Working for free vs Improving skills for a PhD wanting to go into Industry
TL;DR: As an under-qualified software engineer in Australia that came from overseas, should I offer to work for free or should I keep working on my skills before applying for a paid job after PhD?
Goal: To get a full time job in Machine Learning / Data Science and graduate from PhD asap.
Background: I've attained my Bachelor's from software engineering, worked as a software engineer for about a year (6 years ago), finished a master's degree in Computer Science (all of them overseas), had about a year of gap before starting my PhD in Australia (now 1.5+ years in). My PhD is also in Computer Science, funded by a scholarship from an Australian university.
My PhD is in a very similar/same field with the job that I would like to get into (Deep Learning / Machine Learning). I live in a small-ish city where I have recently found a startup with 5 employees which I would like to work for (they were hiring for a full time, now the ad for the position has been removed).
I feel quite underqualified for the job, as I lack both experience and knowledge to do so. I am also not a citizen but I do have work permit from my student visa, and my English is great. Options:
Offer to work for free for the startup: Since startups usually lack funds and manpower, I think they would be inclined to accept. I can work for 2 days (10 hours per day) and work for PhD for 4 days (40 hours) and survive with the money from PhD. Graduate. Then look for a job for after graduation with "1 year of experience in the field" + reference maybe.
Offer to work for free for the first 3 months: This is to "get my foot into the door", gain experience, hopefully do OK. Then I could ask for something like a minimum wage. Showing payslips is great for visa.
Self-educate from online courses: I could spend some money and take some online courses, certifications and build up a portfolio with projects. Graduate from PhD and then apply for a job.
Apply for internships? Could be an option, but it could be tough since I'm entering into my final year of PhD.
Thanks in advance.
software-industry job-search hiring-process work-experience
New contributor
add a comment |
TL;DR: As an under-qualified software engineer in Australia that came from overseas, should I offer to work for free or should I keep working on my skills before applying for a paid job after PhD?
Goal: To get a full time job in Machine Learning / Data Science and graduate from PhD asap.
Background: I've attained my Bachelor's from software engineering, worked as a software engineer for about a year (6 years ago), finished a master's degree in Computer Science (all of them overseas), had about a year of gap before starting my PhD in Australia (now 1.5+ years in). My PhD is also in Computer Science, funded by a scholarship from an Australian university.
My PhD is in a very similar/same field with the job that I would like to get into (Deep Learning / Machine Learning). I live in a small-ish city where I have recently found a startup with 5 employees which I would like to work for (they were hiring for a full time, now the ad for the position has been removed).
I feel quite underqualified for the job, as I lack both experience and knowledge to do so. I am also not a citizen but I do have work permit from my student visa, and my English is great. Options:
Offer to work for free for the startup: Since startups usually lack funds and manpower, I think they would be inclined to accept. I can work for 2 days (10 hours per day) and work for PhD for 4 days (40 hours) and survive with the money from PhD. Graduate. Then look for a job for after graduation with "1 year of experience in the field" + reference maybe.
Offer to work for free for the first 3 months: This is to "get my foot into the door", gain experience, hopefully do OK. Then I could ask for something like a minimum wage. Showing payslips is great for visa.
Self-educate from online courses: I could spend some money and take some online courses, certifications and build up a portfolio with projects. Graduate from PhD and then apply for a job.
Apply for internships? Could be an option, but it could be tough since I'm entering into my final year of PhD.
Thanks in advance.
software-industry job-search hiring-process work-experience
New contributor
add a comment |
TL;DR: As an under-qualified software engineer in Australia that came from overseas, should I offer to work for free or should I keep working on my skills before applying for a paid job after PhD?
Goal: To get a full time job in Machine Learning / Data Science and graduate from PhD asap.
Background: I've attained my Bachelor's from software engineering, worked as a software engineer for about a year (6 years ago), finished a master's degree in Computer Science (all of them overseas), had about a year of gap before starting my PhD in Australia (now 1.5+ years in). My PhD is also in Computer Science, funded by a scholarship from an Australian university.
My PhD is in a very similar/same field with the job that I would like to get into (Deep Learning / Machine Learning). I live in a small-ish city where I have recently found a startup with 5 employees which I would like to work for (they were hiring for a full time, now the ad for the position has been removed).
I feel quite underqualified for the job, as I lack both experience and knowledge to do so. I am also not a citizen but I do have work permit from my student visa, and my English is great. Options:
Offer to work for free for the startup: Since startups usually lack funds and manpower, I think they would be inclined to accept. I can work for 2 days (10 hours per day) and work for PhD for 4 days (40 hours) and survive with the money from PhD. Graduate. Then look for a job for after graduation with "1 year of experience in the field" + reference maybe.
Offer to work for free for the first 3 months: This is to "get my foot into the door", gain experience, hopefully do OK. Then I could ask for something like a minimum wage. Showing payslips is great for visa.
Self-educate from online courses: I could spend some money and take some online courses, certifications and build up a portfolio with projects. Graduate from PhD and then apply for a job.
Apply for internships? Could be an option, but it could be tough since I'm entering into my final year of PhD.
Thanks in advance.
software-industry job-search hiring-process work-experience
New contributor
TL;DR: As an under-qualified software engineer in Australia that came from overseas, should I offer to work for free or should I keep working on my skills before applying for a paid job after PhD?
Goal: To get a full time job in Machine Learning / Data Science and graduate from PhD asap.
Background: I've attained my Bachelor's from software engineering, worked as a software engineer for about a year (6 years ago), finished a master's degree in Computer Science (all of them overseas), had about a year of gap before starting my PhD in Australia (now 1.5+ years in). My PhD is also in Computer Science, funded by a scholarship from an Australian university.
My PhD is in a very similar/same field with the job that I would like to get into (Deep Learning / Machine Learning). I live in a small-ish city where I have recently found a startup with 5 employees which I would like to work for (they were hiring for a full time, now the ad for the position has been removed).
I feel quite underqualified for the job, as I lack both experience and knowledge to do so. I am also not a citizen but I do have work permit from my student visa, and my English is great. Options:
Offer to work for free for the startup: Since startups usually lack funds and manpower, I think they would be inclined to accept. I can work for 2 days (10 hours per day) and work for PhD for 4 days (40 hours) and survive with the money from PhD. Graduate. Then look for a job for after graduation with "1 year of experience in the field" + reference maybe.
Offer to work for free for the first 3 months: This is to "get my foot into the door", gain experience, hopefully do OK. Then I could ask for something like a minimum wage. Showing payslips is great for visa.
Self-educate from online courses: I could spend some money and take some online courses, certifications and build up a portfolio with projects. Graduate from PhD and then apply for a job.
Apply for internships? Could be an option, but it could be tough since I'm entering into my final year of PhD.
Thanks in advance.
software-industry job-search hiring-process work-experience
software-industry job-search hiring-process work-experience
New contributor
New contributor
New contributor
asked 1 min ago
John ObfuscatedJohn Obfuscated
11
11
New contributor
New contributor
add a comment |
add a comment |
0
active
oldest
votes
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "423"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
John Obfuscated is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworkplace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f131051%2fworking-for-free-vs-improving-skills-for-a-phd-wanting-to-go-into-industry%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
0
active
oldest
votes
0
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
John Obfuscated is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
John Obfuscated is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
John Obfuscated is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
John Obfuscated is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to The Workplace Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworkplace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f131051%2fworking-for-free-vs-improving-skills-for-a-phd-wanting-to-go-into-industry%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown