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How should I deal with discouragement looking at others success?
I'm a master CS student. I had so many troubles in my life. I didn't have proper schooling and were in difficult situations which led to me being not so good compared to my peers now at the graduate school. For example I had problems with math and so and when I got into my new graduate school everyone was almost far better than me. Then I started working day and nights to improve my skills and after a year of really hard work now I achieved almost their skills. However in that time my peers were also developing their skills and doing fancy projects and so on. Sometimes when I get to look at their success and projects I feel stressed and discouraged that I really still have way too long to achieve that. Or that I'm really putting so much work into myself because of the problems I went through but at the end I find myself still far. Whereas my peers are enjoying their lifes and at the same time achieving something. I know life is not fair nor I'm jealous, but sometimes I just feel sorry about myself that I work really hard but without much difference :(. This is also is leading so some self-confidence issue, that whenever I see one of my peers I get stressed and sometimes afraid to discuss a topic with them because I don't want to look bad not  knowing that easy stuff for them.
This is always leads to a voice in my head saying: oh if only a professor in MIT or Stanford sees how hard working you are, you might be there now. But of course I won't because I will always be far from the students there because of what I went through.
What to do to overcome this?

@CharlesMorisset I have to disagree, while the questions are certainly related the one you linked seems to lack the bit about comparing yourself to others and feeling inadequate or lagging behind, which is the foundation of this question, IMHO.

@CharlesMorisset sure, I agree... At any rate the OP should check that question out and go through the insightful answer that have accumulated there.

This kind of seems like you should be asking a therapist / guidance counsellor, not a QA site. To me this reads like a mild grade depression/anxiety possibly triggered by, but possibly also just projected onto your studies. (They take up a lot of your time, it's likely your thoughts would focus on them whether it's rational or not.) But of course I'm projecting here as well.

Correction: not just a QA site. The advice given in the answers is perfectly valid, but different ways of looking at life work for different people, and neither of those given might be one you can internalise.

Think of it this way: may the best of your todays be the worst of your tomorrows (from a song) and that's the major comparison.  Consider too that having ambitious peers is much better than having unambitious peers because you are the average of the five people you're closest too.

These words may be of use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99XJB9h2ufA#t=2m44s

While there are a number of answers here, you might also find helpful advice at https://productivity.stackexchange.com/

Gratitude. For instance, I made a CLI app that lets me type g <thing I'm grateful for>, and it puts it in a database. Then, when I'm down, I type g prev, and it shows the last ten things I was grateful for. These bits of gratitude often include things I learned or overcame. Helps build confidence and other good emotion.

I will apologize in advance, because this answer won't give you what you are probably looking for; but it might give some perspective so I will reply anyways hoping that helps somewhat.
First off, know this: you are not alone! It's actually pretty common to look at your peers (at the office and elsewhere worldwide) and feel shitty about the "insignificance" of your accomplishments compared to those of others. To further strengthen the point, I can say that I am battling with this every single day for instance, despite what I hear from others about the quality or importance of my work when I look around and see what others achieve I feel depressed...
Secondly it's also good to try and remember that life isn't a competition. Well, some aspects of life are competitive, for sure, but you cannot go about living your day competing with others in every single aspect of your life. This is a simple but a very powerful insight, also very hard to digest it properly and take it to heart.
Think of all the aspects your life, from research to parking your car, from buying groceries to whatever sport you enjoy the most... I can guarantee you that there will be several (if not more) people within your immediate surrounding that will be "better" than you in each one and single aspect, if you isolate them one at a time. But I can also assure you that they won't be the same people if you consider different aspects. Overall, you are the person you are and constantly comparing yourself to others in single aspects (and focusing on your shortcomings) will only drive you towards unhappiness.

So does that mean you should just relax and go with the flow? Absolutely not! You have to play catch up, if you can identify your shortcomings in particular fields (like maths, or programming experience). It'll be frustration, it'll be long hours, it'll be effort... Try to focus on setting goals for yourself when you are in catch-up phase.
I strongly recommend checking out S.M.A.R.T goals concept which helps in getting things done and bagging that sweet feeling of accomplishment, little by little.
Hope this answer helps to some extent and it all works out in the end!

I'd also like to point out that not only should you look at your weaknesses you should also look at your strengths. Maybe you are better at other things related to CS. Not everything in CS is math and programing. Maybe for example, you are better at communicating your ideas or maybe you get along well while working in a team. These are qualities many CS students don't have. Work on your weaknesses for sure, but also put yourself in positions where you can show off your strengths as well.

Although, it is customary to give pep talk, the truth is that life is unfair. Your friends might get all the girls of your dreams without even trying (I assume you are a guy), your siblings might be more successful than what you will ever be and even your parents might be more educated than you. You can always blame this on your "hard" life and naively believe that if you actually put another 10% of effort you might minimize the gap between your achievements and theirs. The problem is, that sometimes people around you are more smart, more beautiful and even more hard working. You have to accept this as a fact of life. As Clint Eastwood said "A Man's Got to Know his Limitations". What you can do is work within those limitations and stretch them to your absolute best. But even then, success is not linear and sometimes extraordinary smart, hard working people fall flat on their faces.
So, although you should look to people around you for inspiration, trying to replicate their success is a dead-end. There will be always be someone more adequate, smarter, richer or luckier. So, instead focus on what you WANT TO DO instead on what you want to get. Do the best you can but mainly enjoy the process as well. Otherwise your dreams are toxic and lead you nowhere.

Great answer in my opinion. Life is indeed cruel, and the idea, very prevalent nowadays, that "only hard work matters!", is completely delusional and in a lot of ways ultimately detrimental to the recipients of that nice-sounding idea.

Sounds like you're engaged in a lot of upward social comparison, which is bound to make you feel somewhat inadequate if you're judging yourself by the different standards of achievement that may apply to them for all the reasons you mention. Upward social comparison might be a good way to form goals, but it's not a good way to judge your progress so far. Even if you'd had the same environmental advantages as some of the people you seem to be focusing on, you'd still both be working with different personalities and aptitudes, and probably different tasks too. Too many factors differentiate individuals' performance to take observations of your peers quite so seriously as reflections on yourself.
The ideal approach would be to judge your progress by your standards. You've known yourself long enough to have some sense of whether you're growing and performing at your usual rate. If you're improving steadily in these regards, I'd say that's plenty of cause for a decent amount of self-esteem. If you find yourself doing worse than usual, consider what's holding you back, and consider whether you've defined your goals realistically. I'm not saying you can't be responsible for underperforming—you should be able and willing to see fault in yourself—but you shouldn't blame yourself immediately without considering other factors that might be affecting you. This is all part of the broader matter of managing your expectations, and separating them from your hopes and aspirations.
I probably wouldn't recommend relying too heavily on downward social comparison, but it is also an option if you need to calibrate your frame of reference with others in general, and it sounds like you might. You sound very focused on what you have had to overcome, not the fact that you've overcome it, and focused on what others have done with advantages you didn't have, rather than what others have done with the same disadvantages you had. How many of your peers had problems like yours in the past? How many people do you know with similar backgrounds who haven't made it to grad school?
Be careful not to get caught up in depressive cycles of ruminative thought as well. You sound stressed for at least two reasons that should "cancel each other out" in some sense:

You had a hard life...

