Leaving the USA! Onwards to Kuwait :)

It has been a mix of both wonderful and sad moments during my 5 years stay in the US. I landed here in 2007 and graduated in 2009 with my Master's degree in Biotechnology completing a project that won applauds from my graduate committee. Having worked and gained research experience for almost 3 years in total after graduation, I was hoping for an opportunity to find a job and work in the US for a while longer. However, the economic crisis and the current political climate has made it very hard for students like me to get a job here especially in the biotechnology sector. As a result, I have to sadly leave the US now for maybe better opportunities in India or Kuwait.

Despite several interviews in the US, I was always turned down in the last minute because of work visa sponsorship and not because of my qualifications. Believe me, I am very good at what I do. I work hard and am very good at analyzing research data and producing results. I am even better at communicating my data and thoughts. However none of this matters if you don't have an employer who is willing to sponsor you a visa. This was definitely frustrating for me because this is something you cannot control. Moments like this makes you wonder why you ever struggled all your life to be a top ranked student throughout your academic career. I understand that nothing in life is handed to you, but needless to say I did really try hard using all available resources through networking, social media and job sites to send my resume far and wide. No luck.

The sad reality is that companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector are now increasingly moving away from hiring international students due to the work visa requirement and the immigration paperwork they have to file for such candidates. I was always offered opportunities to switch to the IT sector by way of Desi Consultancies who sponsor H1b's but I only wanted to get into the biotechnology sector and had no passion for IT despite my proficiency in computers and coding skills. Had I wanted to, I could have easily made the switch to IT and be earning top dollars living the American dream. However, a job in IT would never make me happy. The sad irony now is that I will have to give up on my hopes of ever getting into the biotech sector and switch to something else because the field is still grossly underpaid and in its nascent stages in India while it is almost non-existent in Kuwait.

Some people always ask me, "If biotech is your passion, why don't you do a PhD?"  Well, I can't envision myself spending almost 6 years in committing to a PhD and then pursue another 3-5 years for a postdoc only to find out that there are plenty of others already out there with such qualifications.

My time to depart the US is approaching slowly and I will be dearly missing some of the best moments I had in this country and regret that I can't be here a while longer. However, I view everything as an opportunity and am sure life will be brighter for me in the upcoming months.

To all my friends who I had great times with and had the pleasure of meeting, please do keep in touch. It was a great ride, but it has to come to an end.

Kamal

Finished my Degree - Now what?

Yeah I did it! After 2 years of struggling with coursework and an internship that never seemed to end, I have done it. I got a degree. MS in Biotechnology from the University of Utah. Sounds nice! What is left for me to do now? Will I get a job? I don't know. I know one thing, I got a good education not only in terms of coursework, but by working in labs, staying in the US and mainly analyzing myself.

The thing is, I have always enjoyed being a student. The pleasures of being a student abroad especially is not easy to be written about in a blog. It has to be experienced from the first culture shock, learning (or rather I say burning ;) ) to cook, taking delight in the smallest accomplishments and the final sense of belonging to both worlds.

However, I can say this. The friends you make at this point in your life are going to be some of your best friends forever. And I believe I have been blessed. My facebook account says I have 200+ friends, but I know better. I have a small number of friends in actuality. But these friends, friends I laughed with, worked with and studied with will always be there for me. Thats what makes me happy.

Getting a job? I know its hard. I know its harder in this current economy. I know its harder because biotechnology is a rigid field that supports people who have PhD's and postdoc experience. But, I am hopeful. I know I have the skills. I know that I am qualified and circumstances beyond my control decide my fate. If that is the case, I shall face it. I will never lose hope. I will never lose my spirit. And that my friends, is what keeps me going . Because, at the end of the day, life is all about your experiences, the things you have learnt and your interactions with people. I will always cherish those traits.

Sayonara

Kamal

Life's subtle changes

Whew! Its been a long time folks! Work and academics kept me busy for a while now and now I am happy to be finally done with coursework.

A lot has happened since I last blogged. I left my old lab at HCI and have now joined a new lab in the Cardiology dept. where new research possibilities await! I also went for a long vacation back to Kuwait in the summer. Seeing your family and getting a chance to poke jabs at your kid brother is a real stress buster. On a more happy note, my first publication as a third author in PNAS came about this year.

Now comes the hard part! Looking for jobs, gaining experience trying to settle. Its still an adventure, but hopefully things will go smooth.

Adios!

Kamal

Earphones earphones everywhere!

Have you noticed how today almost every youngster has earphones on their ears? 10 years ago when I was a high schooler, mp3 players were considered really expensive and was not in the reach of the common man. However, technology has changed so much that you can now get a decent player for less than $10. The end result of this is that now almost every person I meet has earphones stuck on their ear.

However I wish to tell you something here. Prolonged use of earphones is dangerous. This might sound disgusting, but I would like to share it with you guys. A few months ago, my hearing on the right ear started diminishing a little. I started feeling a block in the ear. Busy with academics, I neglected it as a small issue. Upon consulting with an ENT specialist, I got the shock of my life. I had a huge wax impaction inside my ear canal. The first question the doctor asked me was, "Do you use earphones regularly on your mp3 player?" 

