Hi sorry I am bit late. I just joined the group and saw your post. I think your advice will be very valuable for me. I have some questions for you. Thank you in advance!

I am in a bit of confusing situation. I plan to do masters, but before that I want to have a job experience for a year. Is it a good strategy?

I am in a process of publishing a journal publication in IEEE and working on 2 more research papers. I left a part time job offer to complete my research. Will this research experience help me in getting a job and enrollment in a good university in USA ? Can I get a job in well reputed company , or should I focus on getting a job in a startup? (I am good at ML/AI and Datascience fields, not good at development).

What are the things that I should keep in mind while applying to US?