to mention
the even more gigantic one in China. Ah but what do I know, there's
always another school of thought that runs completely opposite to
what we think. Bubbles? There's no such thing as bubbles... Where
have I heard that before?
My education was paid for by my parents. However that is not the
whole story. They essentially postphoned their housing loan
payments by paying for my education first. Before you ask, just
take it that my family will have a huge housing loan to take care
of in a couple years time. There is a really long twisted story
behind it involving other people speculating on our current
apartment land, the current state of Sg's property market, etc etc.
I don't want to bore you, suffice to say that I would have liked my
dad at his age not to still be worrying about paying loans.
Yes, I heard about the control that companies have on H1B
workers and I now realise how important having a green card is in
this country. No wonder so many view H1Bs as merely a means to get
a green card.
In regards to chinese people being less expressive, I'm quite in
agreement. I think that, at least in my observations at career
fairs, they also tend to project a more hesistant image when
presenting themselves. This also leads to a "poorer" impression
that recruitors have. If given a chance, sure they would love to
work in the US. However, alot seem to lack the confidence and
charisma to pull it off due largely in part to their English and
then they basically just give up talking to US recruitors. I know
I'm grossly generalising here but that seems to be the
understanding I get from alot of my Chinese peers. Hence, they
prefer following the "safer" phd route or just simply returning
back to China with an advanced degree. The naturalised Chinese
(ABC) do not fall into this category though and there are of course
still China students who pursue a US job all the way. Maybe times
are changing, I might be mistaken.
I'm glad that you fully empathize with what I went through last
year when I graduated. Quite a number here could not understand why
and blamed my arrogance or lack of direction. I'm with you on
staying away completely from Fb. That's probably the best advice
I've heard so far. I've plenty of sg friends who are either on
scholarship with a fast track up the civil service ladder or in
banking (sg/manhatten) drawing obscene salaries and already
partying weekly or going to be posted in California with a nice
programming job. These 3 possible scenarios recycled with different
people and different names account for maybe 85% of all the sg
students I've met here. The rest are either incredibly rich so it
doesn't matter or doing a Phd (or both as it seems). Don't get me
wrong. I'm very happy for all of them but I just wish I had some
thing to show for all my effort (no time for partying and 1/2 a
banking pay cheque is fine with me).
That you went through that and still made it to where you are
now does give me some encouragment. I'll try to keep looking for
that light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks again.