But you still made it to grad school!

You have trouble keeping up with people who haven't suffered the same disadvantages...

But you know you've had to deal with a lot of unusual problems outside of school!

That you are still in the same program as those people who had it easier should help you feel better about your life, because it's only held you back somewhat. That you have been held back by your life's circumstances somewhat should help you feel better about being behind somewhat. Nonetheless, if you focus on each source of stress separately instead of focusing on these connections, each will make you feel bad independently, and each will remind you of the other reason to feel bad. Focus on the reasons you are where you are, not just where you are, and focus on what you can do about it, not just how you feel about it (see also problem-focused and emotion-focused coping)...and never forget how far you've come already.

I think you shouldn´t compare yourself with others all the time. We need to be better than we were yesterday... If you are doing your part, don´t worry. There will be always people you consider better than you as always there will be people considering you better than them. CS is very vast... Don´t try to be the best in every field, it´s insane... Focus in something you like.. Good luck... And sometimes we need a break, relax, have fun to study better later... The important is the path, not the final line... Life is it, we are always trying to get in a new point.. And when we get there it takes only seconds and we start another run for the next. So we need to try to be happy during the path!

This answer almost says what I was going to write. Be happy with what you have and be proud of what you have already accomplished. If it took you more effort than your peers to get to where you are now, be proud that you have the strength of character to preservere in the face of challenge. Stop comparing yourself to others, you are here to be you in your life not to live up to the expectations or progress of others. Be the best you that you can be.

If you're looking at a lot of profiles (this is common when you're doing academic job searches or literature reviews) you might have a tendency to focus on the accomplishments that other professors have, and then lump them all together into some kind of imaginary "summation superhuman".
One institution hired that guy because he invented XYZ. The next hired the other because he has N papers in Science and Nature. The other one hired ABC because he got K dollars of funding. Suddenly, they're all molding together in your head and you feel like you have to invent something, get N papers in Science and Nature, and get K dollars of funding before you can even have a hope of succeeding.
When you look at a lot of CVs and profiles they highlight all of the good things. Don't "sum" them up into some kind of super researcher.

I totally disagree with "Accept it" part of answers. Well, accept it. BUT.
The people who are getting their success easy will eventually get bored and stop. Your habit to working hard WILL get you ahead of them sooner than you might expect (at least, after graduating high school. Life is not like high school, it has no target to be teaching you while you're having fun in a campus). It's like having higher speed and acceleration while starting behind: EVENTUALLY you'll get ahead.
Persistence beats it all. It beats being smart, rich or naturally strong.
Go strive for those fancy projects too. In the beginning, you will be doing worse, that's normal. And then...
Second thing: trying to catch up with a someone's success is one of the best motivations I had in my life.
Go on.

Unfortunately, not only are there people smarter than you, and with more fortunate backgrounds than you, who have been luckier than you, who are taller and richer and better looking than you, there are also people who are more persistent than you.  The only way to win this game is not to play.

@JeffE, come on. If it feels like looking for excuses, just know it's your worse part trying to undermine your life. I don't think that on OP's class has more than 2 more persistent persons, and being one of top 3 is a great result.

@JeffE, yes, the way you stated it - outbest everyone in the world - you probably cannot. But admit, it's a non-SMART target, feels more like an excuse for doing nothing.

Admitting that other people are better than you is only an excuse for doing nothing if being better than other people is your only motivation, as opposed to doing the best you can.

Great point. Probably I have different assumptions: I'm assuming OP is already doing what he wants. And I believe there's a difference between "aim to do better than others" and "aim to do (what I like to do) as good as someone near me can".

Hopefully I can give you a different answer, from my perspective.
First of all, everyone's achievements are different. If they are not, they are in direct competition in their careers - so don't try to achieve what they do. You have unique stuff to offer. I have hired a lot of academically smart people, but they have no people skills or street smarts - at all. The CIO I work for said what makes a good CIO is one who naturally has great people skills and social smarts, everything else can be learned.
Be the turtle, not the rabbit, in the race. I suggest you try to make small achievements, and document them in a vita you should keep. Try to write an article on what you do.. perhaps applying people smarts, not tech smarts. Look for a perspective you have no one else around you has, and focus on applying CS to non-CS interests you have. For example, if you like music, do a CS project with music as the subject. Then put that in your Vita.
Volunteering is always good experience the academically smart people may not be doing. Interact with people, socialize, and help others. A good tech leader will have team building skills, personal management skills, task/project management. So perhaps you have a knack for these.. you should look into them. Being a volunteer leader and an average programmer may speak more than only being an expert programmer with no leadership experience.
Don't worry about the tech skills as much as the know-how skills. Every job you go to you will have to learn new skills. The question the employer will have is how can you make my company better if I hire you. They want someone who has enough technical skills to do the job, and then they look for non-tech skills that fit the company's mission and ideals.

Amen! Play to your strengths! Always a good way to go for building self-esteem and trying to define one's niche in the world.

A personal example. I studied music for several decades and was always average or less in performance and composition than my peers. However, in my CS projects and research I applied my music skills. I designed beautiful code that awarded me the Excellence in Programming award. And I can safely say I am the only one of my music peers to write an Artificial Intelligence program that composes music. Use your non-CS skills to enhance what you can do in CS. Anyone can program, but you need an idea or solution first. @nick is right about one's "niche".

So, the question is how do I deal with the discouragement and overcome this.

Like another person said, you are NOT the only one. Actually, you'd be surprised to hear that some of the people you envy feel the same way. Even when by all measures, they seem to be so great and successful. Example: Scott Hanselman is a Senior Engineer (not sure of his title) at Microsoft and published the great posts The Myth of the Rockstar Programmer and I'm a phony. Are you?.
It's all in your mindset. I will never be the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, but I can always be better than I am today.
Work on some side projects to help you learn more and improve every day. Yes, everyone is busy and this takes time. But, no one said becoming a great developer is easy.
You are a Master's student. You really haven't even started your career. My advice??? Be persistent and outwork your peers. I'll take an energetic, motivated person any day over someone with a little talent that is lazy.

Most people deal with the feelings of ineptness. Just realize it's just a feeling and not based on much reality. You see the success of others, but you have no idea how many failures they have had or how hard they worked to get there. You look at their successes, but you have no way of looking at their failures.

