I just moved to the Seattle area and like it so far. It's very scenic and cool so far temperature-wise (although getting warmer over the years from what I read). I have family here, but even if I didn't, it'd be a strong candidate because of the weather (I'm ok with cloudy and cool), nature/scenery, and the tech industry. Housing is quite expensive though so raising kids may be more difficult...
For immigration to the US, I don't think an origin of the Netherlands qualifies you for an special visas, but it's also not an 'impacted' country where there are backlogs several years (decades) for immigration in some categories. If you've got a masters degree, that may help you qualify in some visa categories that might speed up processing.
If you don't have any family connections, you're likely to need an employer to sponsor you, but because you're not from China, India, Mexico, or the Philippines, the process shouldn't take forever, if you have an employer willing to go through the process.
A typical path is to work for a multinational employer somewhere you've got work authorization, with an intent to transfer to the US at some point, and then work towards a green card (permanent residency) and maybe citizenship. The US immigration process is really too slow (and random, if you're coming in through H-1B) to hire fresh grads from other countries directly into the US.
It would be hard finding someone willing to sponsor, since they can just hire a local.
Getting to a good position where you can ask to be relocated seems to be really hard too (correct me if I'm wrong).
Overall the US seems to not be a good option for me, since I completed my masters here. It might be if you study your master degree in the US, since it makes immigrating much easier.
I mean, (when they're hiring) all the big techs are hiring from wherever they can. Local is great, across the country is great, outside the country is fine too. Really big tech can do stuff like hire you, have you work near where you are or somewhere that's easy to get visas for, and sponsor you to apply for H-1B when the lottery opens every year until you win or they can apply under another category (I think there's a category for 'important overseas manager' which sometimes they'll do). Then once you're here, I think it's relatively straightforward to get on the path to a greencard, if the employee wants to sponsor that.
Getting directly hired seems hard; H-1B requires application by early April and if you win the lottery, you can't start until October. I'm not sure many employers will be willing to do that. Maybe if you can WFH in the meantime? Other work visas might not have the same application -> start times, but are still a bit of a random wait on immigration processing, which could be denied.
Getting a masters in the US is a good pathway to immigration though, yes. You can work under OPT after graduation, and you have time to mingle and maybe find a spousal sponsor ;) But it's probably too late for that.
I got in the easy way, through birth, so I don't have direct experience. But I wouldn't suggest you rule it out for sure. I think there's also a 'diversity visa' you can apply for, and they might draw your name out of a hat. I know someone who got in that way. But I know a lot of immigrants because I worked at big tech companies, and they're a magnet for immigrants.
I'm just getting into robotics with a background in software and I ended up choosing the Isaac Sim platform/ecosystem (https://docs.omniverse.nvidia.com/isaacsim/latest/index.html) and Jetbot (https://jetbot.org/master/) since they seem suited for neural networks and reinforcement learning. So far getting up and running with the simulation side hasn't been too bad and there is a model for the Jetbot in Isaac Sim since it's also by Nvidia. I haven't started on the hardware side so can't speak on that. The downside for some might be it's proprietary and Jetbot itself is a bit out of date and nearing end of life support.
You'll be better served with a more capable platform. You can either 3d print it, or you can pick up something like the WaveRover from Waveshare. It's a solid metal frame with geared motors and differential drive. For ~$100 you won't get much better.
You just need to pop in 3x18650 batteries in the chassis and connect a Jetson nano to the UART pins. It has an ESP32 inside, so you can also program that, but it comes programmed out of the box.
I'd probably wait for the Meta Quest 3 to come out to use with your PC since it'll probably be the best bang for your buck. If you want an alternative to Meta or something more futuristic then the Big Screen Beyond is looking very interesting. You'll have to buy tracking base stations and controllers separately with the Big Screen Beyond so it'll be considerably more expensive. I'd also wait for some reviews although preliminary first impressions on YouTube are promising.
I'll second/third this. When I was interested in becoming a manager, I talked to my manager about it and developed a long term plan to make the transition. This included stuff like going through internal company courses on management and incrementally taking on management-type responsibilities and tasks. I ended up changing my mind, but I'd say your manager can be a good resource for making that transition.
I've had a lot more success programming in the morning before going into the office. There might not be as much potential time to work, but I've found myself making more progress getting 30 minutes done a day every day than the intermittent multi-hour blocks I'd program when I had enough energy/motivation after coming home from work.
A nifty trick. It is also not just about the hours you can get out, but also about getting some premium hours with focus and flow. If you do it in the morning you have more of these for your own product instead of for your day job.
Hey Arjun this is Irvin, Chacko's friend from UT, cool seeing your comment here. To be somewhat on topic :-) I went to LSMSA the Louisiana equivalent and am also appreciative of the school and the community it created. It definitely introduced me to computer science much earlier than I would have otherwise...
Palo Alto (California and El Camino), Engineers, Full Time
Udacity is leading the way in massively open online courses by delivering quality higher education to people all around the world. We have new and exciting technology and classes in the pipeline and we need great engineers to help shape this movement.
Palo Alto (California and El Camino), Engineers, Full Time
Udacity is leading the way in massively open online courses. We started with http://www.ai-class.com and took the lessons learned from that experience to build http://www.udacity.com/, a website delivering quality higher education to people all around the world. We have new and exciting technology and classes in the pipeline and we need great engineers to help shape this movement. Check us out at http://www.udacity.com/ and feel free to send me a message if you're interested/have questions ih@udacity.com.
