Hacker News Reader

Comment by laughingman2 | Hacker News Reader

I have 2 years exp in medium sized product company (which has global market) in India. I have developed iOS apps, react app, web app in django (basically full stack). have experience in python, java, javascript and swift.

I applied for few good colleges (UCSD, UT Austin, Carnige Mellon, GATech, Arizona state) to specialize in Machine Learning in US.

Should I change my plans (I have to spend anywhere from 40-90 lakh RS to get MS in these colleges), is 130,000 $ too high for guy with my profile to work in a good product based or research oriented companies in US after graduating?

View on HN

ex-H1B here, You have good skills, once you graduate, you will have to depend on your luck to get into the H1B system currently.

Why don't you get MS from good universities in Canada and enter the express entry immigration system which values your skills unlike H1B system which depends on luck ?

Yeah Canada seems like a safer place for foreigners right now. US visas and even green cards are no longer worth as much because Trump has demonstrated he is willing to invalidate them at his whim.

Trump just now barred from entry (effectively deported) all visa holders (including H1-Bs) from 7 Muslim countries who happened to be outside the US for vacation when his Executive Order hit. He also tried to do the same to green card holders (but the courts stood up to him so he backpedaled).

$130k is a bit low for only 2 years of experience, but go deep in an area and you could get there. I think doubling down on React would be your best bet; the key is depth not breadth. (knowing Swift at a React job not really valuable; knowing Docker or hard-core backend - more than just building CRUD apps with Django - complements your React skills)

My day job is swift iOS development until recently. I learnt react redux etc etc for side project which I am doing. I have developed CRUD apps with some extra stuff like celery tasks , web sockets etc.

I am at a point where I can pick up new languages/frameworks in a breeze (Yet to learn how to do non trivial functional programming though).

Yeah I know key is depth, but I am interested in too many things :(.But industrial application of AI is my final goal, that is why I applied for MS in machine learning.

Personally I'd stick with learning ML and be poor for a few years :-) You'll be setting yourself up for the next 20 years instead of the next 2.

In the long run I think ML will explode, whereas strictly web technologies is either a race to the bottom that's highly competitive, or a never ending hamster wheel where you're chasing the latest framework.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com