Why Did You Choose This Double Burden?

I see the greatest advantage in the opportunity to gain valuable professional experience while still studying. By working in a company, you have the unique opportunity to present yourself as a valuable employee. Additionally, you gain initial work experience and qualify for direct employment. I find the exciting practical topics particularly interesting when writing the master’s thesis in a company. Depending on the company, you may also take on initial project responsibility, in my case even in a leadership role. In contrast to a purely theoretical task, this provides additional motivation, as you ultimately want to lead the project to success.

What Challenges Need to Be Overcome?

In my opinion, success depends significantly on two critical factors: time management and motivation.
Creating a master’s thesis takes a lot of time, including intensive research work, complex experimental setups, or conducting a survey. Simply living day to day is a work attitude that one should quickly abandon when combining work and a master’s thesis. It is therefore extremely important to establish a concrete schedule. Explicit recovery phases should not be neglected.

The art is to find a way to motivate yourself during this strenuous phase, to maintain concentration, and to always keep in mind and fulfill the demands of the department and the practical partner as well as your own expectations in the best possible way.

First, it is advisable to clearly define the expectations of the university and the employer, overlay them, and align them accordingly. Open communication creates transparency from the beginning and ensures mutual understanding.

There is a great treasure of knowledge and experience in the minds of colleagues. Therefore, it makes sense to obtain their feedback and always incorporate it. If possible, one should also use the company’s network to establish valuable contacts.

Despite all the work, not neglecting leisure time is particularly important to maintain motivation. Without motivation, productivity decreases and the quality of one’s work drops drastically, both in the company and with the master’s thesis. Good time planning with realistic milestone goals and smaller rewards for partial successes helps. As an additional incentive, you could also arrange a bonus with the company after completing the master’s thesis.

“In my opinion, success depends significantly on two critical factors: time management and motivation.

Patrick Streit – Lead Consultant

How Does digatus Support You?

I receive the greatest support from my colleagues. They are very interested in my work and are happy to share their knowledge with me. They are also always immediately available when it comes to professionally reviewing my work and finding even the last spelling mistake.
My own digatus mentor is always there for me with advice and support and is committed to the success of my project. I am particularly pleased with the attention from top management, which ensures the visibility of my project within digatus from the beginning. Additionally, I have the opportunity to draw on digatus’s network and thereby meet many interesting contacts and conversation partners.

Thank you, Patrick, and continued success!