Hi Andrew, I came to the US at 19 for college with 2 suitcases and $400 in my pocket. Had been coding since 13. The year I graduated with a Computer Information

Hi Andrew, I came to the US at 19 for college with 2 suitcases and $400 in my pocket. Had been coding since 13. The year I graduated with a Computer Information Systems degree was the year H1B visas ran out on the second day after their release. No way any company could have sponsored me that year. Still, because of the 8 years of tech experience I had, I got 3 offers and one company took me on a prayer I could still work for them after a year (a number of my non-tech classmates were not so lucky, some had to leave for London). Fortunately near the end of that year the OPT visas were extended for Engineering folks to 2+ years instead of 12 months, but it happened last minute and I had almost packed my bags by then. I had to go through the whole process after college and work in corporate engineering roles for 5 years before being able to jump out and start my own business. Ironically, I would start entrepreneurial initiatives at every company and team I worked for and some we ended up launching (you can block the entrepreneur visa, but you can't block the entrepreneur spirit I guess). I am now working on a startup.