u/neatlyripeavocado

I’m an early-career SDE (~2 years at a large US tech company) with an MS in CS from a US university, 3 IEEE publications, and ~48 citations.
I’ve started building my O-1A profile, including volunteering as a judge, but honestly O-1A doesn’t feel very doable at this point in my career. I have one H-1B lottery opportunity left, and my F-1 status expires only ~3–4 months after the lottery results.
For people who’ve been in a similar situation, what would you recommend as a realistic path to stay in the US?
Should I keep trying to strengthen O-1A, pursue another F-1/CPT route?
Would especially appreciate advice from people who had ~2–3 years of experience.