JAY LOHOKARE
APRIL 16 2018
Getting ready for Masters in USA
This is the 2nd blog in the series through which I am trying to help my juniors and prospective MS students. The previous blog explained my pre-MS admit journey, this blog focuses more on what to do after you get an admit and what to expect while pursuing MS. Just like my previous blog, this blog is mainly about my experiences, my opinions and ideals – Please don’t blindly follow them as they may be biased and circumstantial.
I am trying to cover 3 main topics through this blog (though not in that order):
1. What to do after getting an admit
2. MS – Demystifying the myths
3. Internships and Jobs
This blog is relevant mainly to Computer, Information systems, Data science and related fields (The gist of the blog might help other branches).
Why prepare?
I realized that my previous blog had a major error – My opinions about jobs and internships in the USA were too optimistic. I apologize for stating incorrect assumptions as facts in the previous blog. The day you enter the USA, you realize that the world is too competitive here. And to have a chance to survive this competition, you need to prepare – PREPARE A LOT. I can’t stop talking about the importance of this preparation factor. As you are done with your college, please do not waste all the time you have in India. Those few months are crucial and will define many things once you land in the USA.
My senior batch at Stony Brook University had secured good internships. Many had bagged big names like Facebook, VMWare and Microsoft, which made me believe that getting internships was an easy task here. Coming to internship scene of my batch – As of April week one 2018, Stony Brook’s internship scene is not really that good. I will rate Stony Brook as A- university; Count on me when I say that you will have a hard time getting internships at good companies unless you are in A+ grade universities (Top 15 rank in CS). I have close friends at TAMU, UofMinnesota, NYU, Columbia, Wisconsin Madison, UCLA, UCSD, Stanford, UC Boulder, CMU, NCSU, SUNY Buffalo, Yale and many more such universities. So, my sample space is large to prove my claims.
It's very important to understand that the internship/job scene is circumstantial. There are many factors that decide how many opportunities are available. A company might open a new office close to your university and hence might recruit many interns. Some other company might plan to cut short the hiring (For example, Amazon had a hiring freeze and hence took no intern from SBU this year). The general trend is that universities on the west coast have better opportunities. Factors like political conditions, market conditions, amount of efforts you put, your projects (Experience), Research experience, and most importantly luck will decide your fate.
Apart from the geographical distribution of job/internship scene, I will also like to comment on the internship scope based on work experience – Unless the company is looking for the exact skills you have expertise in, the experience won't matter. Most Indians coming to the USA with work experience have worked on entry-level development projects, Database and DB Migration. These skills are really good to have, but don’t help a lot in getting jobs in the USA. I know a lot many of my batch mates in Stony Brook who many years of experience but no offers in the USA. And there also are many who have no work experience but multiple offers.
How to prepare?
Here are a few things you must do during your free time before you come to the USA to make your profile stronger:
1. Leetcode.com – This is extremely necessary. Competitive coding defines your coding skills in the USA. I had done ~60 medium-hard level questions before I landed in the USA. This helped me a lot to get my internship offers (More on that later) and also helped me save time for other better activities during my 1st semester. I highly recommend PYTHON for all sorts of competitive coding. Most of your school work will be in python (Unless you take system courses where you use C). JAVA guys please migrate to Python – JAVA is the most rapidly declining language (Soon its only existence will be only in legacy systems). I was ridiculed by many for this statement when the semester started at Stony Brook, and every single person who ridiculed me is now migrating to Python. Python saves time in competitive coding, it works with all commonly used Big data systems, it is the backbone of Machine learning today. Everyone who advocates JAVA for the scalable systems – All scalable systems based on JVM are Scala systems and not JAVA systems, and Scala is my 2nd recommended language that one should learn. I am against JAVA and not JS (which is good and has lots of scopes).
2. Github profile – Your GitHub profile is considered as a reflection of all projects your knowledge of tools and platforms. It's often true that companies and interviewers consider only your Github projects as your experience. Learn Git, upload all your projects on git (Better late than never). All projects you work on henceforth should be pushed to Git frequently.
3. One-page Resume – Your resume has to fit on one A4 size page! This is the standard in the USA and you must follow this. I won’t write a lot about how to design your resume, but the recruiters look at your resume just for 5-10 seconds before deciding whether to reject you or to give you an interview call. You will also need a cover letter drafted. A cover letter is basically a message which you send along with your resume. It usually is customized as per companies, but you can few templates ready before you come to the USA.
3. Linkedin account – Do this if you haven't done it already. Always keep Linkedin profile updated.
5. Prepare all Documents – I am pretty sure that you already did this step for VISA application or Loan. But this is the step where you gather all your important documents into one file, organize them properly (Maybe create an index document!). Carry all mark sheets, degree certificates and other important certificates with you. If not, at least scan all the documents and make soft copies available. Remember that if you need some document from India, It will take some days to get it via post. This could cause you a lot of troubles.
