So that went better than expected!

"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer) 09/13/2018 at 09:30 • Filed to: None

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Remember when I was super nervous for my defense yesterday?

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Well, that was totally misplaced! In the end the ‘strangers’ in the committee ended up being awesome people. I ended up acing the presentation, as well as the question part! Final result: 9/10, which is high considering they never give 10/10 (no solution is perfect) and only rarely give a 9.5/10.

I’m very happy, and very relieved! Thanks everyone for wishing me goodluck yesterday! :)

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 09/13/2018 at 09:51

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Congratulations! So you’re a Master - Engineer now, legit. What’s next?

AuthiCooper1300 > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 09/13/2018 at 09:58

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G o o d f o r y a !

Klaus Schmoll > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 09/13/2018 at 10:06

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Congrats! Mr cum Laude.

haveacarortwoorthree2 > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 09/13/2018 at 10:07

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congrats!

kanadanmajava1 > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 09/13/2018 at 10:11

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Congratulations!

In my university a master’s thesis has a mandatory presentation but it doesn’t represent a defense in way. You have to answer given questions but you don’t have to be especially f l u e n t at it. Our master’s thesis gets rated by a single professor unless he wants to use the lowest or the highest possible score. Then another person has to rate and agree too.

Our doctoral thesis has a defense that can have fairly tough and nasty questions. The defense might last couple of hours. In my school the audience has a possibility to ask questions but they never do so. But in law schools it’s here possible that the audience question part might last longer than the rest of the defense.

B u t d e s p i t e t h e t o u g h q u e s t i o n s t h e o v e r a l l result o f t h e d e f e n s e i s e i t h e r a c c e p t e d o r u n a c c e p t e d w i t h o u t f u r t h e r r a t i n g s .

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 09/13/2018 at 10:24

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Glad to hear it went well! 

shop-teacher > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 09/13/2018 at 12:44

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Nicely done!

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time 09/13/2018 at 13:48

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Thanks! That’s a good question. At the moment I’m still torn between doing a PhD, or starting a career in industry. I think I’m going to start by looking for a PhD position, as I get the impression jobs are relatively easy to come by in my field.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > kanadanmajava1 09/13/2018 at 13:50

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Thanks!

Interesting to see these differences, because a master from Finland would  probably be seen as equal to one from the Netherlands by a company from another country. (Not saying that one of the approaches is better or worse)

KingT- 60% of the time, it works every time > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 09/13/2018 at 13:51

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Good luck!

duurtlang > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 09/13/2018 at 16:27

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Will jobs still be easy to find when the inevitable next economic crisis comes? Honest question, as it hits certain professions much more than others and I have no clue about yours. Additionally; will a phd make you more or less sought after? In some professions it makes you overqualified for most positions, while in others it mostly opens up opportunities. Again, no idea about your field.
The economic crisis tanked my career somewhat; got my MSc in 2009 and struggled to find a decent job because of that darn crisis, and a few years later I had no relevant experience and dated knowledge all while a new generation was fresh from uni . Still got back on my feet but it was less than ideal. Hence my questions.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > duurtlang 09/14/2018 at 04:20

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That’s a very interesting point that I hadn’t taken into consideration yet. I’ll definitely keep that in mind.

The benefit of a PhD on the (current) jobmarket is a bit of a mixed bag. I know some companies (especially larger or research based ones) that prefer people with a PhD, but I also know some companies (mostly smaller, or very application focussed  ones) that absolutely do not see the need for a PhD, and will thus offer equal wages to a MSc.