#2 is a gold-piece, and should be the mantra of any aspiring scientist, IMHO. (+1 for that)

Many answers here are very helpful for me, as for a long time I've had the same feelings as you do now, and still do, to a lesser extent.
I also agree with millmoose's comment in that, while it's understandable that you are seeking for help with your situation, it'd be better if you ask people close to you, or a therapist, for aid.
However, because your position is very familiar to me, I'd like to give you my own answer as well, if only to deal with my own situation.
My problems manifested themselves around the time I enrolled as a student.
Whilst I love computer science, and especially it's theoretical implications, I felt insecure because I was weak at math and no programming background.
So, I started and for a long time I too compared my achievements with others'.
Without taking my own personal difficulties into account, I set high standards for myself, in order to prove to myself that I was better than they were.
I then failed my own high expectations, and that resulted into me thinking less of myself and more of the others.
This impacted my studies as well: I couldn't read at home, and at class I would not ask my teachers any questions (who actually expected my questions and were paid to answer them) or discuss the topic with my classmates, out of fear of how I'd come out.
To "amend" the situation, I set even higher standards the next time, and so a vicious circle of expectation/disappointment ensued.
This had a great psychological and professional impact for me, but also very valuable lessons to be learned; I hope my lessons will help you as well.
The greatest lesson I've learned is that your mistakes are your best friends, and your best tutors. All of us started knowing nothing at all, and we all learn and get better by making mistakes. Don't be afraid to ask questions; to show that you don't know.The answers, as well as the questions themselves, will help you grow.
But, no matter how much we learn none of us will ever get to know it all, or be perfect at anything. All the people that seem so perfect, they all have their flaws.Beneath the lines of accomplishments by great scientists lie dozens of failures (according to Wikipedia, "Einstein was passed over for promotion [at the Swiss Patent Office] until he 'fully mastered machine technology'".Go figure).
Me and you have flaws too. It's very natural, and it's very OK! :)
It's also hard to get used to this, and not be afraid of mistakes. I'm still trying myself.
What helps me is that there is actually no comparison to be made. We are not better or worse to each other; we are all equal, but different. And everyone of us is special in their own way.
I for instance, learned about myself that I may not be great at math, or any other field for that matter, but I'm good at discovering relations between stuff, and that matters too!
What posdef also said helps even more: life is not all about competing, comparing and achieving stuff.Life is about the journey-the goal is just the pretext to get the journey going (see also Ithaca).
It is about enjoying what you do, and enjoying yourself, along with others just as non-perfect as me and you are.
To conclude: just go for it, no matter how it turns out. Get in touch with others and their work and don't be afraid of it; you will learn from their rights and wrongs, and they will certainly learn something special from you too ;)
P.S. This fall I tried to get to graduate school for a master at CS, but didn't get admitted; I wasn't even called for the interview ;)

While many will tell you to step up, or forget other people and focus on yourself I think it best to do something else entirely. I'm a non-traditional student. I too had fall-backs and work considerably harder to achieve my goals than some of my peers, but what has helped immensely wasn't hoping someone notices me, but making them notice me. So I say to you, find a mentor. Find someone in your field of whom you can confide and ask questions. When you start involving yourself deeply in your field both online AND in person with others who are equally interested in your work, and with those who are willing to listen and/or give advice when necessary you will realize just how good you have it.
We are always comparing ourselves to others, don't stop. It can drive you to be better, to be different. However, remember that you aren't the same as your peers. You don't want to have exactly the same jobs and lives as they do, so you can set your own goals. And in doing so, you will find that you can market yourself differently as well. Be different. Stand out.

Almost everyone feels this way to some extent.  Most people have developed this issue over many years.  I ran into the issue head-on in the jump from middle to high school.  In primary and middle school, I was literally first in my class.  Then I went to a better district with more rigorous studies, and I started almost failing my classes while my peers received the equivalent of a 5.0.  So I had to consciously figure out how to deal with the feeling of inferiority.
The best way to handle this issue is to keep a few things in mind:
1 – Everyone has a different skill set.  Unfortunately, society trains us to focus on our failings.  Everyone has standard levels they must reach, but we're not so encouraged to advanced quickly in what we are good at.  It's a major flaw of society to force everyone to an inflated level in things they aren't good at.
2 – Instead, you should focus on becoming excellent in what you are good at.  Then, whenever you feel inadequate in one field, just remember how good you are in another.  If you focus both on improving your strengths and flaunting them, it makes you a productive and satisfied member of society, not to mention very appealing to recruiters and those in charge of promotion.
3 – Some people say life isn't a competition.  Others say you need to work hard and play catch up.  You have to find your own balance between the two.  If you're too far on the competitive end, people think you're a jerk when you're above them in a subject or you feel depressed when you're below others.  If you're too far on the peaceful end, you lose the desire to work hard and learn more, regardless of whether or not you need it.
4 – Find out what you like to do, find out what you're good at, and find out where the two cross.

EXAMPLES:
Focus on fixing the bad – The underdog movies "Turbo" and "Rudy" come to mind.  Rudy, the shrimp of a kid who can't run fast, wants to play college football.  He spends all his time training, and gets one play in the season.  He feels like a hero until the movie ends and he realizes that play doesn't get him off the bench for next season.  Turbo the snail wants to win the Indy500.  It takes a freak chemical spill to turn him into a snail version of a superhero.  These are some of the people we look at for inspiration.
Focus on your strengths – "Monsters Inc." and "Monsters University."  When Mike tries to scare kids, he fails.  He's simply not scary.  But he knows everything about being a scarer.  Sully's scary, but is horrible at memorization and logic.  In the end, Mike doesn't become a scarer; he coaches Sully and plans everything.  Mike does what he's good at and gets to be in the same environment he would be in if he were good at scaring.  Mike and Sully each use their unique, innate skills to their advantage and come out on top.
Let's say you're good at composition, history, and time management, but you dislike history and time management.  Become excellent at composition, keep history relatively neutral, and accept the fact that time management is a requirement for everyone.
By the way, how many people in your field are good at math?  Probably a lot.  How many are good at what you specialize in?  If you do it right, not very many.  You can't speak Mandarin, even though it's the most popular language on the planet.  What do you do?  Forget about it, unless you're planning on traveling to China.  Why do you need it?  Instead, learn a language that impresses people and is often used in your chosen field.  For example, France has a lot of customers for robotic tech companies.
Here's a huge misnomer.  "Hard Work" is not actually what people want.  Employers don't want employees to stay two hours late every day just to get their tasks done, then come to work tired because of another three hours of unpaid labor at home.  Teachers don't want students to be stressed out and think of the school experience as a bunch of bad memories.  "Don't work hard; work smart."  Use what you have at your disposal.  They use the term "Hard Work" to indicate that you can't slack off and not do what's expected of you.
Also, if students come from higher-class high schools, it's basically like they went to college early on financial aid.  They've already gone through all these classes.  Yes, you're going to have to go through the classes they've already been through.
By the way, I'm in my first year of community college now.  There were high school Juniors in my Calc II class with better grades than mine.  There are also people into their third year of college failing their third bout of intermediate algebra.  We have peers who can barely speak English, and we have foreigners who speak my language better than I do.

In the end, everything is subjective and relative.  Don't beat yourself up.  Try to focus on your strengths.  It's not a necklace, and you are much stronger than your weakest link.  If you're not good at a subject, figure out what's the highest level you need to have to be good at what you do.

Well, sometimes we are just not that "smart".
I had a class in image processing (graduate level) taught by Dr K. R. Rao (invented JPEG), and I barely hung on by my fingernails and was behind all the other students. The other class members were all international students who didn't party but studied in their off time.
They knew the subject better than me, but I got an A. It was an excellent class, I was persistent, very persistent. The point is get over the feelings and work as hard as you can, all your spare time on it (24/7 like) and see how you do.
But "Smart" is only 1/2 the game. Look at the people in Mensa; 1/2 are nuts, and look at PhDs in Physics; 1/2 are nuts and really out to lunch long time.
I take a hard working normal guy over a super smart wandering type anytime. On the job, I had, as a system engineer, to coordinate and get the primadona engineers all moving in one direction and work together, about 5 guys in 3 locations and they had more than 10 patents each, one had over 50, and they were all older than me. They knew their fields far better than I. We came out with Wi-Fi. Learn to take downs with the ups, gather experience, lots of arrows in the butt, etc. There is high demand for people that can stand the pressure and survive.
There was one guy in grad microwave class that made all 100s, the rest of us were in the Bs, and he busted the curve for us.