6. Develop Skills – Being one of the few new graduates in a batch of 200-300 is scary. Others have 'work experience' which makes them 'better' than you and your profile. It’s a simple equation – A person who has worked on outdated but relevant technology will be preferred over you if you have no skills or experience at all. I won't name technologies or tools that you should learn. But make it a point to have a know-how of the latest tech-stacks and trends. Do not stick to a tool/technology because you are comfortable with it – The industry won't care what you like or are comfortable with. Technology changes at a tremendous pace so to remain relevant, one must be extremely flexible. A very good example to prove my point – Cassandra which is considered industry standard today has a major threat from ScyllaDB given the performance metrics it provides. Similarly, there also has been a shift from Hadoop to Spark which provides better performance.
7. Connect with seniors – This is very important! Referrals are the easiest and fastest way to get internship/job interviews. Start reaching out to your seniors/friends/family working in the USA to consolidate your network and contacts.
What to expect during MS?
Having talked about what you should do before coming to the USA, let me introduce you to the general environment during Masters. To start with, MS will be overwhelming, but it will be equally rewarding. I had stated in my last blog that USA and MS are a land of opportunities, and my 8 months stay here has proved my assumption for me. But first let me talk about the negative points. Many universities (Like Stony Brook) are in the middle of forests. Having studied in Pune for 4 years, I was used to a lively, crowded and active city environment. Stony Brook is literally a village in the middle of a big forest. Please consider proximity to a city as an important factor while finalizing your university as otherwise it gets too depressing and melancholy. If you are planning to come to northeastern/northern states of USA, be prepared for extreme cold. It gets freezing cold starting October and remains like that till April (It's still below 5 degree Celsius in Stony Brook as of 9th April). Weather differs a lot from place to place – Minnesota is worse than Stony Brook, while San Diego is as good (Sunny) as India.
Professors and university atmosphere – the USA provides an extremely professional and open learning environment. I won’t say that the professors are excellent lecturers. But they are excellent teachers. The primary job of professors in the USA is not delivering lectures. Their main job is research, and they are good at it. They might not deliver lectures where you understand every bit of what they say. But they will be more than willing to help you during office hours. They are open to criticism (Though not for arguments during lectures as it leaves them with less time to complete the class) and they will always like constructive arguments.
Being Masters students, you are expected to deliver things on your own. Professors expect you won't need spoon feeding (They might spoon-feed at times, but that just because they are nice). ‘Research’ is thorough and demanding. If you sign up for research projects, you will be expected to systematically & thoroughly analyze and implement systems to solve the problem. I often over-hear my batch mates criticizing how ‘Direction-less’ research is. However, the pseudo directionless-ness is mainly because the professors expect you to come up with ideas and new directions. Expectations are high, efforts expected are huge. The assignments and projects will often give you sleepless nights. Be prepared to get no more than 3-4 hours of sleep. The pressure of performance will be high given that you will be spending a lot of money on your education. The internship preparation, applications and process are too time-consuming, which adds to the workload. Hence, I recommend you prepare beforehand for internships.
Come to the USA with a willingness to learn, an open mind, extremely high energy and preparedness to work hard. There are so many opportunities within the university – The research labs are more than open to master’s students. Work without expectations (Monetary/Non-monetary) initially (for a semester), and you might even get assistantships if you prove your worth. Every single university has some research project which will entice you. Approach the professors – email them or meet them during their office hours. A simple talk about what your skills are, about your interest in the ongoing projects and an overall portrayal of enthusiasm can do wonders. When in the USA, Communication is the key – The Americans are extroverts and like talking to strangers. Approaching professors to express your interest in their work is the minimum thing one can do.
Remember that the purpose of coming to the USA is to network and get better opportunities. The only way that will happen is if you approach people actively and search for opportunities actively. Attend Meetups outside the campus, reach out to influential people through LinkedIn (Only if you have something relevant and good to talk about). I often cold message CTOs of companies through LinkedIn just to share projects I am working on (Only when my projects are relevant to what they are working on). There is no one big formula for good networking, but many small things that you can do to impress and reach out to useful and resourceful people.
One Very important note – STOP WORRYING ABOUT VISA. If you are capable and hard working, no one can take away what you deserve. Worry about getting good and enticing opportunities instead.
