My Phd in Malaysia

El Amine Mohammed Ould El Hadj 

25 years old, IT Engineer and Video-maker

Who loves traveling and trying new experiences … from where came the

#Eldoitall concept

Euh! I have a master in computer science (option academic) from Kasdi Merbah Ouargla University

Currently Phd student at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Kuala Lumpur

Why Malaysia?

I love food … and believe me you’ll love that country for more than that 

First, I have never been attracted to Asian countries .For myself; I always considered Europe or America as THE PERFECT PLACE TO BE in.But my mother got me a flight ticket for my birthday … and guess what?!!!

It was 16 hours away, with two stops to reach Kuala Lumpur the night of my 22 birthday.

From there I just liked so much the country  J

The people 

The atmosphere 

The technology 

And most important how the life was simple J

What language do you use?

Apa Khabar ? Or How are you ?

Either English spoken by more than 80% of Malaysians (even the most isolated places) or the Bahasa Malayu that you ‘ll learn in less than a year living with locals.

I worked with a pure Malay team for more than 2 years 

And also got involved into activities with my University campus (UTMKL) 

And after 40 days going to the restaurant and ordering the same thing 

You get obliged to order in Malay lol

So yeah ! I would say ENGLISH 

Ps : you’ll use your French to speak to the 4% French tourist you meet maybe !

Tell us about your PhD studies

For a PhD at the UTMKL (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Kuala Lumpur),I  got into Artificial Intelligence more specifically Geolocation and Geo referencing systems. 

Yeah it sounds hard if you never heard about a GIS or a Mapping System Interface 

Or simply GPS (yeah we make you GPS experience easier)

This was because both my bachelor and master subject was related to this topic.

I could not find the right support to get into the same subject for a PhD in Algeria, but Malaysia offered many solutions .

Moreover, because I like coding and following data on ground, yeah that was why I chose this field for my PhD project.

Also looking forward for one day to improve the GPS experience of Map used in Algeria.

What do you learn during your PhD?

Once I got my master for me PhD meant more studies … but I was wrong!

I got to learn so much.

I really like the research part the Lab job and the experience of teaching students in secondary teacher duty.Yeah I experienced being in front of hundreds of students who would copy exactly what you teach them on their notebooks and come after the class asking you sooooo many questions.

Also I got to work with an amazing team of teachers and mentors (like I call them) who helped me with coding sometimes but also who guide me to improve my skills in anything that would make my journey easier. 

I also got to work with different nationalities and learn about their education systems. 

For the academic part, I learned so much about the electronic components (something that I really hated back to university days).I become more confident when it comes to programming on Arduino and Automated cards.

What did you get from the Algerian University?

I always told myself that university doesn’t give you enough to learn

But only enough to write.

The Algerian university where I got to study helped me develop skills that I never used during the 5 years of studies but I realized how much they are important  because I use them currently in  my daily life  and even in my PhD classes.

So thanks for that point who made me always wanna learn more and not wait for the teacher or the class to tell me what to learn  J

You should learn for yourself

Believe me it’s much easier than you think!

Did you meet challenges?

Any student going to study abroad gonna face so many challenges.

It may start from what to pack in your luggage to how to live your first month in an unknown country far from home culture.

Some of those challenges are : 

THE FOOD : You have to get used to spicy and fried .

The transportation: if you wanna save money choose your way.

The language : repeating something 3 to 4 times is common in Malaysia don’t worry J

Renting : if you wanna rent an apartment or a room, they may decline you just for the nationality !

Home sick : it’s not easy living 12000KM from home, neither getting a fly ticket to visit more than twice a year.

Hard studies : even if you study 24h/day its not enough (you paid for that opportunity so make it worth it)

What are your perspectives? 

For the short term , I would say get a PhD then start the project I’ve been working for more than 2 years now.

I also aim to  involve myself into empowering the Algerian Youth to boost themself into the world best spots and career. We really have so much potentials that are just laying down here waiting for the right time.

And I wanna help the max of those outstanding youth with high potential J

My last word

For all the students who wanna go to study abroad

First step and this is the most important 

Why you wanna go abroad?

If the answer is just going out the country … just go to Tunisia for couple days and comeback to your normal life. 

By that I mean, you need to have a clear goal about the country, your aim and more important your studies .

Then all the rest is quite easy :)

If you want to come to Malaysia

Be sure of one thing 

It won’t be easy … not because it’s hard 

But because you’ll have to motivate yourself every day and every moment to reach your goal and not waste your time and money. 

You need to prepare yourself very well

1-     Certify your English level through an international test. For me it was the ILETS (with a good score >5)

2-     Then check your subjects for master or bachelor degree on the Malaysian Universities Database .This will help you find the perfect fit university for your field.

3-     Contact at least 3 universities (this may take some time or some weeks) and wait for an answer

4-     Translate all your paper (Diploma ,Certificates …) to English

5-     Then scan them .

Then once you get the  OK!

Here comes the easiest Studying Visa you may apply for, with a perfect follow up from University side or from the Malaysian embassy in Algeria. 

So if you are self-motivated with good marks from your baccalaureate till master or bachelor class  ,you’ll have a pretty nice life of student in the cheapest and most affordable quarter of the earth J  

For every student who wanna study in Malaysia 

I would be more than happy to help and show the roadmap to that 

You can catch me by email : amine.medoeh@gmail.com

On Instagram: @Slaveux 

Or even by Facebook: El Amine Mohamed Ould El Hadj

GOOD LUCK :)

The idea of the article was born here in Startup Weekend Ouargla on November 10^th ,2018…Amine is one of the most active youth in Algeria .

 I’m so happy to receive the man who keep sharing his experience wherever he go J

Salma Share is delighted to have Amine as a special guest to talk about his Malaysian experience J

Good luck Amine in your Phd project and Youth Empowerment activities J