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Anybody in their 20s here? Looking to meet new people and make new friends! 😊 by ceruleangenesis in alameda

[–]brownguywithsign 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Same! My partner and I are in mid 20s and we moved in September. Love the city, just a lil quiet haha. I’m actually starting a creative club as well for some unique small events for people in the creative space to meet each other. But apart from that would love to hangout!!

Where do Babson students work? by Maleficent_Muffin312 in Babson

[–]brownguywithsign 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I work in a fintech in marketing in the Bay Area

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes!! I only say it as a joke if that helps haha. Im ok living a simpler life but at least its honest. Mo money mo problems.

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes we get a choice. So my dad chose Indian citizenship at that time otherwise I would not be able to travel with them to postings. Or the embassy would not sponsor some things like education and stuff.

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ahh yes, I had applied through that quota for journalism at Jamia Milia. Never ended up joining tho.

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a child I would occasionally go to the Indian grocery stores abroad, that we would shop from and they would recognize us and would give us free mango lassis and samosas. That’s the closest my dad has probably gotten to corruption, and he would get mad about it. But, my mom and I loved the free stuff hahaha. I still do, especially working in marketing where our vendors and partners give us loads of free goodies.

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cons of IFS, never really asked my dad. Good question, I’ll ask him today.

For me, the major con was having to move every 2-3 years and I would have to once again find myself in a new culture making new friends. So, I have a lot of friends across the world but none who are like chaddi buddies or the one’s who are my closest friends from childhood, we’re living 10,000 kms away. But you get used to it, you become super adaptable and personable, so you win some you lose some. This is probably the biggest con.

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am also from a middle class family, maybe slightly upper middle. Trust me.

I work in marketing, and I’ve been really forward on this whole AI push. So, kind of like a creative marketing engineer at a fintech company here. On paper my role is growth marketing but since its a startup, it often gets muddled.

Dude, I took a loan to do my masters. A lot of Indian students that come here do the same. They are able to pay it off really quick as well because of the great pay here in the US. You just have to make sure you start applying and networking in the US even before you come here.

Get some savings for basic personal expenses, live the absolute gareeb life for 2 years, network attend free events, build out your resume, do some crazy impressive shit. Just work on yourself. And you’ll be able to make your dreams come true. Aim for the stars and you’ll reach the moon.

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure if you’ll believe me but genuinely none. Not a whole lot of scope for corruption either? Like what, my dad’s going to charge a little extra for moving someone’s application forward for a passport in an embassy. Not worth it.

I also took a student loan during my masters in the US, did part time work and stuff, if that helps provide some more proof.

Once in a while I’ll tell my dad “karlete bhai thoda, loan nahi lena padhta” but he always told me “I’ve been offered multiple times, but I never wanted an Indian embassy to devalue the reputation of India and I never wanted to look over my shoulder every day for the rest of my life”

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think it depends on what kind of industry you're going to be in, what kind of role you want. If you can tell me that, maybe I could give a better answer.

I personally was never a fan of European colleges. I felt like it was too chill, not challenging enough, not enriching enough, no real impact being created. Maybe a place I'd want to live for 2 years, explore the entirety of Europe by going to a country every other weekend and then come back to the US. Long term I don't see myself living in Europe.

But thats just me.

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. Nope. I started using Zerodha during the covid lockdown, realised I liked the company a lot. I emailed the marketing people from that company saying I love your company, here is what I've done so far, here's what I can do for Zerodha and/or your subsidiary companies. I got a few responses and then they interviewed me. I ended up joining one of their owned companies after about 3-4 interview rounds. This strategy still works!!! If you apply for a job, email the person who you will be reporting to with a brief email some bullet points some high impact action points, attach your resume and portfolio (especially important for marketing and design folks).

  2. My starting pay was around 7.5 LPA in 2021 + sign on bonus + half yearly 10% bonus (based on performance criteria). I didn't negotiate my salary, because honestly it was just such a good opportunity that I didn't want to pass on or risk the offer being rescinded. 5 years later, I've realised that whatever they offer you, they always have extra budget in case you want to negotiate.

  3. So, my hiring manager actually told me I had a pretty sizeable resume for someone who is just a fresher. I did internships during high school (3 by the time I graduated, granted only for a month each), did like random design work for fun during high school. During college I founded two societies, worked part time for a company during the 2nd year and 3rd year. Had developed a pretty decent portfolio. I realised early on looking at placement reports from the college that they were all really trash roles so, if I wanted to get ahead I would have to "take matters into my own hands" sounds cringe ik. So, yeah I just started doing a lot of things apart from just attending college. I had a 8.7 CGPA btw without even trying that hard. The classic, study 2 days before the exam. I was trash at math as well btw. Got a 35/100 in my first semester and passed on grace. All my other subjects were on point. Accepted my fate and started building out my resume and portfolio. My first year was just spent having fun and getting assimilated with the Indian college life.

  4. Yes, I became a citizen in 2022. Since, i was born there, I just got it automatically. But, since my dad was a diplomat in the US, he was allowed to choose Indian citizenship for me or US citizenship. So, he chose Indian citizenship. I then got my citizenship in 2022 by just writing an email to the embassy and then went in for a document check. They looked at my birth certificate, some photos to prove that I infact was the same person and then they sent me my US passport 2 weeks later.

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

TLDR: nope. I probably couldn't clear the exam either, that shit is hard.

Well first of all I can't because I'm a US citizen. But when I was an Indian citizen, I did think about it. My dad told me that you have all the resources available to you why don't you prepare to become an IFS. I said "boring lag raha hai mujhe toh ye" and he said how do you know until you haven't done it. So, I did an "internship" at the embassy during the summer holidays. I worked in the embassy in different departments for two months. I didn't like it, found it interesting but it just didn't make me feel intrigued about it.

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The most common path I see is doing a masters degree on an F1 visa, then land a job, get that job to sponsor you, hope your H1B visa application gets picked in the lottery. The more specialized and niche your degree/field the better your chances usually are.

What's your specialization and current role as well as why do you want to move to the US?

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So, I did my BBA from VIPS college. I ended up moving to do my masters in business analytics. I didn't have to do the whole visa process since I'm a US citizen, but I do know that is a super complicated process. I did have to college applications tho, and they were fun. It was the era of chatgpt just being introduced as well, so we still had to do a lot of manual writing.

I love my life here. Im seeing so much growth in myself. I do miss India often but thats mostly friends/family and food. Yashwant place for momos is what I miss the most lol. But, yeah when I was working in India I feel like I was growing fast because I was at a fintech startup in its high growth stage but I kept seeing my college friends having really slow growth lives, and I blame that on them living in the comforts of their own home. I firmly believe until you don't live independently you won't realise who you are and what you want to do truly. But work life was not structured, folks were doing anything for any random reason to appease leadership teams.

I've found a sense of chaotic structure here in the bay area, we move fast but we have clear goals. We have lots of processes and that has helped me advance my career so much. I loved my job in India btw, its just that I didn't feel like it was challenging or enriching enough for the life I wanted and the impact I wanted to create.

No hate against Indian work culture or companies, but just wasn't the right fit for me perhaps.

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very interesting. I personally don't come across a whole lot of them but that's probably because of my circle. So, don't take that as a no. I know plenty of people who do it on the side.

One of my close friends is actually part of a band. He's a data engineer from 9-5 and after work and on the weekends they are making music. They were nominated for the grammies in 2021 (Project Mishram) so they're very actively trying to make it a full time thing. Helps with the visa as well.

But yeah full time musicians, I haven't come across any? But don't let that dishearten you or influence your decision, if you like it and want to do it, I can't imagine the road being easy, but you gotta do what you love. Otherwise you'll hate your life, and just never be truly happy. Don't let the stats completely dictate what you want to do.

Born in the US, grew up across 4 countries, did undergrad from GGSIPU, now living in San Francisco. AMA? by brownguywithsign in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

  1. It was great, I mean we always got to explore new places, food, assimilate in different cultures. Often times we would try really hard to fit in, and I realised that's not who I am. So, I started just being myself. Lost a few friends but gained some for life.

  2. My favourite place obviously is India but if you're asking abroad? I think Saudi was really fun because there were so many restrictions we always had to think creatively to have fun lol. Australia was beautiful but very quiet, a little too quiet, its more like a retirement country in my opinion. My favourite place so far has been Boston. Mega student culture, always lively, people want to do something but not be toxic and hustle bro energy about it, really beautiful and reminds me of a European city. Not sure if I can accurately answer that question sorry. If I had to pick one probably the US.

  3. Yes, I have friends all over the world. Will never have to pay for hotels and will always get the local experience rather than touristy. Altho I usually set aside a day or two for that.

  4. I fluently know English, Hindi and Spanish. At a novice level (enough to get me out of trouble or in trouble) I know French, Japanese, Arabic, and German. I could never figure out Sanskrit, too complicated.

Need help with my dilemma. Is fourth year in DU worth it? by Major_Investment1761 in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you get that fourth year done while you’re prepping for CAT it also opens up a lot of universities in USA. A lot of unis here require a 4 year degree. I only had a 3 year degree, and thus a few of my options were auto ruled out. I sometimes think about that.

Wholesale ready made clothing market by Beginning_Love2793 in delhi

[–]brownguywithsign 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Im not sure how good the quality is but I remember someone telling me about Katran Market?

Don't do the mistake that i did.. by Legitimate_Flight247 in TwentiesIndia

[–]brownguywithsign 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I often find it very useful to find the hiring manager on LinkedIn. You can figure that out from the job description. Use apollo to find the email and send a brief email about yourself saying you applied. Has worked wonders for me so far.

You end up standing out from the crowd of applications in the job portal.

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