"Look at the people in Mensa; 1/2 are nuts, and look at PhDs in Physics; 1/2 are nuts and really out to lunch long time." [citation needed]

WOW, There are many good responses and some good and some not so good advice.
I am a 49 y/o System admin/Engineer with no formal IT Training and "Some College".
As far as feeling outclassed by your peers, I certainly can identify with that. I am assuming that you are in your 30's.
I have been working in IT for 20 years and have seen some very unhappy and miserable people. Constantly clawing and trying to "One Up" their peers. I understand that this is a very competitive field, however understand that your job is not your life. You are an amazing individual, because you are not arrogant and do see your own flaws. Please stay humble. Do not see yourself as lessor than your peers, you are much greater.You have come a long way. So if you ever find some difficulty just remember one of the difficult times in your past and appreciate your present. Often time some say "It is rough but at least I am doing better than ... (Fill the blank). Well, your difficult times are in that blank.
Lastly, Put you peers in your shoes and I am sure NONE of them can stand.
Love your life, stop and and reflect, pray, meditate and most of all SMILE, laugh, and enjoy. Life really blurs by. Remember your past as a point of reference. Your peers cannot relate. ANY Employer would love to have someone with your experience, because you are an OVERCOMER, and handle difficulty under pressure, that make some of the best problem solvers
Experience is more than academics. Good luck, and take life by the horns.

New Ideas, you need new ideas, new ways of doing things to achieve what you're looking for, and if it's being better than them, I think that's not a bad thing, I mean how many are they 10, 20 people. obviously that challenged you and without this you wouldn't have thought of changing your status Quo. and even better how about something you're interested in that they don't know anything about (it doesn't have to be sports) it could be in the field of CS too, but was left out for some reason, they're a limited no. of people and even if they are 100, they're not the rest of the world, so probably they are not good at something in CS, if you're interested in that thing (only if you're interested in it, passionate about and want to learn) this can be a great advantage of yours. go for it, be good at every other subject in your masters but be excellent at your newly found interest, a hint: it might be something related to business (think gates and jobs left school for a reason), this could be a killer. in my opinion frustration is the fuel for extraordinary success only if you keep at it.

Hey, welcome to academia.SE. It's great that you're trying to contribute, but could you try and add some structure to your post? While there's some nice advice in there, it's hard to read and follow, and I can barely get the point. Feel free to edit and improve your answer.


text:
How to professionally quit a student job?
I'm a CS master student in a German university currently writing my thesis. Three months ago I saw an advert from a PhD student in the group where I'm doing my thesis asking for a student assistant (HiWi) to work on a programming project. I went  and said I'm interested in the job but specified I can only work 5 hours a week since I must work on my thesis. It was agreed  saying "I don't care how much time you will take to finish it".
Since I'm writing my thesis and was about to finish when asked: "how long are you staying here" and I said that I don't know yet and asked why; the reply was "because now I'm concerned that you might leave me if you finish soon" and I mentioned that I will stay to do my PhD.
So I started working. After the first week I noticed that the Phd student is actually quite weird. Once I mentioned that I'm going to use framework "X" for a particular part of the project, and was told: "No I want you to use framework Y, because what if you die then I have to continue doing the project". I didn't like how it was said, but I considered it a joke. Then the weird stuff continued. I won't mention them because it will take too long.
Because of administrative issues they couldn't start my contract for two months, so I worked two months for free. It was said that for the coming months they will put more hours in my contract and I can skip some weeks without working so I can make up for the two months.
However the most annoying thing happened 4 weeks ago. I was told that we need the project done earlier than thought (never mentioned any deadline previously). Then I thought OK I will work twice the time (10 hours a week) for two weeks and then once I finish the main functionalities in the project I will ask to skip two weeks so I can make up and work on my thesis.
Surprisingly after those two hard weeks I was told  that  the project is wanted done by the end of next week! I said that I was already working overtime and was replied "I don't care I just want it to be done by the end of next week because I have a workshop and I need to present it"!
That was the time I made the decision to quit since it was known very well that I can't do this because I have to work on my thesis, also because of the Phd student's weird behavior. However after receiving the shock I decided that it's not professional to quit at this stage since there is a deadline for the workshop. Also I finished 60% of the project and we made the deal to finish only until 70% for the deadline.
However I want to quit after the deadline but I have the following concerns:

The atmosphere in our work group is very familial. I have lunch with all PhDs and postdocs and jokes and everything. I'm now concerned that quitting would make the atmosphere negative between us.
Whenever I think about quitting I remember when I was asked  about how long I will stay because of the worry that I might leave, to somehow not to screw up things. It's the main concern since the project will be 70% done and hiring a new student would be painful since they would have to read what I did and so on and will delay the project.
The professor is also concerned about this project and now I'm afraid that quitting this project at this stage would make my image look bad as a quitter.

So how do you recommend me to quit this job?
Edit:
One way I thought of quitting is to go  after the deadline and say that I won't work for 2 weeks because I need to work on my thesis. Now if  told that I can't do that, then I will tell say "then I'm probably not a good fit for the requirement of this project and I don't want to be an obstacle for its progress. I think it's a good idea to find someone who is a better fit". Then I will pray that the response is "Yes you are right". The issue is that we have a lack of student assistants so he might still want me to work under my conditions, but I don't want to continue working for them!

Are you planning to do your PhD in the same research group, or just the same university?

@aeismail same research group

@aeismail any advise from your side please?

Yes, I will have some advice up shortly (after I attend to a few other pressing tasks).

I'm concerned that you might leave [..] if you finish soon and use framework Y, because what if you die? are not surprising and sound like ok concerns for an employer. The rest though raises a few flags, in particular the part where you work 2 months for free...

so I worked two months for free — Note to others: DO NOT DO THIS.

@CapeCode he could have expressed these concerns more friendly "what if you leave me after two months?!"

@JeffE: Unfortunately, university bureaucracy causes this to be a fairly frequent occurrence. If you know you need some temporary support for two months to prepare something for a deadline three months ahead, you just cannot wait for three months until uni administration (and other agencies) gets the paperwork ready. Hence, such arrangements are very common, but then, I have never heard of a supervisor who actually exploits that situation. If the social dynamics at the OP's university are such that this kind of exploitation is tolerated, you are right about being careful about such situations.

@JackTwain: Then you could respond: "You can still e-mail me if there are any urgent questions." The most dramatic example illustrates the issue the best.

@mmmmmmm: Unless the supervisor is indeed as abusive as in the described case, you are getting paid in due time. Do you also refuse to show up for work for the first 29 days of a month when the salary arrives only on the 30th? Of course, you don't need to care about the background, someone else will gladly take the position and the money. I am not saying you must agree to such an arrangement. I am just saying there are reasons for such arrangements, they are common, and they usually work out well for all involved in my experience.

