Hello Taro Experts, I’m a 29-year-old iOS developer from Nepal with two years of experience. I currently work as an E3-level engineer at eSewa, a leading fintech company serving 8 million users. My background is in Development Studies (non-CS), but I’ve built my technical skills through work and self-learning. I aspire to work in Silicon Valley and see two possible paths: Gaining more experience at my current company. Joining a startup that could help me secure a U.S. visa. Additionally, I’m interested in pursuing a master's or PhD in a technical field at an Ivy League school (Stanford, Yale, MIT) but am unsure how to transition from a non-CS background. Given my background, what would be the best way to move to the U.S. for better career opportunities? Should I focus on job applications, further education, or another approach? Any guidance on how to position myself for success would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Your best chance of getting into the US is to work at a big established US company. Immigration is a very messy and expensive process in the US, so usually only bigger companies are able to afford it. For getting into these bigger tech companies, a lot of it will boil down to your experience. There's an initial downwards perception that foreign developers are generally weaker than the US-based talent pool, so you need to make sure your experiences, your narratives, and your coding skills are clear to your interviewers. That and the cost of the immigration means that the bar you're held by will be much higher. As an middle path, you could just switch to a company that's based in the US but has offices in other countries. You can get in for a non- US based office and then transfer to the US office. This will require less upfront effort when it comes to immigration, but will take more effort overall. I also wouldn't do a masters/phd at any school unless the company pays for me. The time and money invested is signficiantly less than the growth from just working hard.

Seeking Guidance on Moving to the USA for Better Opportunities.

iOS Developer at eSewa3 months ago

Hello Taro Experts,

I’m a 29-year-old iOS developer from Nepal with two years of experience. I currently work as an E3-level engineer at eSewa, a leading fintech company serving 8 million users. My background is in Development Studies (non-CS), but I’ve built my technical skills through work and self-learning.

I aspire to work in Silicon Valley and see two possible paths:

Gaining more experience at my current company.
Joining a startup that could help me secure a U.S. visa.

Additionally, I’m interested in pursuing a master's or PhD in a technical field at an Ivy League school (Stanford, Yale, MIT) but am unsure how to transition from a non-CS background.

Given my background, what would be the best way to move to the U.S. for better career opportunities? Should I focus on job applications, further education, or another approach? Any guidance on how to position myself for success would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

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44 Comments

Discussion

(4 comments)

2
Jonathan C
•Employee @ Robinhood
3 months ago
Your best chance of getting into the US is to work at a big established US company. Immigration is a very messy and expensive process in the US, so usually only bigger companies are able to afford it.

For getting into these bigger tech companies, a lot of it will boil down to your experience. There's an initial downwards perception that foreign developers are generally weaker than the US-based talent pool, so you need to make sure your experiences, your narratives, and your coding skills are clear to your interviewers. That and the cost of the immigration means that the bar you're held by will be much higher.

As an middle path, you could just switch to a company that's based in the US but has offices in other countries. You can get in for a non- US based office and then transfer to the US office. This will require less upfront effort when it comes to immigration, but will take more effort overall.

I also wouldn't do a masters/phd at any school unless the company pays for me. The time and money invested is signficiantly less than the growth from just working hard.
- 0
  iOS Developer [OP]
  •eSewa
  3 months ago
  Thank you
2
Rahul Pandey
•Tech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
3 months ago
A high-likelihood path to come to the US is to do a master's. Less time than a PhD, easier to get into, and will almost certainly lead to good job opportunities if you go to a top 20 school.

Since you're already interested in higher education, I would recommend this path.

This is one of the main benefits of a master's degree, as I mention here: Do I need to do masters in Computer Science to move ahead in career?
- 0
  iOS Developer [OP]
  •eSewa
  3 months ago
  Thank you.