Nature it seems, the doctor told me, has a way of pushing out wax from the ear naturally as you eat, talk and do normal things in life. However, earphones block the exit for this natural process.In addition, earphones deliver sound closer to your eardrum. While this leads to good sound reproduction, it significantly damages your eardrum over course of time. The solution? Use headphones! They might seem odd and heavy to carry around. But trust me! Your ears will thank you.

And oh! What happened to my ears you ask? After using medicated eardrops and warm water irrigation into the ear, the problem went away. I quit earphones now and have switched to Bose's headphones.

Kamal

Skipping meals!

Skipping meals seems to be the norm of students these days. Sadly, despite knowing the evil effects of skipping meals, students continue to induldge in this mistake. I must admit, I am not exempt from this practice either.

So why do we do it? Simple! Laziness coupled with improper time management. I must admit that Indians in particular were spoilt as kids by their parents. We used to be cared for, provided for and be scolded to eat our meals on time by Mom. In a stark contrast, when we start to stay single away from home, we tend to think only of work and skip meals.

• All it takes is a little effort. Sleep on time! I try to do this but I always seem to have some work on hand. :( 
• Try to eat simple things to satisfy your appetite. Those days of getting rich foods from Mom is over! Get over it! 
• Avoid improper meals at improper times. I learnt this the hard way. Eating food at 4.30pm after skipping breakfast and lunch will leave your body confused about dinner.
• Get unhooked from the internet. It spoils your routine.

I paid a heavy price for skipping meals a few months back when I developed migraine as a result of prolonged starvation. The symptoms started interfering with my life and I had to seek medical consultation and now I am on tablets to help control it. So please! Don't make the mistake I made. Eat healthy, Be healthy.

Kamal

My laptop woes

Any Indian living in the USA will tell you how difficult life is in the US without a laptop. I came to realize it after my laptop gave up on me one fine morning. :(

Dell - a company revered to be one of the best laptop makers was my choice when I purchased my first laptop. The Inspiron 1420 from Dell served me really well for my entire first year in the USA. However, laptops these days have an uncanny ability to die after your warranty ends. My laptop started to freeze with a corrupted screen and I couldn't work on it anymore. For the video link of the description click here.

I was hesitant about making my call to customer service after hearing about the ensuing horror stories that many customers faced from "Mr.Smith", "Josh" or "Bryan" as their service technician. An almost perfect American accent will wither off once an Indian talks to the customer support I guess :P.  So anyways, the first guy tells me my warranty is about to expire and I would have to extend it. Eager to get this settled first, I paid a substantial amount to extend my warranty for three years. Then I get connected to a lady who asked me if I tried rebooting the system. (Duh!) And then, I get connected to XXX(name protected). Now, this guy says I might have problems with my drivers. Okay, so he connected remotely to my computer, uninstalls and reinstalls my drivers and gave me his personal number to call incase I experience the problem again. Sure enough, I got the problem the next day. I make the call, he does the same thing again. The problem repeats itself on the 3rd day. Finally, the technician says he thinks I have a problem with my NVIDIA video card (you think huh!?). He sends me a box next day to pack the laptop off to God knows where and assures me that it will be fixed. All said, I have to say though that this technician is one of the nicer guys I talked to among others. He was patient in listening to my problems and assures me that I need not worry over my investment with Dell. However, only time will tell whether he was genuine or it was a marketing tactic to get me to stay with Dell.

For now, I advise people to avoid Dell and HP. They are both crap in build quality of laptops when compared to the likes of Sony, Toshiba and Lenovo. That said, I do value other people's thoughts on this matter! What do you think?

Kamal 

My iPhone

Some say its too expensive and some say it lacks the features that a phone needs today.  However, there is no denying the fact that Apple revolutionized the mobile phone industry with the release of the iPhone. Featuring a large capacitive touchscreen, Apple demonstrated an innovative way to communicate with the world by using man's most primitive form of interaction - touching. Apart from that, Apple included an accelerometer, a small addition that rotates the screen as you move the phone. Features like these led to an explosion of applications to be developed for the iPhone. From games to dictionaries, the Apple Appstore has them all.

One thing I dont like about Apple however is their strict policy of safeguarding their phone for their own good. Jailbreaking (as many of you have heard) is the term used to describe freeing the phone from Apple's clutches so you can install custom themes, software that is not allowed on the Appstore etc.

I purchased an iPhone 2G - 16Gb version from eBay in Fall 2008. It was unlocked, by a method known as Ziphone developed by Zibri. However, Ziphone is a flawed unlock method that can only work on Firmware 1.1.4. Using the software available from the iPhone Dev team, I upgraded the firmware to 2.2, unlocked the phone and jailbroke it. Till date I am very happy with my iPhone. It is almost my second laptop and has become an indispensable gadget for my survival.

What are your thoughts? Do you think the iPhone is indeed a great device or just overhyped? Let me know! :) Please feel free to comment!

Kamal