@mmmmmmm: Yes, but the OP continues right after that: "I worked two months for free. It was said that for the coming months they will put more hours in my contract and I can skip some weeks without working so I can make up for the two months." - clearly, the agreement was such that payment was supposed to follow later.

"No I want you to use framework Y, because what if you die then I have to continue doing the project" - this is dry, dark humour, but it is common for a computer science student, especially an introverted one. They are simply referring to the bus factor, which even has its own Wikipedia article.
Your complaint is that they could have said this in a more friendly way. However, dry, dark humour is them trying to be friendly, but calling them weird is not being friendly.

German university students leave HiWi positions all the time; essentially all universities have forms that allow you to break a running contract (Auflösung) for essentially any reason that you so choose, given the requisite notice; typically this is one month before the new end date of the contract.
Your situation is not that unusual, in that you're doing a HiWi in the same group that you're doing a master's thesis (and intend to do your PhD in). Since it's clear you really don't want to do the HiWi work right now, you can mention, as you suggested, that you're worried about finishing your master's thesis on time and doing a good job with it. However, leaving this position in this manner means you won't be able to take another HiWi position within the group (although you might be able to accept something else in another chair).
However, you shouldn't worry about quitting the position because of time constraints. This happens fairly frequently for lots of reasons. A good graduate student and research group will understand this and not be bothered by it. (If they do have a problem with it, then you should reconsider the wisdom of doing your PhD there!)
[On a side note, though, it seems your PhD student supervisor had unreasonable expectations of the position and what you were supposed to do. Most of the issues are on his side—particularly since he agreed that you could work just five hours per week in the first place!]

It sounds to me like you don't exactly need to quit. Remind him of the conditions under which you took the job, and ask him to stick to the agreement. If he can't do so because his requirements have changed, then that's his choice. You might say something like this:

As you recall, when I accepted this job, it was under the condition
  that I would only work 5 hours per week so it wouldn't interfere with
  working on my thesis. Because of your workshop, I have been working
  far more time than we agreed. I'm concerned that you need more support
  than the 5 hours a week I am able to provide. What do you think?

Note that I said "5 hours per week" twice for emphasis. Give him a chance to respond. At this point, if he promises to stick to 5 hours per week in future, and allows you to take the next few weeks off to catch up on your thesis, then perhaps you might give him one more chance.
However, if he indicates that he needs you to work more hours, or be available whenever he has deadlines, then you might say something like this:

Unfortunately, I can't work more than 5 hours per week, and it sounds
  like that just won't be enough. Perhaps the best way to solve this is
  turn the project over to someone else. I'll do what I can to ensure a
  smooth transition.

Instead of "quitting", you're working with him to solve his requirements. If it turns out that the only way to meet those requirements is for you to hand off the work to someone else, then that's his choice.
As for the time you worked for free at the start of the contract, I think it is going to be difficult to get paid for that without burning bridges. Of course, you are entitled to be paid, and you could pursue that legally, but you may not want to. In future, remember never to work without a contract.

Why is it difficult to get paid for the time I worked without contract?! We had a deal and he broke it because his requirements changed, then he can simply leave my contract running for two months without me working so I can get back the money. I didn't really understand what you meant by "without burning bridges"

I interpreted your question to mean that your primary concern was to preserve your professional relationship with this person. I'm sure you can get him to pay you, but he may do so grudgingly since he'll have to pay you and someone else during the transition. Just be prepared for the possibility.

yes my primary concern is to preserve my professional relationship with him and the professor. Actually the professor is paying not him ... since he gets the funding.

Why is it difficult to get paid for the time I worked without contract? — You and your boss signed a document formally describing the terms of your employment.  One of those terms was the contract period.

@AlexTwain maybe you should explain all this to the professor. He will be the one deciding if he hires you.

@JeffE but he told me informally that I can skip weeks without working so I can make up for the free time that I worked. That was the deal.

A verbal agreement is worth the paper it's printed on.

Agreed with @Davidmh re: going to professor. Things to bring up: 1. Change in deadline conditions (you took the job under a condition of open deadline, which then changed to specific dates); 2. Change in hours (you took the job with a cap of 5hrs/wk, which then increased and began to interfere with your thesis work which should be your #1 priority as a student; 3. Change in project scope (e.g. frmwrk Y) If the grad student will feel that you went behind his back, let him know you felt the professor was best positioned to answer a funding-related question since he is the one ultimately paying.
Also, be sure to mention to the professor the issue of working without pay (same as delayed pay) for 2 months. Make sure he is aware that YOU are aware of this and that you expect reimbursement in accordance with the contract. Be sure to remain calm, courteous, and overall professional in this discussion, and ground your arguments in principles (e.g. getting paid for work) and not people (e.g. the student not paying you on time). This will position you as someone who is in control of the negotiation and speaks from a more objective position of fairness rather than individual-specific nuances.

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text:
Changing Research Groups
I am still early on in my PhD. I have not passed my comprehensives (or even began studying for them yet), but I have finished my courses. Over the past year, I began working with a group that I initially felt was a good fit for me. At the time, they were the only ones working in this area in our department. However, as time has gone on, I have realized that my professor has absolutely no idea about my field and their relation to it is completely from a different angle (hardware vs software). They are unfamiliar with the conferences in my area, acceptable standards, state-of-art work, etc. In fact, the other day I was told that everything my professor knew about my area was learned from me. Originally, I thought they were active in this field, but actually they are in a COMPLETELY different field altogether. Recently, we hired a new professor that I am certain is in my field (publishes in the conferences of my field, etc.). I have decided to switch and begin working with this new faculty member. Is this unusual? I am very scared of my current faculty member and have heard horror stories, who by the way,  is a retired professor (emeritus) but still can advise me.. but at this point I don't think I want it!

I would say that you would be better off going with the new faculty member. The question now is "How do I switch?" If this emeritus guy does email (which some of them are so old they do not. Although it sounds like you maybe are in Computer Science, so hopefully the guy uses email) I would write a brief email to him explaining why you are switching. This avoids a face to face if possible. Then unilaterally switch groups. I would take care of any introductions with the new advisor in person, however.
Much of this also depends on things like if you share an office with people in the uninformed group, how large your department is (If you have 40 profs in the department, you can fade away. With 4 profs, not so much), etc.
I switched drastically in what I was studying (Algebraic group theory as a MSci student to applied statistics as a PhD student) and there were a few eyebrows raised. But, it was ultimately my career. And people in my department came to accept it. It is SO much better to have a good research group than to have a placated advisor. Do not put yourself through that.

"If this emeritus guy does email...This avoids a face to face". When you are working with a guy for 1-2 years, I think the best way to tell him that you are planning to leave is face-to-face. That way you can explain your reasons and ask for his help, during this transition.

I would talk with the young guy and ask for his opinion on how to switch.

