EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
General => General Technical Chat => Topic started by: fenclu on August 04, 2013, 05:10:25 pm
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Hi
I'm about two years from studies. I basically settled on Wroclaw University of Technology, which is pretty much the best technical university in Poland but it took 412th place in global rankings. I basically wish to get my master's degree in electronics and possibly mechanics. My plan is to work for some time in Poland and then head abroad, hopefully to the USA. The thing is that my future university is 400 places below some of the best american universities. The question is, do I have a chance of getting a good job in the USA after studying in Poland?
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I don't think the ranking of the university is the most important thing in trying to get a decent job, especially in "engineering" type jobs. In fact, I would personally avoid employers who put "which university did you study at" before "what can you do/have you done" in their decisions to hire someone.
Trying to get into the US of course brings a whole bunch of other issues (e.g. getting the appropriate visa), but a company willing to hire you is likely going to take care of this for you, or at least provide plenty of help.
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Why go to the US? You'll be in for a major culture shock. Besides that there are enough jobs for engineers in Europe.
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Culture shock in the US? Please explain.
I would say to just make sure that your work experience in Poland is solid and your English is proficient and finding a position in the US should come. You might have to move before you find something though as I think that it would be a stretch for a US company to fly you over for an interview.
I think the easiest path would be to come over on a student visa at a university, get a masters or start a phd and they go through the interviewing process.
I read the energy micro/silabs has a office in Krakow, sounds like a good job...
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Why go to the US? You'll be in for a major culture shock. Besides that there are enough jobs for engineers in Europe.
I know of at least one unemployed engineer right now. If your goal is to get a job I'd say you're better off trying with one of the European companies. If your goal is to obtain US citizenship through working in the US it might take longer than what you're willing to wait. You might also have to deal with the possibility of getting a job and then losing that job and being forced to return to Poland, because if you're here on a work visa and you're not working you'll have to go home within a certain period of time.
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I also had a similar plan (and also the same university as OP by the way). To work for a few years and then go to some more civilized place. I'd rather look at UK or "mostly english speaking" countries like Netherlands (correct me if I'm wrong).
Also, I think that getting a visa to US is easier when you are going to be an educated and productive tax payer (as opposed to non english speaking minimum wage worker).
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I also had a similar plan (and also the same university as OP by the way). To work for a few years and then go to some more civilized place. I'd rather look at UK or "mostly english speaking" countries like Netherlands (correct me if I'm wrong).
Also, I think that getting a visa to US is easier when you are going to be an educated and productive tax payer (as opposed to non english speaking minimum wage worker).
You're right about electronics companies in the Netherlands being mostly English speaking. I did a couple of years at NXP and English was the official language. I wanted to learn some Dutch but everywhere I went people wanted to practice their English,
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Culture shock in the US? Please explain.
Not to sound rude or anything, but the US is _very_ different from Poland. Culture shock. Yes.
Not necessarily a bad thing, but it sure is a lot of stress on top of trying to focus on your job (or studies).
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Culture shock in the US? Please explain.
Not to sound rude or anything, but the US is _very_ different from Poland. Culture shock. Yes.
Not necessarily a bad thing, but it sure is a lot of stress on top of trying to focus on your job (or studies).
I didn't consider it rude, I was just curious. I'm from the US and was just wonder what some of the big differences are? Culture shock and being homesick are two different things though.
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Ahh, yes, I'm aware of the culture shock. I can assure you, Poland is nowhere near the US in terms of living comfort. I'd have trouble calling Poland a civilisation, but anyway...I'm a fluent english speaker, so that's not a problem. I also hope to learn German soon.
A basic reason for the US i guess is the fact, that it's one of the best places for starting a business, which I intend to do one day. Don't get me wrong, I have considered European countries, possibly even Australia (though it's thinking far into the future).
I don't think I'm thinking as a usual engineer. I love the industry, after all, I'm a hobbyist, but at the same time money is a giant factor for me. I do like business and economics, I'd like to play the stock market, aquire assets, make some investments, as well as doing electronics design. I'm also a giant car freak, it has always been my dream to be a mechanical engineer, doing car design etc. That's why, I want to make two master's degrees.
So yeah, lots of dilemas...
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In my opinion, it is much more important to find a school with good, topical extracurriculars like a robotics team, solar car competition, or even good undergraduate research (though try to find something that resembles what you want to do once you graduate.) That also means the curriculum needs to give you enough time to participate in the extra stuff, which is ironically often a problem at the higher ranked schools! These kinds of activities tend to have good ties to the industry as well; great "networking".
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I also had a similar plan (and also the same university as OP by the way). To work for a few years and then go to some more civilized place. I'd rather look at UK or "mostly english speaking" countries like Netherlands (correct me if I'm wrong).
In the Netherlands the chance of running into someone not able to speak English is small. Don't expect that from other parts of Europe though. Especially the parts where they speak Italian, French or German.
@fenclu: if you are grazy about car engineering then you should move to the NL. In the south (around Eindhoven) there is a lot of car related R&D going on.
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If you want to work in the US, do whatever you can to go to graduate school there. I'd suggest emphasizing research and teaching skills (which of course you will need to de-emphasize later so you can do actual work).
Another approach would be to work for a US multinational with an operation in or near Poland... such as Google... in which case, work on your software skills.
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Working in a multinational company is good, because corporations tend to waaay more than your average employer. Whis makes it a good base stabilize your finances and gather resources for moving to another country.
Bad thing is, that in almost all cases company will not be willing to move you from Poland to US, because labor is cheaper in Poland an d companies generally tend to move everything they can to central Europe (a good compromise between cost, distance and cultural barrier). For a comparison: 90% of people you meet on a street will tell you, that $1k/month after tax is what they consider a good sallary. Now tell me - is it economically sound for a company to move you into US or other country?
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Not good, decent.
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I also had a similar plan (and also the same university as OP by the way). To work for a few years and then go to some more civilized place. I'd rather look at UK or "mostly english speaking" countries like Netherlands (correct me if I'm wrong).
In the Netherlands the chance of running into someone not able to speak English is small. Don't expect that from other parts of Europe though. Especially the parts where they speak Italian, French or German.
@fenclu: if you are grazy about car engineering then you should move to the NL. In the south (around Eindhoven) there is a lot of car related R&D going on.
DAF is in Eindhoven as well.