CAUTION !! Industrial Automation Engineers who dream to work in USA

Well they say USA is a land of opportunities ! Thats why i left my good profile job (I would have been an Engineering Manager by now in my company) in India and came to USA to explore and accept new challanges in the United States.
But now after working here for almost 3 years i am totally frustrated and planning to go back to India or shift to Information Technology.

Guys working at Top industrial automation companies in India,if you are planning to come to work in USA think again. Here is my experience.

=> India has much more opportunities in Industrial Automation as she is on fast track of development and USA is already a developed country.

=>Most of the products available in US market are manufactured at sweat shops in china where labour is very cheap so very few
manufacturing industries are left here that means very few job opportunities.

=>The industries which are left here dont know even what H1B visa is so forget about H1B Visa sponsership.Top players in Industrial automation market such as AB,GE,Modicon,Invensys,Honeywell,Wonderware,Intellution,Genesis and others ask for USA citizenship or Green card and very rarely sponser Visas.

=>I guess after Information Technology boom (1995 onwards) very few Engineers who are American Citizens or Greencard Holders have opted for career in Industral Automation, So if you have about 2-5 years of experience then you have to compete with last generation guys who have more than 10-15 years of experience + They have citizenship or Greencard so your claim for job becomes very weak !

=>Rest of the companies such as System Integrators/Mom and Pop shops dont sponser visas and evenif someone sponsers you (Typical Salary they pay around USD 40k-50k which is very very low) its totally different working atmosphere compared to Top companies you used to work before, so if you are unalbe to adjust to it you will get
nothing but frustration.

=>If you are planning to work as a consultant through some Indian company,its difficult to find projects one after another.one of my friend waited for 6 months and then went back to India with nothing but frustration.

=>Forget about managerial positions in USA. your job profile may also include Panel wiring,Making AutoCAD drawings which is generally done by technicians and not engineers in India.Also most of the projects are upgradtaion to existing Hardware/Software and retrofitting so
lack of creativity.

=>So if you are still dreaming about USA then go for IT Jobs and not Industrial Automation Jobs.I found out that you can make more money by doing some crappy Web or financial software development and maintainence work than challanging industrial automation software development. Believe me i dont have more than $5000 in savings after working for 3 years in USA.

BTW just read that by 2008 around 80% IT Jobs are going to India because of outsourcing by US companies.Tough life ahead for

techies in USA.

God Bless and Save America !!

Well arnt you just a bundle of good cheer! beerchug

If you think things are bad now, wait until you try to move over to information technology! Since most IT jobs can be done at a workstation in a cubicle, it really doesn't matter where the cubicle is. Therefore most IT jobs now reside in cubicles in India, eastern Europe and, increasingly, China and other Pacific Rim countries. A programmer in India probably makes about $22K a year, and happy to get it. At least jobs in Industrial Automation have to be done in this country. Oh, by the way, call centers and help desk organizations have been overseas for some time also. Sorry if this rains on your parade.

There is an ole sayin round here, "you are paid what you are worth".
(Most of the time) GET IT?

It is really pretty straightforward then ! Stay in India .

excuse me...are we supposed to ...

feel bad for the originator of this post.

I'll grant that the automation business is not great in the
US, and that the 'third world' is developing their manufacturing
at a much faster pace than the US, BUT...

How is that the US's fault?

And then, to rub the out-sourcing issue into it... what's
you're point, dude.

The funny thing is that you won't find Americans boo-hooing
about the flood of jobs exiting the US to these places, but,
here is a poor tome sad-sacking the loss of opportunity in the
US to an outsider.

And people wonder how protectionism starts......

Jeez

Re: excuse me...are we supposed to ...

jdbrandt said:

feel bad for the originator of this post.

I'll grant that the automation business is not great in the
US, and that the 'third world' is developing their manufacturing
at a much faster pace than the US, BUT...

How is that the US's fault?
......
And people wonder how protectionism starts......

Jeez

Click to expand...

Some professor from MIT told in this week, that process-industry is not 'in fashion' these days as IT was 2 years ago and stock market work in 1/4 year period. Process-industryes don't invest as mutch as needed, they just try to do money for he next 1/4 year-report etc..

This is from my own...
That means les work for us, and protectionism becourse P.I. is not competitivity soon or later as steel and paper mills in some countryes ...

Anyhow, it is nice that India educate B.Sc. and M.Sc. people for poor western companyes..

The US dollar has slipped a lot relative to other currencies

It used to take about $0.88 to buy a euro and now it takes $1.18. That is a big change and US good will start to look inexpensive relative to Europe's. I went to New Zealand last year and the US $ was worth 2.43 NZ $. My customers there complained about how mush our product cost. Now it is only $1.73 and I don't here the complaints anymore.

This will give the US economy a boost. I have seen many of our customer's sales pick up and therefore our own. A good portion of their sales are outside the US. Our company also has an advantage here because of support, we speak understandable English and low lead times.

This will also make the products in China and India cost more.

A lot of money is going back into the stock market. That is voting thumbs up on the economy with money.

Nobody ever promised it would be easy this side of the grave. Good times come and go. Bad times come and go. Get used to it!

History has show that the more free trade is in an area, the better the economy does over time. History also shows that the more able people are to make their own decisions, the better they do over time. The viewpoint may be a little Darwinian, but I'm willing to trust my future and my kids' futures to individual abilities. Nothing else works as well!

