u/Best_Location_8237

My background -

I'm a 2022 grad. I've been planning for Fall 2026 Masters in CS since last year.
I currently have an admit from UC Irvine for MCS (non thesis CS masters) for this fall (I have a visa interview scheduled in the 1st week of Sept.)

For the past 4 years I have been working at a fairly large/well-known American company. I got promoted a few months ago and so I'm currently making north of 45 LPA here in India.

For the longest time I was sure I wanted to pursue a Masters in the US - the variety of opportunities for both personal and career growth are unmatched anywhere in the world.

Also a major major personal motivating factor for me being able to work and live abroad for a few years (don't really want to stay permanently).

However, the all the policy changes and confusion regarding International students, plus the experiences of people who've gone in previous years (specifically folks who went last year - most ppl I know haven't gotten an internship) is making me double think about my choices.

Not sure how much the degree is inherently valuable (UCI is a T25 uni, but not T5 or T10) so I think ROI is definitely a factor to consider.

So not quite sure what to do. Personally I have enough savings to be able to pay like 90%+ of the (tution fee + living expenses) from my own account without asking my parent for money. So I don't really run the risk of drowning in debt (although I would lose my savings ofcourse).

At the same time I know people (friends/acquaintances) that have gotten jobs in Europe and Asia Pacific simply applying from India - so I have been doing that as well for a few weeks now (although that obviously takes time to work)

TLDR - Really wanted to go to US for masters originally - a major goal was working abroad for bit; but scared by the current situation and not entirely sure what to do.......

I understand this is a personal decision at the end of the day, but just wanted to put this out there for some opinions.
u/gradPilot, hope you could help, please.

So a bit about me:
I graduated with a CS and Mechanical Engineering double major in 2023. Wanted to go into robotics, but was heavily in debt at the time and took the first job that came my way (Web dev/ full Stack dev).
Its been 3 yrs now and so I have both paid off my student loans and have a little saved up.
Now here's my problems:

Web dev is getting really boring (Or atleast I find it to be) Its not that interesting of a job to begin with and that's without talking about AI.
AI: I don't think Software Engineers as a whole are going anywhere but web dev definately is in danger.
Basically these are just a couple reasons that I want to go back to robotics. However not sure how to make this change now. A lot of robotics start-ups will probably straight up dismiss my resume based on the last 3 yrs of work experience.
What actions can I talk to mitigate or change this? Would masters (say in Robotics) be a good idea?
One obvious thing is to built a few personal projects - but not sure how far that goes...

So a bit about me:
I graduated with a CS and Mechanical Engineering double major in 2023. Wanted to go into robotics, but was heavily in debt at the time and took the first job that came my way (Web dev/ full Stack dev).
Its been 3 yrs now and so I have both paid off my student loans and have a little saved up.
Now here's my problems:

Web dev is getting really boring (Or atleast I find it to be) Its not that interesting of a job to begin with and that's without talking about AI.
AI: I don't think Software Engineers as a whole are going anywhere but web dev definately is in danger.
Basically these are just a couple reasons that I want to go back to robotics. However not sure how to make this change now. A lot of robotics start-ups will probably straight up dismiss my resume based on the last 3 yrs of work experience.
What actions can I talk to mitigate or change this? Would masters (say in Robotics) be a good idea?
One obvious thing is to built a few personal projects - but not sure how far that goes...

So a bit about me:
I graduated with a CS and Mechanical Engineering double major in 2023. Wanted to go into robotics, but was heavily in debt at the time and took the first job that came my way (Web dev/ full Stack dev).
Its been 3 yrs now and so I have both paid off my student loans and have a little saved up.
Now here's my problems:

Web dev is getting really boring (Or atleast I find it to be) Its not that interesting of a job to begin with and that's without talking about AI.
AI: I don't think Software Engineers as a whole are going anywhere but web dev definately is in danger.
Basically these are just a couple reasons that I want to go back to robotics. However not sure how to make this change now. A lot of robotics start-ups will probably straight up dismiss my resume based on the last 3 yrs of work experience.
What actions can I talk to mitigate or change this? Would masters (say in Robotics be a good idea?)
One obvious thing is to built a few personal projects - but not sure how far that goes...

