Gu Yichen was laid off shortly after starting at Google and discovered how unstable life on an H-1B visa can be. Provided by Gu Yichen Gu Yichen left Amazon for what he thought was his dream job at Google. His entire team was laid off before he did a single day of real work, leaving him in a race to save his H-1B visa. He returned to Amazon and says the setback taught him that career success depends as much on timing as effort. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gu Yichen, a