Well get used to it...Automation coicides with the economy.....when the economy is down...then companies cut back and hold on to there capital spending money therefore automation is the last person in line to get the few dollars out there.

An India perspective.

Being an Indian, I believe I am best suited to reply to our anonymous Indian-American friend.
First thing, taking full advantage of American freedom of speech (Not much different from the Indian freedom of speech), I agree with you that the US is not 'the land of opportunities', as acclaimed. Oppertunity is where you see it. And I can see plenty of it back here at home. And I am happy you too want to come back.
However, if it, the American dream, didn't worked for you, it does not mean it won't work for others as well. There are two sides to a coin, you know. It's not fare to see just one.

Mike, we have a humour doing rounds here in India. Well, here it is: "Heaven is : British house, Chinese food, Indian wife and American salary. Hell is: British food, Chinese house, American wife and Indian salary." (No offence meant). Believe me, in India, if you are paid even half as much as your worth, you are a lucky man.

Seppo, just to make thing clearer, India's educating and exporting lot more Engineers (BE and ME people) than BSc and MSc people.

Tom, Your ideas are appreciated.

I thought this thread might turn into a USA breast beating thing (and don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with patriotism in small doses)
But good old Tom revives my faith in human beings regularly. People are just people no matter what nationality.

Well said Tom, Your outlook and forthright manner do you credit and go a long way towards dispelling the universal image of the typical American.

vishal-s theory on Heaven and Hell was excellent too. I laughed at that.

And as I see it 'Indian_American' - Good people don’t get overlooked forever, because good people can do something about it.

Oh yes, and finally - Tom, get yer bloody hair cut

An Old Mexican Proverb:

"I once thought I was a poor man because I had no shoes, until I met a rich man who had no feet!"

Myself and my family have done our share of struggling (as most here have, in the U.S. mind you). This is not an American thing. This is about doing and being the best that you can and making the most of it!

Believe me when I say that when you have reached certain point's in your life thet you deemed as "making it", it will be the struggles that you remember most fondly. Those time's when you wondered how you were going to feed the children or how you were about to lose the house, etc., that's what you will think about most and have a great big smile.

Perhaps "Indian_American" you should look at yourself a little more closely and ponder if you are doing everything YOU can to make yourself be the guy you want to be.

Smile, you woke up today didn't you?,
Chris

Thanks everyone !

Thanks everyone for sharing the views !

SAK-CO TECH:

I guess i tried almost everything.Folks here are just not ready to sponser H1B Visa.All Top companies ask for Citizenship/Greencard.
Gosh i am already married otherwise i would have married to some American Citizen/Greencard Holder My present company says they will sponser my greencard but i am already sick of working with them and dont want to suffer for 3 more years till i get my GC.

Goody:

I am not Anti American.I decided to start this thread because i see many Indian guys who have posted their resume on this website saying they are ready to work at any Salary and anywhere in the USA.I just wanted to present them clear picture of their American Dream.

Vishal Dude:

Yeah other side of coin comes in picture only after you get a Green Card.Till then this is the reality. Ask any indian Automation Engineer working in USA. They should rephrase the saying like
"Land of opportunities for Citizens and Green Card Holders"

Also BE (Bachelor of Engineering) and ME (Master of Engineering) is called Bachelor of Science ( Electrical/Mech/Civil... Engineering)
and Master of Science (Electrical/Mech/Civil... Engineering)
respectively here in USA.I know its funny for Indians

Also whoever came up with this saying "Heaven is : British house, Chinese food, Indian wife and American salary" ? had never tasted Indian food i guess

Punder:

Yeah tried a lot "Get busy living or get busy dieing" but didnt worked in my case i guess.

Tom:

Unfortunately didnt know this before coming to USA otherwise would have never made this mistake. Always thought life will be much better here.

jdbrandt:

Just read that Tough life ahead for techies.
Americans have already started feeling the heat of foreign Engineers and outsourcing.Last week the bill was presented to American Congress to curb L1/H1B Visa.
Also Visit www.zazona.com/ShameH1B

fareast:

Yeah i am going back and requesting other Indian Engineers to STAY IN INDIA.

Mike Williams:

I was working with Allen Bradley India Ltd. So now you can guess how much i am worth in USA if i have a Green Card. I guess Atleast 90k-100k (With 10 years of Experience) Those Goddamn AB guys are also not ready to sponser evenif i was their employee in India.

controlsguy3:

Average Indian seasoned Programmers Salary is about $12000 Per Anum.Its much better considering India's average annual income of $460 compared to what programmers in USA get ! (USA -Average Anual Income @ $38k per Anum).
Also outsourcing is just not limited to cubicle jobs it has also spread in Automation field. Emerson has opened Global Development centre in India.Honeywell has tied up with TATA Honeywell long back.
GE is outsourcing most of the Development Work to Satyam-GE venture in India.Allen Bradley is in India since 1986.I have some friends working in Emmerson and Tata Honeywell who are making frequent 3-6 months visit for comissioning the DeltaV/Plantscape DCS.Software development is done in India and comissioning team is always on the move worldwide !

I guess India is the Land of Opportunities for Engineers atleast nowdays so i am going back.I guess there is also something called
"JOB SATISFACTION" and not just the Salary associated with the Job.
I never got both here in USA.

ByE ByE !

Sorry if my post hurt someone unknowingly.

Also check this out !

The Funny Side of Work Visas & Job Angst

http://www.zazona.com/ShameH1B/WorkVisaHumor.htm