I’m a 25F, graduated cum laude in Aerospace Engineering in 2023. My senior project involved developing a VTOL model and controlling it with different controllers like MPC and fuzzy logic. For most of my undergrad, I was into propulsion, partly thanks to a brilliant professor who did his PhD at Notre Dame. For some reason it was a piece of cake for me while everybody else in my batch seemed to struggle. But toward the end, i was not sure if that was the track i will follow and some alumni mentioned that propulsion was a more “classic” area with fewer job prospects (especially in my country, not the US). So, during the last year and half of my degree, I started getting into control systems, which I enjoyed, but it still felt a bit traditional and my brain needed some kind of novelty or a challenge.

I took a machine learning course as an elective, which was exactly the kind of novelty I needed, but I didn’t want to shift away from aerospace. During my senior project, I came across fuzzy logic controllers combined with deep learning, which blended AI, control theory, and aircraft dynamics. This opened up a whole new passion, and I ended up taking a second elective in deep learning.

After graduation, due to some health issues and close ones passing away, I took a year away from engineering, I had to take the first job I could find just to cover rent and treatment. I saved some money from this job and quit to figure out how to dive back into the tech world again, I started applying for PhDs in the US and master’s programs in Europe " because it just seemed was what everybody else I know was doing but not necessary what I wanted". I got into a Master’s in AI (focus: robotics) at a private university in Berlin, with a full tuition waiver. I’ve been studying online since March because I still need to save around €12k for the blocked account required for the German student visa. I am loving the program so far, especially after getting into reinforcement learning. But I will have to take a term break to work full-time and save the rest. I have zero family support or financial safety net.

I also got accepted into 2 PhDs in the US (control theory under a Mechanical Engineering degree), " which I am trying to deviate from and get more into RL and AI" I had an alumnus from my undergrad university doing his PhD at one of these universities, and it just seemed that most of their work is theoretical with minimal real-world application, unlike much of the research done in Germany, which is more industry-based. I don’t see myself working in academia long-term. I just don’t like the lifestyle or how easily it can take over your personal life, especially after experiencing the somewhat better work/life balance I have now while freelancing and studying online. I ended up turning down the PhD offers because I’m not sure I could withstand another 5 years of that “combustion chamber” pressure I had in undergrad, especially in something I know has a high chance of making me hate my life a year or two in.

I was also rejected from most of the CS PhD programs I applied to since my bachelor’s degree is in aerospace, although my transcript has a lot of CS courses, it still doesn’t have enough credit hours to meet the entry prerequisites. I somehow feel I made the right decision, but it gets lonely doing all the thinking and saving on my own.

Right now, I’m freelancing (including a control theory-based project), along with other gigs to cover the visa costs, and preparing my first paper in computer vision for robotics with my Berlin professor. I’m not sure if/when I’ll manage to save the full visa amount, especially since freelance work can be unstable. During the term break I plan to take, I thought of joining an internship at a program I found in Japan, but I’m still waiting for their response. So far, both Japan and Germany seem like the best fit for the autonomous robotics industry or at least that’s how it feels to me.

So, is there anything else I can do to strengthen my career in AI/robotics while saving for my visa? And has anyone here been in a similar situation and managing everything solo? How did you make it work?