Motivation is not just a word to be used in literature. Be motivated in the real sense. There are millions of events, meetups, workshops and technical seminars happening around every major university in the USA. If your university is really isolated, you can visit nearby cities during the weekend for networking and attend such events. Do not be confined to the boundaries of your campus. Study hard and learn time management to get free time for non-school related activities. Your skills are highly valued in the USA. Wherever you go, there is a culture of respecting everyone - irrespective of skills, status, and background. Your skills are highly valued in the USA and make sure you utilize them to best of your abilities. Aim to learn something new – What you know might be good, but there is a lot more to know and learn. Do not compare yourself with your colleagues. Create your own path, and enjoy every moment of the journey!
You are not competing only with other students in your university. If you are performing really well compared to others on the campus, remember that there are thousands of others from other universities who will be better than you. Similarly, if you fail at times at some tasks (Which you will), it's not the end of the world. Americans value efforts and even if you fail, no one will be judging you for that.
Also, remember to not completely lose yourself in studies and internship hunts. There is a lot to this world than internships and grades. I have seen many of friends getting so engrossed in studies/internship preparation that they went into depression. The USA is a huge country – Travel, try out new food, go to some concerts (There are many!), basically get out of the study room or library from time to time. Efforts are necessary, but not at cost of your wellbeing!
Food in the USA – If you can’t cook, be prepared to eat bland, salty-sweet food for next few years. There are restaurants where you might get good Asian food (If you are lucky), but otherwise, it doesn’t take long to get fed up with American food. Chinese food in America is not what Indian Chinese food. It's completely different and unless you know what you are ordering, it's better not to order Chinese food at all! Restaurants are often costly and it might not be a good idea to eat in restaurants frequently (Unless you are extremely rich). The minimum cost of a cheap meal is 10$ for lunch (15$ for a dinner). Again, this number varies from place to place, but it rarely gets less than this. Vegetarians will often have a hard time eating in restaurants (As its really hard to find vegan meals).
Travel and transport – If your campus is in a city (Big city), transport will not be a problem. MTA buses/trains/metros are really good (not punctual though). You get real-time status of almost every transport facility in the USA on google maps app. Buses are usually cheap (1.5 to 2.5 dollars per ride on any route). Uber/Lyft usually have a minimum fare of 7.5$. Your campus will have its own bus service (Which will be free) to travel within the campus.
Internship application process
The internship application process should ideally start right from the time you reach the USA. Unlike Indian colleges where we have on-campus internship/job recruitment sessions, opportunities in the USA are mainly driven by direct referrals, career fairs and website applications. Career fairs usually happen in every university. These career fairs are when companies come to campus and put stalls in a big hall. Students line up in front of the stall to get the opportunity to talk to the company representatives. The representatives go through the candidate’s resume, asks few questions (Technical/Non-technical), have a brief chat with the candidate and then keep the resume for further consideration. Many times, these representatives are graduates of the university where the career fair is held, to connect with the students, understand their perspective and solve their queries. The online application is the alternative to such interaction with representatives. Most of the times, the representatives ask the candidates to apply online anyways. However, the interaction with company representative is extremely important as it can accelerate the selection process (Or even skip a few interviews). Once the company has your resume, it sends a test link (If your resume is shortlisted), which is followed by multiple interviews. The process is not always the same, but it usually follows this pattern. The number of interviews varies from as low as 1 to as high as more than 10. ‘Referral’ is where a person working in the company ‘refers’ you through the company’s internal portal. A referral is the fastest way to get into the process as most companies receive thousands of applications. It's not unusual that all internship positions of a company got filled by referrals alone. There are a few companies that follow a small selection process, cracking which assures you an internship. Facebook has 2 interviews of 45 minutes each, Linkedin-Microsoft follows a similar pattern. Google has an online coding test followed by 2-3 interviews. Most companies trust the candidates and the initial online tests are online which you can give sitting home. The interviews also usually are video calls where you code by sharing a screen while video cam is on. I will explain more about the internship/job application process in my next blog.
Just to give you an idea of the ratios - I had applied to a total of ~600 positions, getting technical tests from ~25 companies. I made it to interviews with 15 companies and got offers from 9 companies.
It’s extremely important to be able to market yourself well in the interviews. Technical skills will be common for many candidates. You need to present yourself as someone with godlike abilities to impress the interviewer. A very important point is to NEVER LIE on a resume or during the interviews. Even if you present false facts for some good reason, it can potentially kill your career – It can potentially affect your VISA and immigrant status!
It’s a really great experience to be in a new country – in a diverse environment where you will learn alongside people from different backgrounds. The undergraduate years defined your personality and the graduate years in the USA will define your career. Make sure you do your best!
Note: I am really surprised that my previous blog was read more than 7 lakh times within the 7-8 month. I hope this blog also is equally useful and that it helped you solve some doubts.
As usual, you can always contact me if you have any queries or doubt! Best luck with the preparation and hope you all are excited about your USA journey!
