R2I to Bangalore June 2025

[wd40]

Thanks @returning_indian and @old-spice2.

I get your points that STEM and related fields are lucrative.

Okay, but the kids are US citizens. There are so many careers in the US which pay well. It is India where most fields dont pay well and IT was the easy way out for our generation. So whether we liked coding or not we got into IT.

But kids of the current IT generation, again doing the same BS in data science/business analytics?

To me it seems trying the easy way tried and tested way which parents followed, regardless of passion in the field.

There are so many well paying careers, like Law, Medicine, business, finance which these kids could have chosen.

To me if the kids have chosen BS in IT and are aiming for an IT job then they have not really achieved anything by using the resources of their parents and the lucrative US citizenship. Even kids in India can get an IT job after doing Engg. Then what is the big deal?

[SAPPORO]

As a society, every generation does better than their previous generation and as otherwise we would still be riding around in bullock carts.
I already excluded none other than Mahendra Bahubali and so no point in bringing up Tendulkar, Pichai, Ambani et al.
It's sad to see success only measured in financial terms, what about the willingness and ability of the next generation to charter the unchartered, pursue their passion and find their own happiness.

Overall, it's depressing to even think that the next generation won't do better than us, period!

[SAPPORO]

Forget about NRI families, things are changing even in a very conservative family that I come from.
In our generation, the gold standard for success in India was to get a govt/Railways/PSU/Bank job . But my nephew dropped out of college, did preparations for ICWA/CA/CS full time while at the same time completing the B.com via correspondence course. Now he's doing very well in Mumbai in a field that he likes and that he chose. Another nephew hailing from a PSU family is full on, into IT startups and doing very well. Obviously, the parents were at first skeptical but at least did not force their kids to take the path that they thought was the best, much unlike their own parents.
I am quite surprised that some NRI parents are more worried about their kids than their Indian counterparts in spite of plenty more opportunities available where they live.

[r2somewhere]

Life is a status chasing game. We are still tribal monkeys trying to climb the hierarchy. US passport is one such indicator of hierarchy. It has its practical benefits too, but I will never be able to convince someone who doesn't want to believe those, so I wont. But even such a person will accept the 'status' argument. So there.

[wd40]

It's sad to see success only measured in financial terms, what about the willingness and ability of the next generation to charter the unchartered, pursue their passion and find their own happiness.

Exactly my point. Why is the next generation still doing BS in data science/CS and related fields? These are the most boring fields which we had to do, out of compulsion. But you look around; 2nd generation US citizens are following the same career path of their parents.

I can understand someone who is moving to the US on F1 they have huge loans to clear, so they are in the same state of mind as our generation. But Desi US citizens are also following the same IT path, which is now in its sunset phase.

[wd40]

Life is a status chasing game. We are still tribal monkeys trying to climb the hierarchy. US passport is one such indicator of hierarchy. It has its practical benefits too, but I will never be able to convince someone who doesn't want to believe those, so I wont. But even such a person will accept the 'status' argument. So there.

It is status chasing for our generation. But for a kid who was born with US citizenship; for them US is the starting point. They cannot follow the mediocre path of their parents. They have to do well in the US. There is no campus recruitment in the US, which our generation enjoyed in India.

Basically, all the low end IT jobs moved to India and now even the higher end IT jobs have moved to India. India has a proper process in place Engg -> Campus placement -> one of the services companies -> Onsite.

But in the US, after these kids do their BS in CS, there is no campus placement waiting for them. There are much more hungrier and sharper kids coming from India, with experience on H1B and willing to work for fraction of the cost.

You yourself mentioned how you need to keep doing leetcode in order to survive in the US and how much stress and pressure you have to go through to keep yourself on the hamster wheel.

Here is the viral video of Indian techie in the US replaced by Indians in India

https://x.com/Alphafox78/status/1799852923138298189

[Returning_Indian]

I don't know any second gen desi kids in IT. I have only learned through this forum that they actually get into IT. All the ones I know are either doctors or lawyers. Some are in high profile mgmt positions or maybe in finance. Many second gen desis are in sales and marketing as well. Second gen kids usually are doing extremely well. But I may have a selection bias because of my surroundings. Ofcourse gujjus don't get into all this nonsense. They have businesses to manage and their kids do the same. Business people do provide that advantage to kids not having to start from scratch.

IT is boring for general people. And just like Americans, next gen desi kids participate in limited numbers.

It will be difficult to generalize anyways. There are around 6million Indians in US. If there are 2million second gen kids, it's a losing battle to generalize.

[SAPPORO]

Of all the hundreds of second gen Indians that I personally know including the kids of parents that immigrated during the 'Shyamala' times, only a handful of them are in IT. They are doctors, lawyers, social workers, bankers, research, teachers/professors and some are even serving in the US military. Of those in IT, immediately after BS, they start managing the offshore resources in India, like my son's GF

[r2somewhere]

Life is a status chasing game. We are still tribal monkeys trying to climb the hierarchy. US passport is one such indicator of hierarchy. It has its practical benefits too, but I will never be able to convince someone who doesn't want to believe those, so I wont. But even such a person will accept the 'status' argument. So there.

It is status chasing for our generation. But for a kid who was born with US citizenship; for them US is the starting point. They cannot follow the mediocre path of their parents. They have to do well in the US. There is no campus recruitment in the US, which our generation enjoyed in India.

Basically, all the low end IT jobs moved to India and now even the higher end IT jobs have moved to India. India has a proper process in place Engg -> Campus placement -> one of the services companies -> Onsite.

But in the US, after these kids do their BS in CS, there is no campus placement waiting for them. There are much more hungrier and sharper kids coming from India, with experience on H1B and willing to work for fraction of the cost.

You yourself mentioned how you need to keep doing leetcode in order to survive in the US and how much stress and pressure you have to go through to keep yourself on the hamster wheel.

Here is the viral video of Indian techie in the US replaced by Indians in India

https://x.com/Alphafox78/status/1799852923138298189

Not sure what your point is? You asked why Indians like to 'collect' passports despite not having any benefit (according to you). I told you why. Its status. What do you think the reason is?

[wd40]

Not sure what your point is? You asked why Indians like to 'collect' passports despite not having any benefit (according to you). I told you why. Its status. What do you think the reason is?

It could be insecurity. Indians of our generation were brought up with deprivation and hunger. So Indians dont know when to stop and at what point to stop. So Indians display this insecurity/greed. That they want everything. Like from another forum I one guy described well; all fingers in ghee.

It is like want foreign passport also, then want to R2I also so that kids get Indian sanskar and I have seen so many videos now in the Desi Returns Youtube channel. Desis are going to places like Netherlands and they are clearly saying they dont like that culture, dont want their kids to grow in that culture. But they will still waited until they got NL passport and then moved back to India. Apparently the NL passport is "just in case" if they ever need it in future.