Career Oversees

Tips & Tricks on building career in the USA

Zulkaida Akbar
BimBimCar July
Outline
• Academic career: Researcher
• Other Career: Industry, lecturer, teaching, etc.
Academic career (Researcher): My “Visa” journey
• Mid 2012 – Early 2013: PhD preparation -> TOEFL, GRE, Research essay & Recommendation
letter
• Accepted at Florida State University (FSU) with full scholarship and stipend from FSU
• Universities at USA offer around 150K seats annually for PhD scholarship + salary, mostly in
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)
• The easiest entry point to USA is via student visa (F1)
Academic career (Researcher): My “Visa” journey
• 2013 – 2018: Got my Master and PhD
• As F1-visa holder the salary comes from my job as teaching and research assistant

• My campus (probably all campuses) requires 1 year teaching experience (Undergraduate

physics lab, tutorial, grading, …)
• My field is experimental nuclear & particle physics. I did my research on Jefferson Lab which
is a national lab under DOE.
• At least in 4th year as PhD student, you must decide whether you are going to industry,
researcher, lecturer or other
Academic career (Researcher): My “Visa” journey
• 2018 – 2019: Get a job as Postdoctoral Research Associate at University of Virginia (UVA).
Doing research on Fermilab
• Postdoc is an academic job before assistant professor or research-assistant professor
• A postdoc is expected to show the capability as an independent researcher and as a mentor
for undergraduate/graduate students
• After we graduate as F1-Visa holder, we can stay and work in USA for one year via F1 OPT
(Optional Practical Training)
• 2019 -2021: Still at UVA using F1-STEM OPT Visa
• In general, OPT is only for 1 year. But for STEM, it can be extended for another 2 years
Academic career (Researcher): My “Visa” journey
• Postdoc is a very critical step in the academic journey
• “PhD -> postdoc” is a lot easier compared to “postdoc -> assistant professor”

• Normally people need around 5 years of postdoc before assistant professor

• Postdoc is at risk to become “postdoc forever”
• Only a small number of postdoc that become assistant professor in research university or
scientist at a national laboratory. Most postdoc go to the industry or teaching college
Academic career (Researcher): My “Visa” journey
• 2021 – now: Still at UVA using H1B visa
• H-1B is a visa category that allows employers to petition for highly educated foreign
professionals to work in specialty occupations
• H1B is a “lottery” visa. But there is exemption for my case (a higher education institution or
government research institution)
• We don’t apply for the H1B visa, employer do.
• H1B is the last visa before Green Card.
Academic career (Researcher): short summary
• To be a professor in research university or a staff scientist in national lab is hard and tough
• Make sure you really love science before making decision to pursue a career in research
university or national laboratory. Otherwise, it will be stressful
• Professor in research university: good at science + good at teaching/mentoring + great at
writing grant proposal
• Professor in teaching college or lecturer: good at science + great at teaching/mentoring
• Scientist at national lab: Great at science
• Scientist at prestigious national lab: Great at science + leadership in science
Academic career (Researcher): Tips & Trick
• Tips: Enter USA via student visa (F1)
• Tricks: No trick, just work hard and love your job (science)
I thought it is a
joke (this comic)
but apparently
its real
Industry Career
• Most student and postdoc decide to work in industry
• Industry offer higher salary, especially the top Forbes companies (google, amazon, etc.)

• The first suggestion is still the same: enter USA with a student Visa (F1)
• The second one is very important: “Develop one specific and deep skill”
• Again, be an expert in one thing. There is a big opportunity in USA for people who has a
deep expertise

• For examples, I searched in indeed.com randomly using 2 keywords (LabView & C++). See
the results on the next page
Keyword: LabView
Keyword: C++
Thank You
Yuk ke USA….