Is joining a consultancy the only option for Indians on OPT who don't have a lot of work experience or amazing academics

Bectran / Eng
OgrT60

Bectran Eng

OgrT60
Aug 9, 2021 40 Comments

#workvisa #sde #jobhunt
Hi guys,
As the title says I only have about 2 years of work experience as a software engineer. About 1.5 years as a associate software engg back in India and about 6 months as a software engg in the US.

I graduate in May 2020 from a okay university with average grades. I applied a lot and barely got any interviews for 6,7 months after graduation. Finally got a offer from a small company with lots of negative reviews on Glassdoor but took it anyway, hoping to get some experience and move to a better company in 6 months.

Turns out the company I joined was worse than what I expected. Constant overwork, toxic work environment. I barely got any time to LeetCode, and therefore hadn't been actively applying. After getting my STEM Extension approved I quit my job and I'm now actively looking for a new role, but from what I've observed I'm only getting contacted by consultancies. Getting a lot of rejects from companies that I apply to for full time roles and direct messages to recruiters on LinkedIn are ignored.

What can I do to make my resume more attractive to recruiters. I'm working on a modern full stack mooc course building spa's with React, Express, GraphQL & Mongo, to improve my skills in those areas.

I'm loosing my unemployment days, I gave myself a 1 month target but it seems difficult to find a role in 1 month.

Edit:
I got additional 60 days of unemployment through my STEM extension upon the initial 90 days you get from the 1 year OPT. So in total 150 days of unemployment from which I have about 130 days left.

If anyone can give any resume feedback let me know and I can DM it to you,

Also if anyone can refer me to their company/team please DM me, I can share my resume and other details. Primarily my work experience has been as a SDE with a little bit of QA and DevOps. I'm mostly looking for SDE role but I'm open to SRE, DevOps and QA as well.

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TOP 40 Comments
  • Roblox
    r/sunday

    Go to company page Roblox

    r/sunday
    Why did you leave your job, before getting the next one?
    Aug 9, 2021 6
    • Bectran / Eng
      OgrT60

      Bectran Eng

      OgrT60
      OP
      Thank you @r/sunday, I will definitely pick up some AWS or GCP certs, Currently I'm in Illinois, I will try the Bay Area address trick as well.
      Aug 9, 2021
    • New / Data
      a_j14

      New Data

      a_j14
      Focus on #4 & #5 more
      Aug 21, 2021
  • Cisco / Eng
    🍎& 🍊

    Go to company page Cisco Eng

    🍎& 🍊
    Here are the things I would do if I were in your shoes -
    1. Get anything quick to maintain status
    2. Start applying like 10 jobs/day - Apply satisfactory(differentiated) and skill specific jobs - not limiting the programming language - You can learn on the job - problem solving and systems is what companies look for.
    3. Push hard to brush up fundamentals and LC
    4. Repeat 3 until I get satisfactory job.

    PS :- I had 60 days and was able to make it happen not long ago .
    Aug 9, 2021 2
    • New
      LC_TC_GC

      New

      LC_TC_GC
      H1b layoff?
      Aug 9, 2021
    • Cisco / Eng
      🍎& 🍊

      Go to company page Cisco Eng

      🍎& 🍊
      Yes, Was in the same company for 8 years and product was doing good.
      I was rusty and lazy .
      A family of 4 dependent on me, It was very difficult for a week to digest and 3 weeks into the situation started getting traction.
      Aug 9, 2021
  • I was in a similar situation 3 years back. I was pushed out of a job in a small and not so good company when I was in my OPT after 5 months of work. At that time, I had applied and interviewed left and right just to end up getting a contract position. (Staffing firm with minimal benefits and no PTOs). I had to join it just to stay afloat. After a year of working there, I started applying and preparing. I faced multiple rejections for more than a year to finally end up a good full time role.

    So I would suggest you to take up anything for now and keep preparing. I know it sucks but you gotta take it head on.
    Aug 9, 2021 4
    • Roku
      Kagz01

      Go to company page Roku

      Kagz01
      My friend is in the same boat. What consulting company you can suggest to land a contracting job at Big companies in software engineering?
      Aug 9, 2021
    • My staffing firm did file for an H-1B. There are a few decent ones. DM me if you'd like to know more.
      Aug 9, 2021
  • Amazon / Eng
    indianGai

    Go to company page Amazon Eng

    PRE
    Tata Consultancy Services
    indianGai
    Bruh you are in a tough spot. Try actively pinging hiring manager in linkedin. Just send a connection request with a prompt on your experience. Keep applying day and night until you have interview lined up. Take a rest on applying while you have interviews lined up.
    Aug 9, 2021 1
    • Bectran / Eng
      OgrT60

      Bectran Eng

      OgrT60
      OP
      Is there an easy way to find out the hiring managers for a company. I know some of them actually mention that they are hiring in their bio but most just have a basic manager title so hard to tell. I try contacting engineers from the company and ask them if they can share the names of any HM's, which works sometimes
      Aug 9, 2021
  • Ford
    yeeelo

    Go to company page Ford

    yeeelo
    Ford is hiring a lot in India…. Good luck
    Aug 9, 2021 1
    • Bectran / Eng
      OgrT60

      Bectran Eng

      OgrT60
      OP
      I'm looking for a role in US, I actually gave a interview for Ford through a consultancy and was selected, but they baited me with a Java role and switched it to C++ during interview, plus as I'm not too keen on indian consultancies, I told them I'm not interested in the offer at the moment.
      Aug 9, 2021