FAQ

Is a consulting firm ever justified for an early‑career engineer?
Only if the engineer cannot navigate USCIS forms at all; otherwise the ROI is negative, as shown by the Amazon Alexa case where a $6,500 fee yielded a $7,000 salary bump—an 8 % net gain that evaporates after two years.

Can I recover consulting costs through equity at a public company?
No. In the Meta Reality Labs example, a $8,250 fee was offset by a $25,000 sign‑on, leaving a net negative cash flow; equity vesting timelines (18‑month cliff) mean the break‑even point would be beyond a typical three‑year stay.

Does using a consulting firm improve my chances of getting a visa sponsorship after the lottery?
The hiring committees at Google, Microsoft, and Amazon uniformly treat consulting affiliation as a risk factor, reducing the candidate’s internal score and often leading to a reject vote, as documented in the Google Maps and Microsoft Azure debriefs.amazon.com/dp/B0GWWJQ2S3).