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text:
I'm writing a paper on a side project with a friend, should I involve my supervisor?
Some months ago I was contacted by a friend who works in my scientific field, regarding a collaboration project (we're both postdocs). We exchanged some emails and considerations. He provided me the dataset, and I developed a simple program able to make some interesting scientific discoveries (at least, from my understanding).
We've not given too much importance to this project, but now it turns out that it could lead to a scientific paper to submit to a good journal.
Even if I dedicated to this side project a small amount of time (~3 hours / week), it surely took away some time from my main project, which is much more important.
Now in the writing phase, I wondering if I should tell my supervisor about this project and this paper.
On one hand, I'm worried that he might not like that I dedicated some working time to it instead of my main project... on the other side, I think he would be happy to collaborate in writing this paper with me and gain a new journal publication.
What do you think I should do?
What do you think my supervisor would say about this side project and its paper?

No one knows your superviser here better than you (except perhaps, themselves, if they are online). Is there a precedence case?

Your advisor is not a soul-sucking demon.  Just talk with them already.

I recommend that you should talk with the supervisor about side projects. Perhaps revealing the nature of a project at once is not a good idea if the relation with the supervisor is not so close. You can start for example telling your supervisor that you are/will be collaborating with a friend on a project and see the reaction and the comments, and after a few weeks you can expose the whole project and paper to the supervisor. I don't think you have invested such a long time in your project, 3h/week is a small amount of time, so you didn't took much effort from your principal project, you have nothing to worry about.

I strongly agree: talk with the supervisor,. I gave a negative vote for suggestion of being less than transparent in the conversation - If a student told me in this manner (pretending first to 'sound' me out,  then slowly doling out the truth over course of even one conversation let alone waiting days to come clean) I would likely want to get them out of my group. If a student tried to hide that they realized a potential issue, conflict of interest, error or omission, then it is very hard for them to regain trust that they won't try to mislead or lie about difficult mistakes  in research.

authors: Жанна Бояджян


text:
What is the common dates to apply and then start a PhD in western Europe?
I am currently looking for a PhD in computer science for the fall in France, Germany and Switzerland. Although I still find some offers, I think applying in June is quite late.
What are the common periods to apply for a PhD in those countries and in which month do people usually start their PhD? Is it common to start it at the beginning of the summer semester?

In most german institutions (and in Switzerland also I think) the PhD studies are completely independent of the semesters. New openings depend on when funding becomes available and you will mainly be an employee of the university, not a student.

Even if there’s a stipend instead of an employee position, the timing is generally independent of the academic year.

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text:
Students working on lab software
I was wondering if any could give me some pointers on the issue of having students working on software that's being developed in the lab. What's the standard procedure on this issue? Is there some sort of agreement that's better for the student to sign before he/she starts contributing to this software? Are there any standard conditions that I can use to set up the agreement?

What kind of issues are you foreseeing? Copyright or confidentiality (or both)?

Just copyright.

By and large, taught students (ie, ones who are not paid a stipend or salary) by default retain the copyright to their own work (in contrast to employees, who generally agree to assign it to whoever they are working for). Therefore, you should probably have then sign an agreement to assign the copyright to the lab or university, and you should certainly do this before they do any work. This will ensure you can continue to do what you want with the source code without having to ask permission from the students in question.
For research students, it varies from country to country, so the copyright on their work may be assigned to them, or it may be assigned to the university. If it is already assigned to the university, you don't need to do anything else.
You should probably speak to your university's legal department about this and especially if you do need to write up a contract to assign the university copyright. You may also find this question on programmers.se useful.

+1 for the last paragraph. I think it's likely that even students who are not employees may be subject to jurisdiction-specific rules that you are not necessarily aware of.

Right. I think in the US, some universities require copyright assignment for all students? But it is best just to ask someone at your university whose job it is to know these things.


text:
Should I appeal the F grade I received in my programming class?
I received a F grade in a class I was doing pretty well in throughout the semester. I had a B up until I got a C on the final which brought my overall grade to a C, not ideal but not horrendous either. On Christmas Eve when the semester was over I checked my grade and spit the cereal I was eating all over my laptop. I checked my grade through the class website and my last assignment still said "upcoming" with regards to my grade. I was so shocked by the F I received that I immediately shot off an email to the Prof, letting him know the grade he gave me was wrong... big mistake. The Prof told me I got a zero on the last assignment (even though it said upcoming not 0) which was worth about 20% of my grade because my project which was turned in 100% correct and on time was not configured correctly. My project was on GitLab and I had added him as a guest by accident not a developer to the project; thus making it impossible to grade.
I could tell he was angered by my unintentional accusation and he said we were done talking about it, and my grade was final. I failed at a 58% with an assignment worth 20% of my grade and took weeks to complete being worth nada. So I had a unbelievably bad Christmas to say the least. I waited a week and wrote an email to the professor apologizing for my rude behavior and to propose a compromise. Take as much points as you want off, (I could get a 10% on the assignment and still pass). This made sense to me, the Professor accepted late work for up to a week with 5% deducted per day. If I got a D at least I didn't have to retake the course. No response, I must've emailed at the worst possible time or really ticked him off.
Just some more background. This is by far my most disorganized, forgetful and laid back Professor I have ever taken in college. He's also the funniest, most caring and fair instructor I've met so far. He will personally tutor students outside office hours, clear and fair in grading and will bend over backwards to hear you out. I really think I just pissed him off at the worst possible time. The downside to his laid back attitude is that we didn't get out first program back for two months, it was due week 3. We didn't get program 2 back until week 9. And the last two assignments, due a month and a month and a half before the semester ended weren't graded until after our final. Which would explain why I spat cereal all over my lab top on Christmas Eve. There was no opportunity for recourse. No way for me to speak with him in person about why I shouldn't fail for selecting the wrong entry on a drop down menu.
Anyways before I embarrass myself any further with a grade appeal do I have any standing, any case to make? The instructions on adding the Professor as a developer is clear on the first assignment, not on any of the subsequent assignments. Not disputing that, I made that mistake he literally couldn't grade it because of that. All I'm saying is that it is in line with my computer science department policies to deduct points for silly mistakes regarding submitting code. I Will talk to the department chair first, funny story is I sat next to him all semester last year and didn't even realize it was the department chair sitting in observing some of the classes.

It hasn't been a week since Christmas, btw. Anyway, the professor could be on vacation this week. You might want to wait until next week (and no response) before firing off yet another email.

This sounds like a case of: Instantaneous and likely less than civil reactionary email contributed to somewhat harsh and not desired response by professor. I can tell you one thing that I have noticed: If a professor cannot view/read material submitted, be it due to lack of proper access, or submission in a format they cannot access, they have every right to assign whatever grade they so choose. Onus is on the student to make sure the professor has sufficient access/ability to view submitted assignments.

Mistakes happen.  If the prof couldn't grade your work because of some system problem -- regardless of whose fault the problem was -- it could have easily been resolved at the time with a simple email from the prof to you.  You could have resolved the issue, and he could have deducted an appropriate amount for the glitch.
In the meantime, I assume that because you're using a version control system for managing the project, that absolutely everything is time stamped.
I think you'd be in line if you send one more polite email, once again apologizing for screwing up privilege on his access, and asking him to please reconsider the grade, given that all the submissions are time stamped, and that you wish he would have notified you of the problem when it arose, and not surprised you with an F.
If that doesn't work, you might politely approach the department chair.
It goes without saying that I offer this advise assuming that I know the whole story, and that there are no undiscovered surprises such as academic dishonesty anywhere in the mix.

