"Visibility" of the assignment drives all major purchases. Visibility I mean here is the most likely duration of the customer engagement, employer's location & policies and the individual's long term plans of staying in US. A person coming on a short term assignment would prefer to keep his investment to the minimum. Friends/Colleagues offer immense advice /help in setting up the home, help in moving furniture and complete all other legal / official formalities like getting SSN, updating some federal forms, setting up payroll information/opening bank account, etc. The first few weeks or months goes away in adjusting to the commute/work culture/work time/work pressures.
Some of the common initial milestones or challenges;
- Learning to drive & getting a driver's license, Finding a decent accommodation(preferably with some Indian community around), Get used to public transport modes if car is not feasible
- Initial home setup - As always, Walmart is the favorite
- Work Related - Initial days require lot of interactions with the customer teams. So meeting new people, remembering their names & designations. Lucheon meetings and dinner meetings with the customer teams are common. Vegeteraian Indians feel like fish out of water because it takes a while to understand the veggie options in the menu. Some people are shy to ask for what they want.
Once the individual spends few months, he / she gets used to the local environment and is now ready for travel around USA. Refer to my earlier post, theertayatra in America...so there is a list of must see destinations and friends /family to visit. Meanwhile, some people are blessed with children and most often the grand parents come over from India for offering moral support and help during the initial months. Some individuals pursue the green card option to continue staying in the US. Getting a green card is a major milestone for many people and this will lead to home /upgrading or buying a better car. People who are not in the green card race will eventually move back to India.
Bottom Line: Apart from technical expertise, goodies like communication, presentation, networking & other skills go a long way in making the stay more comfortable, challenging and successful.
Just a Note; The subject of this post is so vast, I've picked only few points to end this post here!.
1 comment:
Now a days Ikea is getting more popular among the Indian community.
One of my colleagues came to US on an H1 visa. He is going through the same process. The first thing he did was to go and get SSN. Now he is looking for an accommodation. He will slowly go through the same routine as others did.
Vegetarians seem to outnumber meat eaters in Bay Area. This is true with non Indian population too. So most of the restaurants have a separate veggie menu.
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