Masters Abroad (Part-3)

 

Welcome to Part-3 of the series of blog posts pertaining to the study abroad. If you have not read them yet, please have a look at them here Part-1 and Part-2. In Part-1 I highlighted the three phases of the abroad studies and in this post, I will touch upon Phase 2 of the journey. During this Phase 2, you will actually get into your study program and get introduced to the new country, people, culture, weather, language, food, and most importantly education system. For most of them, each of the aspects mentioned earlier is very new and I am pretty sure you will be in a cultural shock for obvious reasons. One of the frequently asked questions that I receive is what culture shock is to do with your master's program. Well, well here is the catch. Of course, completion of the master's program is one part of the equation but living and working in a new environment is the other part. The journey we are talking about here is not for a few weeks or months but in fact more than two years. That is a lot of time and in fact, if you do not gel well with the local culture and people it would be a tough journey ahead. In my opinion, taking it as your key learnings will open doors for the following three reasons:

1. If your plan is to stay after the completion of your master's program then you will most probably need to work in an international environment where you have almost no choice but to interact and build relationships with your peers and colleagues. So, indeed, it comes to square one.
2. If your plan is to go back to your country and work there, I feel having the knowledge and experience of working in a diverse group is a competitive advantage you have with your peers.
3. If your plan is to start your own venture and have an international presence, then we indeed come to square one again.
   

So, the point I am making here is quite simple and straightforward. Learnings from being in a new country with diverse people, culture, weather, language, and food have a greater role to play in shaping you as a better person than you were before in multiple dimensions.

I hope the context built above is quite clear, so I would break the four semesters of the master's program into four major tasks that you could ideally consider doing.

Semester 1:-

The top priority should be understanding the pedagogy of your master's program and university through reaching out to the passed-out graduates/senior colleagues/professors especially the evaluation methodology they follow. From my experience, the two years are split into four semesters comprising 30 credits each (30 credits x 4 semesters = 120 credits). The courses are classified into mandatory and electives. The minimum classroom teaching will be of two semesters, which covers theoretical classes and lab sessions (computer programs/simulations and experiments). The master thesis and internship would be spread out over 1–2 semesters. The course evaluation will be carried out through written exams, oral exams, and projects (individual/group).

In addition, spend enough time traveling around the city and local community where you are located by attending public and social gathering events to understand the local culture, food, traditions, and most importantly the people. Once you are aware of the above factors it becomes more convincing to join part-time jobs to earn some money for (at least partially) covering your tuition and living expenses. On most occasions, there will be an online website for applying for part time jobs, or maybe should reach out to individuals through email or phone calls, but it all comes down to what sort of jobs you are looking for (technical or non-technical).

Semester 2:-

As you complete your first semester, you will be in a better position on various fronts. So, as the next step in addition to the improvements from the earlier semester, looking for an internship that you could perform during the university break between semester 2 and semester 3 is a good thing to consider. The main benefits of taking up an internship for a couple of months would expose you to addressing real-world problems at academia, research centre, and industry. The other key benefit from this experience would be network building, the quintessential element. I thoroughly explained the difference between academia, research centre, and industry in Part-2 of this blog series. This also opens doors to landing a good internship and master thesis opportunity (who knows, maybe landing a job after graduation too). The competitive advantage you build (technical skills, exposure, experience, and network) with your peers will have a huge impact on standing out from the crowd. Of course, one has to keep in mind that landing an internship would not be a very smooth process (I mean most of the time), but starting the search process during the beginning or mid of your second semester is ideal. Once you know which sort of role you would ideally fit (from academia, research centre, and industry), list all the organizations which are in your domain that you can reach out to. Before reaching out, prepare a sound CV and motivation letter tailor-made to each organization to that you apply. Most of the time reaching out to the hiring manager or human resource officer of the organization works. Their contact details (email/LinkedIn) are easily available on their respective websites.

Semester 3:-

During semester 3, the search for a master thesis topic and internship should be the top priority. It is very crucial to pick a sound thesis topic and internship because this is where you can prove and pitch to a potential employer that you possess good technical experience in the relevant topic and the tasks you have undertaken to accomplish it. This acts as a foundation for your master's degree because the theoretical learning from your classroom will be applied to real-world problems. The process to find a master thesis topic and internship can be made by first understanding yourself that where you would ideally fit (academia, research centre, and industry). As explained in the earlier section, once you know which sort of role you would ideally fit, list all the organizations which are in your domain that you can reach out to. Before reaching out, prepare a sound CV and motivation letter tailor-made to each organization to that you apply. Most of the time reaching out to the hiring manager or human resource officer of the organization works. Their contact details (email/LinkedIn) are easily available on their respective websites.

Semester 4:-

You are almost approaching the finish line of your two-year journey. Building a rapport with your internship organization along with your technical skills helps to approach them if they can convert your internship to a full-time job after the completion of your study program. This can be done both in formal and informal ways. In the formal process, you approach your immediate manager for arranging a meeting and by expressing your motivation (also convincing them about how you would fit into the team) to continue working with their organization. On the other hand, the informal process is where you build a relationship with your manager outside the campus and try to understand if there will be any potential vacancy in the team or if they are willing to hire a new team member for a future project. Both look simple but implementation is not very easy, especially the informal one. If in case you get an insight that your internship organization is not willing to hire you, the other avenues to find a job are:

1. Reach out to the hiring manager or human resource officer of the respective organization through email/LinkedIn with your CV and motivation letter.
2. Directly apply through the organization's job opening portal.
3. Reach out to the third-party recruiting agency (study more about them here) that works like a bridge between you and your potential employer. Mostly, these recruiters are very active on LinkedIn and email (sometimes through phone calls too), so the barriers to approaching them are very thin. They require a CV and motivational letter tailor-made to each job vacancy. 
   

I think the details above have given you a much broader perspective on how you can go with the two-year journey. I hope this finds you useful and wish you all the best for your journey. I trust you will make the best out it.

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I hope you liked this blog post. Feel free to provide your comments and feedback and I am open to having any conversation regarding the same. Thank you for your time and support!