"...you wish he would have notified you of the problem when it arose, and not surprised you with an F." If the professor was added as a guest, would he even be aware that a submission was made? Rather than fault the professor for not bringing the error to the attention of the student (especially if the prof wasn't aware of the mistake), the student might be better served acknowledging the oversight and accepting whatever penalty the prof assigned, and politely requesting reconsideration of the F grade.

I have only one issue with this answer:  It is not the professor/instructors job to email a student about lack of access to a submitted assignment.  If a student notices that a grade has been "pending" for an extended duration, said student should take the initiative to recheck viewing permissions, and/or if the work has been submitted in an acceptable format.  Students are to do the work, not the instructors.  Usually course syllabi will state what formats are acceptable.  I have had professors who refuse *.docx and only want *.odf.

@NZKshatriya, I agree,  but there are many issues in this particular case that indicate the prof should allow leeway here.  The delayed feedback is one of the more major issues, but only one.  If the prof wanted a repository that worked,  the prof should have set one up with appropriate permissions up front, and provided access to students, not the other way around.  This stuff shouldn't become a problem unless the prof is too rigid to allow correction of mistakes.  For example, what if the student had simply misspelled the prof's username for access.  Would that constitute grounds for an F?

@ScottSeidman I feel an important bit of information has been left out in this question:  When was the final assignment due and when was the final day of classes?  OP states he had a C on the final exam, and usually a final comes after the last assignment's due date.  I am wondering if OP inquired about lack of a grade on the final assignment at any time between its submission and the final day of classes.  If OP just sat on his laurels from the submission date until the time his laptop was assaulted with cereal......

I like this answer. @OmarDonas - I would add, you will get better results with a more neutral, concise way of writing about the problem and your proposed solution.


text:
How would you rate the UK Open University's math BSc programme relative to prestigious ones?
The Open University has a "BSc Honours" degree in mathematics, having its programme of study described here. The courses, divided into modules, are grouped there and listed by three stages roughly corresponding to years of study.
To me it looks like an applied mathematics curriculum, but I could be wrong about that.
What would be your take, if you are intimately familiar with other mathematics BSc programmes and perhaps even with this particular one? Are there key aspects you find neglected in this programme?

Sorry, this is a shopping question, and as such I'm voting to close.

The question is too specific about one particular programme at one particular university to be useful to other readers in this Q&A format and is likely to be closed.
However, despite saying that, it touches on an area worthy of answer.

However: tl;dr Yes, it is considered equivalent to all other UK Honours degrees in Mathematics by other universities and would be acceptable for any postgraduate studies.

Now to the detail.
Some might consider it less worthy because it has no specific entry requirements. This is because it is designed to provide a route for a university education for those who may find themselves unable to attend a regular university programme. In particular the university was created to educate the late returned to higher education and permit them to traverse any glass ceiling or financial burden that previously might have held them back. This is a false premise. Students have to undertake rigorous studies and complete the same assessments at the same levels as students elsewhere, and in addition they often do this whilst still in employment or in a caring role. Many consider an OU achievement as more worthy because of this.
Some might consider it  less worthy because it is based on distance learning withe most of the delivery being done by the medium of the internet, videos and downloaded material. Very much like a MOOC.
This also is a false premise. The OU was very early in the development of remote online teaching and is considered the forerunner and exemplar of this mode of delivery which has been honed by them over the last 50 years. It delivers results and has developed techniques in educational technology that are the envy of other institutions. In this era of lockdowns and isolations many universities are having to rapidly catch up with what the OU has been doing for decades.

So I am tempted to say: What pre-conceptions did you have about their style of education that made you think their qualifications were in any way lesser in value?

OU also has a system of "local" TAs so that students can get individual help. That is also very unlike the typical MOOC.

@Buffy Thanks for the further detail. It is hard to be concise and accurate without risking omitting something important!

It's not a single course, it is a single BSc programme, unless we are using different terminology. And no, I implied no pre-conception in neither direction.


text:
Copyright and Plagairism Policy for Reviewers of a Rejected Paper
I've read today a paper about my research field that seems similar to my submission (rejected) to a conference. It includes ideas, some scientific elements, and concepts but is not exactly a word-to-word copy of my work. I'm not sure this is plagiarism.
Could you guide me how to investigate this issue? Is there any way to find who had access to my submission in a double blind review?

I'm pretty sure that you won't be told who had access to your submission absent a lawsuit, which I don't advise. However, you might be able to instigate an investigation by contacting the conference chair (or program chair,...) of the conference you submitted to.
You could send both your own work and a reference to the other work you found to the chair and ask for an investigation. The chair knows who saw your paper and might be able to establish an improper connection if such exists. I wouldn't express it as a complaint or an accusation, but simply a request that the committee investigate.
However, even if such an investigation is undertaken, and it might not be, you might never hear the results. This could be true even if sanctions were applied to another researcher.
On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence in the history of the world of parallel research and independent researchers coming to the same conclusions nearly simultaneously. Newton and Leibniz parallel investigations that led to the Calculus is a classic example.
While we like to think that our thoughts are our own, it is usually true that we build on the shoulders of others. The giants that you had access to are also accessible to others. Your insights might be shared, especially in any field that is especially active.

I'll note that while copyright law varies around the world, your claim of copyright might be weak if your paper hasn't been published anywhere. This might be mitigated if you put an explicit copyright claim in the paper itself, but local laws will determine that.

Other than possibility of the issue, my submission was rejected; while, that paper has been awarded 1st Best Paper! This is not fair. I'm feeling so sad!

Thanks for giving the information, Buffy. I will negotiate with the co-chair of the conferences.

@Mohamad, I'm going to just guess here that the committee received two papers that were quite similar. They couldn't accept both. Given that the other was valued very highly, doesn't mean that yours was considered low quality. While you feel sad, of course, you might take heart that your ideas, at least, seem valued. The second racer in a contest feels bad, but might have done extremely well in absolute terms. It feels terrible to run at world record times only to finish  second.

I do appreciate your comment. No, That paper was published within about a year of my submission date. I will investigate the issue for myself as well as other real researchers. You're right ...While you feel sad, of course, you might take heart that your ideas, at least, seem valued...

@Mohamad, sorry, no. I prefer to keep my anonymity here.


text:
Is it practical to pursue AERO-MS in Europe?
I have an affinity for Germany, and I've heard a lot about the growing value of international experience, so I'm entertaining the possibility of applying for an MS at a German institution. However, I'm afraid that leaving the US to study aerospace engineering is a bad idea because the US leads the aerospace industry (NASA budget > ESA budget, best aero university rankings, US institutional inertia, etc).
Thus, is it impractical for a US undergrad in aerospace engineering to pursue an MS in Germany?
I don't think it's impractical if I'm looking at the complete package of new knowledge/research, new engineering outlook, and cultural diversity, but I'd like to hear y'all's thoughts. I just learned about the DLR's masters programs, so keep 'em coming!

What do you mean by "practical"? Please edit your question to clarify your specific concerns.

Are you planning to get a PhD afterwards (either in Germany or the US)?

