“Stay Motivated for Such a Long Period of Time”

Read through Mathias Uta's experience in obtaining a doctoral degree.
Mathias Uta Mathias Uta
What type of PhD did you choose?

Industrial PhD/ External PhD.

Why did you decide for a PhD?

I wanted to challenge myself if I am capable to finish such a big project on my own. I wanted to contribute to the technological development in my field and to get to know the best people researching there to build up a network. Also, not be neglected I like the reputation gainable by an PhD grate and the additional opportunities within my company to achieve management positions.

What type of PhD did you choose?

Industrial PhD/ External PhD.

Why did you decide for a PhD?

I wanted to challenge myself if I am capable to finish such a big project on my own. I wanted to contribute to the technological development in my field and to get to know the best people researching there to build up a network. Also, not be neglected I like the reputation gainable by an PhD grate and the additional opportunities within my company to achieve management positions.

What is the topic of your thesis and which University?

Constraint-aware recommendation of complex items utilizing AI technologies (work in progress title can be changed) at Graz University of Technology.

What is the goal of your thesis, what do you want to find out?

I would like to find out if neural networks are capable of learning complex configuration rules. Nowadays, neural networks are usually only used to predict simple items like movies, books etc. which do not have any constraints. Complex items have constraints such as “a Coupe car cannot have a bicycle carrier”. In consequence, such a configuration cannot be recommended during the configuration process although it my best fit the requirements and wishes of the current customer. The recommender must learn to recommend only valid configurations and to consider the constraints of a product.

Why did you choose this topic and the University?

The topic is of highest interest for my company since we are producing complex products at Siemens Energy and want to support our sales employees as efficient as possible during offering stage without the need to include an Engineer. Graz University of Technology is a so-called Center of Knowledge interchange for Siemens Energy (KIT is as well), which means that they very closely cooperate with this university. Also, my doctoral father Prof. Felfernig is a well-known expert in the configuration domain.

How did you ask and persuade your company prior to your thesis, so that you were allowed to start?

I contacted my manager and they agreed in supporting me financially. We have an agreement with the university to pay a low 5-digit amount of money as compensation for the effort the professor has in guiding me without me working at his institute.

What challenges did you face?

The biggest challenge is of course to stay motivated for such a long period of time. Especially, when doing a PhD besides the job this means you have at least to count for 4 years till you are finished. I currently assume to be finished after 5-6 years. Also, you must invest a lot of free time either in the evenings after the job or at the weekends. This can be quite challenging especially when you must cancel social events because of that. Additionally, you have to invest some days of your vacation to travel to conferences or to the university etc. 

Did opportunities for e.g. cooperation, contacts, … arise while you were working at your thesis? 

Yes. My network of interesting people within my field has grown a lot during the time of my PhD.    

What is the advice you can give to others who are thinking of pursuing a PhD? 

Simply ask you these questions: Are you sure you want to spend such a big amount of free time to contribute to science and to improve humankind at least a tiny bit?  Are you willing to suffer for several years in the sense of you must stay at home at a sunny summer day when your friends go to the lake for a title that will bring you reputation for the rest of your life?

Anything else you want to share?

I still think it was a good discission to go for it :).