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After MSc, What’s next? PHD of course ;)
Posted by roushdat on March 4, 2009
After successfully obtaining my BSc from the University of Mauritius (a university which i am proud of being an alumni), with the help of many of you, I managed to get myself a state-sponsored seat at the University of Southampton and I’m currently almost half-way the MSc degree in Web Technology and things are going really well 
So I guess now is the time to focus on the next target, the PHD.
There are many reasons why people do PHDs…some think it will get them more money, others think that addind the Dr title in front of your name brings you pride…and most successful PHDs are those that do it because they love to be discovering/improving things.
Personally I will not say that I’m 100% of the last reason given above, let’s say 50%. The remaining 50% is divided among:
- I DO NOT want to to work under a boss putting loads of pressure on me to complete a development task!
- I want to be my own boss, manage my own time, and do things that I enjoy doing
- I want a good life , not a dog’s life. (Waking up early in the morning everyday, go to work, work whole day, get back home late at night thinking about how to resolve a bug, sleep, repeat ->that’s not a life!)
- The Dr. title is tempting as well huh
->It will look great for the president to be a doctor :p
So I am now hunting for opportunities available for the PHD. Still unsure about the specific fields, but I think I will be quite flexible about that. Have considered the area of Ubiquitous Security. Went to meet Dr. David Argles this afternoon to discuss about it. Seems the major obstacle will be to find a research group that has funding for international students and are willing to accept me onboard. That’s the unfortunate thing when you live in a small country, the government cannot afford to fund many students for PHD and on top of that, since I have already benefited from a scholarship from the government of Mauritius, I am no longer eligible to apply again.
So as things currently are, either I will get some research group here willing to fund me or I’ll be back to UoM doing the PHD at home
If you are from a company willing to sponsor my studies (the future president of earth’s studies), don’t hesitate to get in touch, my email adress is roushdat [AT] gmail [DOT] com
yashvin said
with the help of many of you
De rien president
If you are from a company willing to sponsor my studies
yashvinblogs.com can sponsor you!
Send your application NOW!
Shah said
First, welcome to the world of academia
(you’re now very self-aware, future Post Doc. Roush.)
Second, once you finish PHD, do your postdoc. There’s plenty of time….do invite everybody to your wedding though – we need cake and the traditional briani.
Third, getting funds suck. you need good pr + need to approach the corps./or benefactors yourself + you need a good area of research.
Fourth, do consider becoming a teaching assistant/tutor @ one of the faculties.
Fifth, there is no such thing as luck. So, do a plan, ask for advice from tutors, and form a group (it can be 2 or more, or even 1 student, doesn’t really matter – check out if there is any restriction) and choose a field of research which is promising. Refer to your own papers or papers written by others – it is up to you to do derivative research or just carry on what you have done so far. Note: derivative research is kinda looked down, TBH.
You rock man. Keep studying. I just hope that your lab won’t be transferred once you get funding (some corps often require you to use their own tools. sucks, i know but still.)
Be well
Jazaak Allah
roushdat said
lolz, not a bad idea yashvin, I can do research about blogs
Thanks for the advice and encouragement Shah, it’s a good insight about what’s incoming
Kailash said
Goodluck and have tons of fun..
Check out a parody of phd student’s life on http://phdcomics.com/
$3|v3n said
good luck!