

Ask HN: Coming to the USA for a study exchange, where are the tech hubs? - lobe

As the title hints at, I am studying software engineering at UNSW in Sydney. In the 1st semester of 2016 (my final semester) I want to go on exchange to the USA, and use that opportunity to have a fantastic college experience and to meet potential future employers.<p>What would you call the tech hubs of the USA? Silicon Valley is obvious, Seattle also comes to mind, and I have heard that Austin and New York (although is that just due to the size of the city, not density of tech companies) also are &#x27;tech hubs&#x27;. Are there any other areas that I should consider that have a lot of larger companies that would be willing to sponsor the visa for a software engineering grad?<p>So apart from asking where should I go, the other question is &#x27;what are the grad recruitment patterns in the American tech industry?&#x27; Are companies willing to help bring international graduates to them? Am I limited to large companies, or are smaller organisations also in a position to hire overseas applicants? Are there fixed intakes once a year for new grads (common in Australia) or is the door open year round? Thanks, just trying to weigh up my options here
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chrismcb
If you are working for work after graduation I would consider the school
rather than the location. It is easier for a large company to sponsor a visa
than a small one and a large company will visit all the good schools. Plus if
you network with your fellow students, who knows where they may take you. It
will be easier to network with your fellow students than with people already
in the industry. And attending a good school will go further than being in the
right location.

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raincom
I am not sure whetehr you qualify for 12 months OPT program (optional
pratcical training). This OPT program helps you get the employment
authorization document for 12 months, which can be extended for another 17
months (so-called STEM extenstion).

First, you need to worry about the authorization to work. If you get such an
authorization, yes, you can find an internship or a job. There is another
authorization document called CPT, curricular pratcical training or something
that is issued by the school itself.

The other visa ya shud look for is E3 visa.

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company
University of Texas has an exchange partnership with UNSW I believe. Austin is
a great tech city and also just an awesome place to enjoy life as a college
student.

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32faction
There have been a lot of companies opening up offices in Phoenix, AZ.
Specifically Scottsdale. If I remember correctly Weebly and Yelp have offices
on Scottsdale Rd. Usually Phoenix is known for it's Real Estate investing but
tech companies have been getting more more and more recognition. I think we're
calling it Silicon Desert.

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mtmail
I was under the impression that with a student visa (is it
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_visa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_visa)
?) you can't go out and work everywhere. Maybe somebody in this thread can
correct me.

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somerandomone
You can work anywhere regardless of your/company's physical location as an F-1
student. The restriction is placed on the company's and position's type. The
nature of the job must be related to your major, and the employment is subject
to approval from USCIS in the form of CPT and/or OPT.

Source: [http://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/f-1-opt-optional-
practic...](http://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/f-1-opt-optional-practical-
training/f-1-optional-practical-training-opt)

and I'm an F-1 student myself.

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NonEUCitizen
Tech Hub: Cambridge, Massachusetts

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solve
Only Manhattan and the SF bay area. Forget everything else.

