My US Move - Goals, Surprises and Observations
I moved to the US from Gurgaon, India in Dec 2021 with clear goals. Here is what has happened so far.
I moved from San Francisco to India in 2003 because I wanted to raise my kids in India, with their grand parents and ground them in our Indian identity. 20 years later, we all moved to the US from Gurgaon, India in Dec 2021. Here is why:
I had clear goals
My goals were
Get kids an undergraduate education in the US
Get my son an interesting high school experience in California, which I felt would be better and more flexible than India
Get them a greencard for easier access to the job market during their studies and post graduation
Pursue more strategic opportunities at Adobe US
Build a network of technology professionals in the Bay area
What I thought would happen
All goals will be fulfilled in a timely manner.
What actually happened within a 16 months of moving
I met 3 of the 5 goals.
I got greencards for everyone.
My kids started college in the US or are track to start college.
My role changed dramatically at Adobe. I now manage a much larger & global team at Adobe and you can say that my mandate has changed in ways I did not imagine.
There were many surprises.
There were multiple reorgs beyond my control.
I learnt a lot about the limitations of highly ranked public and private schools in the bay area.
I gained a lot of respect for private schools in India and schooling in India. I learnt a lot about homeschooling and undergraduate admissions. I will post separately on why I pulled my son out of a highly ranked public high school in the bay area and started homeschooling him.
World took a different turn and I did not focus on building a network. Budgets were tight. Big tech companies started laying off people.
In this environment, I had to learn how to manage a large team, learn how to run a content team and provide digital care to Adobe’s customers. I had to deal with multiple reorgs. I had to work with three different managers in my first the 16 months after the move. And, Generative AI, ChatGPT + Bard came along to disrupt content creation.
In addition to work, I also had to start my private school and manage my son’s education actively.
Few other observations:
It is not straightforward to build a PM network just because you are in the bay area
Employees expect more in the US. Most employers comply. Sometimes, at the cost of business results
Higher ed is a strange business. Consumers do not have the information they need to make high ticket purchases that can easily cost beyond $80,000 for each child