Whenever I try logging into the account its giving me errors saying the answers to my security questions are wrong.
How do I move forward?
Is there a way to get the security questions updated or changed?
Is there a way to contact support for this? Speaking of which, how do we contact support?

So I had created an account last year, but the passport is now expired.

I don't see a way on the site to update the passport details.

What can I do in this situation?
Please help?
Is it ok to go ahead with an expired passport and then later get it changed at the VAC location?

So I graduated from a CS masters about a year ago (worked as a dev for 4 yrs before that as well) and been working as a SWE for the past year. Currently I'm kind of bored with my job and I have recently developed an interest in Robotics, so I'm thinking of exploring a job in that domain.
However I am not sure on how to make that transition (I've only ever worked with SaaS type stuff).

The most logical thing seems to be to do a masters in Robotics. Only other option I can think of is to move to a Big Tech sort of company that has a Robotics division (Rainforest has a pretty big one I guess) and make a lateral move in that direction (this seems hard to do)

However I don't really wanna leave my job in the current market either. So I'm mainly looking at a few good online Masters programmes.
MEng Robotics at Johns Hopkins,
MS Robotics at WPI
and Maybe the Robotics specification in Georgia Tech's OMSCS.

The GaTech one is the cheapest but seems closer to a MSCS (and do not want to do that coz I already have one).

So I guess my basically question is, how do I transition from a SWE to a Robotics Software sort of role. Which might be the quickest feasible path. And would love it if anyone here has made a a similar career transition and how you did so.

A background about me:
I have a bachelors and a masters in Mechanical Engineering.
Back during the peak of the Software hiring boom in Covid I was out of a job and kind of in a hole financially and basically took the first job I could get (Software dev.). It's been almost 4 years working this role. It pays well and has pretty good WLB, however I'm kind of not fulfilled with the role (not sure how to explain this - SaaS isn't that interesting).
Off late, I have been doing some online courses related to SLAM and software platforms like ROS and such. Really found them interesting. And I want to transition back to something more rewarding.
So my question is, how transition into the Robotics field? Both the software and mechanical domains seem interesting to me.
The best option I can think is to do a masters in Robotics... I'm still young (under 30) and that seems like a great way to transition.
Another option that I thought of was to move to a FAANG type company (easier said than done) and transition internally to their Robotics focused divisions.
Or maybe there's a third path.
Why love to know the thoughts of this community and if someone here has done something like this before?

I currently have about 4 years of work experience working as a SDE at a mid sized American company in Bangalore. Mainly work with Java. However, for reasons of personal interest, I feel like I want into something closer to the metal. Basically, want to move into embedded development. I enjoyed classes that dealt with these concepts a lot during college. Currently I can think of mainly one way to make this happen.
Mostly through masters abroad.
Beyond that, maybe join a FAANG or something and internally transfer.
Would love any suggestions or tips about this. And if anyone here did a similar transition?

Especially any international students? Had some concerns related to the programme specific to internationals. Hope we can connect.

In particular any international students?

Hi reddit,

So I little about me.

Acad profile: 2nd gen IIT, 9/8/8 GEM

I have about 3 years of work experience, currently working as an SWE 2 at a FAANG-adjacent company, making about 40 LPA (Base 34 + RSUs)

I'm a little conflicted about whether to do MBA or not. (I'm mainly thinking for IIM ABC/ISB lvl schools) - I understand this is a little bit of a counting your chickens before they hatch kind of situation going on here.

I am earning well right now and I fine being in a technical role, however I'm a bit concerned about career/salary stagnation later down the road.
I understand the salaries at IIM ABC/ISB are not that much more than what I'm currently making but from all account MBA pays off later down the line (like a decade later) when executive and C-suite roles open up. Particularly if you can land frontend consulting/PE roles. So like long term gain.
So I'm wondering whether I should prepare for CAT and try this year. Reason I'm asking beforehand is that CAT prep will be a major time commitment that I would only do if I'm fully committed to going ahead with MBA.
I would love to know your guys opinion on this. Especially if there are any current or former IIM alumna here.