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