Well done Jaburu! Congratulations! (up)

Hi Delta,

Firstly as far as I understand, the sup might not say anything. My examiners literally told my sup (a Reader) that he will not be speaking at all during the viva. (And he did not). He was actually quite supportive. Secondly, I am guessing irrespective of how bad a supervisor might have behaved during the years, probably they will *or at least should* realize that it is actually a matter of their own prestige too in the viva. (e.g. If a student fails, why would future students want to come to them next time?)

In my University at least, the rules clearly state that the sup has no role at all in the examination. And before the award, the examiners' report is vetted considerably before it is approved by the student administration actually. It has been known that sometimes the outcome of the viva can change based on the awards committee.

Anyways all the best for the viva.

Cheers

======= Date Modified 09 Nov 2011 15:32:16 =======
Dr. Cplusplusgirl,

Heartiest congratulations on this achievement. Today, my own degree was finally awarded and I can relate my experiences with yours! And after so many months, I am finally feeling from the inside that I have actually finished it all up.
BTW I am assuming that you are a CS person (based on the nick) so it would be interesting to figure out how vivas in different disciplines differ though. Anyways you should now try to take a break and somehow relax as it can be hard (or at least it was for me) before you finish up the corrections!!

Cheers (up)

======= Date Modified 01 Nov 2011 05:49:36 =======
======= Date Modified 01 Nov 2011 05:48:33 =======
Hi Francescawolfe

Hmmmm. It would probably depend on your relation with the sup. However, I think what can eventually become an issue is if, as a result of this, she/he starts to follow your updates on FB/Twitter/G+ etc. .. . . So, unless you folks are that close that you two can laugh it out/or fight it out :p (as in you are absolutely sure that she/he will not become averse to something that you may say inadvertently in the foreseeable future. . . e.g. tough deadlines by sup or e.g. my sup is . . . and so on on), IMHO it might be preferable that you may want to keep your private life (or online ramblings.. .) private. If you think about it from her/his perspective, it can become humanly difficult at times to continue supervising a person objectively, if the person openly/vocally expresses dislike for h im/er (or e.g. if the sup feels something the student said might have been irresponsible on part of the student since in h is/er point of view, it may affect his career/personal life etc. etc.).

This is just my opinion. Would definitely want to know what others think on this. Hope this helps.
:-)
Cheers

======= Date Modified 01 Nov 2011 03:44:22 =======
Dear Screamingaddabs,

Actually when I first started my research, I discovered this a couple of times about my work. Later on, I realized that anything I would try to do, it would appear to have been done *or at least something similar*. However, later on, I discovered something very interesting. And maybe this can be made into a very useful point for your PhD. See, unless there is a baseline, you cannot critically evaluate your own research against another approach. So, having someone else do something very close to your work, can actually be used as a supportive point in your own work (though it might require more work :( ).

It is my personal experience and belief that while it might appear that the research the other had conducted is similar, if you really spend a lot of time reading their work, you will start to notice differences in their approach, points which they might have missed (e.g. in your case, being a commercial enterprise as compared to a research/academic institute) and so on.

In other words, your thesis can be made to look a lot stronger based on this. You can describe their work and then compare how you have followed somewhat different approaches to solve the problem. So, I would propose not to abandon your work, cite their work, describe it in detail, critically compare it with your own work instead. I hope it works out for you as it did for me.

Hope this helps

Hi Vidmaria,

Nice to hear from you. I had the same experience and finished up recently. (I did my P/T PhD after having submitted after 3 years). I hear you on this one. Managing family, F/T job along with keeping up with demands of the University/supervisor etc. . . can be very tough. I think the only way to do it properly is to keep your sanity somehow. And I am glad you have made it to the 3rd year. Hope you can now try to channel your energies to finishing it all up and submitting the thesis soon.All the best. (up)

Cheers

======= Date Modified 25 Oct 2011 10:25:09 =======

Dear Slowmo,

All the best for the viva. Looks like you are already well-prepared for it so don't worry too much. Obviously there could be a thousand small things that I or perhaps a lot of other folks here can tell you.

However, I think I would give you only one advice. I propose that you ensure that you are getting sleep and rest before the viva so you can face anything and everything in the viva. I know a lot of people advice the same but seriously, in my opinion, practically this is quite hard to do practically.
Pre-viva time can be nerve-wrecking and it is so hard to get some rest. Thing is, if you are well-rested, you can face and respond to anything the examiners throw at you/


Cheers

Hello everyone,

I came across some very interesting links that I thought, might be at least interesting and/or helpful.

List of phases of being a protege
http://www.sonic.net/~mfreeman/mentor/phases.htm

This guide has a nice set of references at the end
http://www.cfhl.org/FileServlet2?id=8

I especially enjoyed the list of good and bad attributes of mentors given in this talk by Dr. Leticia Márquez-Magaña (up)
http://cfao.ucolick.org/EO/resources/CfAOMentorTalk_Marquez.pdf

e.g. Available vs. unavailable?  Attends conferences with students? Constructive vs. Poor feedback? Organized vs. Disorganized? Sets clear goals vs. Expects too much? :-s

Let me know what you think about these.

Cheers

Dear Sbsb

Pass and post-doc in one go! Heartiest congratulations on this! It cannot get any better than that.


Cheers

Hey there,

Nice post. Exactly what I have also been wondering lately as I traverse from thread to thread at times . . . :p

Cheers

Hi,

Actually I have never really been out of job/experience so I might be lucky. However, I moved because of intellectual reasons. The thing is, as an Engineer, you are used to designing/making stuff however the jobs that we find as an entry level Engineer are mostly not that way. As such, while paying well, I felt my EE jobs were not satisfying enough (not enough designing/developing). As such, CS/IT jobs are more satisfying as you always end up with a product and at least, for myself, that was quite important. It might be different for you so don't worry too much. However if you do move from one field to the other, remember it is not easy. It might take considerable time to be proficient enough to have marketable skills.

Cheers

Dear Tejsavi,

I hear you and it is definitely not easy out there. I am myself an EE, then I moved to Comp. Sc.. :p So, you basically need to find the right place for yourself, get the certifications/ ob experiences and even move when you get the feeling that the job is not improving your CV/resume.

Best of luck.

Cheers