I don't think it is practical, in the sense that you would have to relocate to a foreign country, where people speak a different language. On the other hand, having studied for my MS in two different countries I find the perspective this experience gave me invaluable, so I suggest you go for it. By the way, I think that your statistical sample is very skewed. AIAA is an American institution, so I assume these conferences were in the US: one would then expect that most (if not all) Europeans there would have, in your words, an affinity for the US.

@Niko If I pursue a PhD, I'd like to study/research it in the US

Why would it be a step back? After all, a large part of the Rosetta/Philae mission last year was planned and executed by German researchers.
You can just apply to any MS program (or just to the programs which are held in English if your German isn't good enough) and get a decent MS over here, but if you want to pursue a specific goal and do a really great MS, you should scout out MS thesis opportunities before you come.
Find a professor at a German university whose research you're interested in and apply for the MS there. Or line up a thesis opportunity at one of the research organizations and then apply to the MS program that the institution is affiliated with.
For example, the DLR (German Aerospace Center) offer MS thesis topics.
"every European student I met at an AIAA conference" is a very small subset of every European AERO student. And they've probably heard a lot about "the growing value of international experience", too, so it's natural for them to want to come to the US since they already speak English.

Hmm, I hadn't considered the DLR's MS programs. I think I need to research grad school in Germany before I do anything else.

Absolutely yes, it is practical and No it is not step back.
I think your fear is based on anecdotal experience, you met somewhere some student and they express doing MS in USA?? I dont think so, most students go to study PhD in USA not MSc, primarily because it is easier and less stressful ( In germany, you get a working contract and have specific amount of years to finish 3years or rarely 4) Also MSc in germany are free, so I cannot understand logic behind going to do MSc in USA.
educational and research part depend on institution that you choose, but other positive aspects could be living in totally different part of the world and finishing studies can maybe give you some skills that you wouldnt have if you stayed in USA ( Honestly, I cant tell you any particular one, for me MSc was just continuation of BSc degree, but surely in today's world this kind of mobility is favorable) EU invest a lot of educational budget into mobility schemes (Erasmus+, erasmus Mundus, CEEPUS, WERAMED...etc)

why people are not explaining downvotes??

Probably because it's not well organized and is hard to read because of the typos and run-on sentences.


text:
How to change a style guide
I'm an engineering graduate student whose high school English teachers drilled to use active voice. Now that I'm reading and writing technical papers, I can't stand the often ambiguous and verbose passive voice that most peers use to seem "objective".
To use a simple example, writing:

The X experiment was conducted to test for Y.

Instead of

We conducted X experiment to test for Y.

does not change the fact that you conducted said experiment and you are sharing your results and your thoughts on this experiment. Moreover, the simple passive sample uses 11% more space than its active equivalent (45 char vs 40 char), and the difference in length can increases in more complex sentences.
Some publications, like Nature, recognize active's advantages* and encourage active voice. However, the leading publication in my field (and my adviser) only accepts passive voice in its style guide. How would somebody (or some people) amend this requirement to at least accept active voice?
To be clear, I fully realize changing this is beyond the scope of action for a single grad student (I also don't want to "die for this hill"). However, I do want to learn how a publication may come to change its writing requirements.

Professors: think of the active voice's spatial advantages in terms of page limits...

This has been covered in several other questions here. A site search for "passive voice" will turn up  a lot of advice. Changing style guides, however, is up to an editorial board of a specific journal. Perhaps asking them would give you some information about the question.

It is a different writing style, that is all. If you had learned technical writing first you would be driven crazy by your English teachers instead. And, as my old APS style guide says, "The passive is often the most natural way to give prominence to the essential facts ... (Who cares who turned the valve?)" - if it indeed matters that you turned the valve, something is wrong with the experiment.

Submit to another journal?

@JonCuster "Who cares who turned the valve" exactly, nailed in one, I would suggest this should be an answer, but it would be down to opinion...

@JonCuster I understand your POV that the "who" doesn't matter, but active voice can often yield shorter and more concise sentences. I think banning this outright hampers the spread of scientific knowledge.

As an individual you might not be able to change the style guide, but David Mermin would encourage you to fight for your own writing.

Note that the APS Style Guide does not ban active voice at all - indeed it says "But avoid the passive if it makes the syntax inelegant or obscure". Yet my English teachers indeed tried to ban use of the passive voice in school compositions even when it made for better sentences. Again, different styles, that is all...


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Is it normal to be stopped from doing experiments for months due to "equipment malfunctioning" during masters?
I am currently doing a medical science research masters with a difficult supervisor. Due to two incidents of equipment malfunctions (equipment that I am using), I was stopped from doing any experiments for more than three months in total. During the three months I did almost nothing. Over the entire 6 months that I have been here, I have only had one month during which I was able to generate any sufficient results (the other months I was learning the technique).  My supervisor rejected my proposal to switch to a new technique or use a different equipment set-up. What worries me is that I won't be able to gather sufficient results to write my thesis by July (which is the deadline), and I haven't even started my masters project.
I am wondering whether anybody else has similarly experienced this situation before and whether this is normal during your PhD i.e. doing absolutely nothing for 3 months or more due to the excuse of "equipment faults"? Do you just switch to a different experiment or part of the project which utilize different techniques? Could somebody please help me understand why my supervisor is doing this - is this normal for labs which lack funding?
What should I do? Should I make a formal complaint to the university about my masters supervisor? If I do so, I am afraid that the animosity between me and my supervisor will be beyond repair and he will not support me at all in finishing in time for the deadline. If it keeps on like this, I won't get enough results to sufficiently write the project thesis.

You say you're doing a master's and then ask if the situation is normal in a PhD. I don't think that would help you much: a three-month delay in a PhD is a much smaller fraction of the total time than a three-month delay in a master's degree.

In experimental sciences, such incidents are unfortunately common.  I do a lot of work in synthetic biology, for example, and it's not unusual to have a lab run into serious equipment or materials problems that significantly delay the work of the lab.  For example, one lab I was working with had a critical machine start producing strange results and it took a couple of months, several corrupted experiments, more than one technician visit, and also a change of protocols in order to debug it.
If the lab you are in is actively working to fix the equipment issues, and it is just taking a long time, that would not be unusual.  If they are not but are just neglecting it, then that is a very bad sign and you need to talk to the people who run your program to find out what to do.
In either case, you should make arrangements, either with your advisor or with the program heads, about how to adjust expectations given the equipment problems. Equipment issues should not be your problem or delay your graduation at a Masters level (Ph.D. is a different matter).

Thank you very much for your reply. The problem seems to be the latter- the equipment that was at fault needed to be shipped overseas for repairs and it has taken my supervisor at least 2 months to do this (although whether the equipment is still in his office at the monent I don't know). This is not particularly difficult... All he needed to do was to fill in some forms and to package this for shipping overseas...

@anonymousmastersstudent Then you really need to talk with the people in charge of your program (probably the department head), and look for a solution that will allow you to graduate.  Remember: it's just a Masters thesis, and the requirement for such is generally that you demonstrate the ability to carry out a high-skilled technical project, not that you produce novel research.

Get a new mentor. Although calendar days have gone by,you have not lost much time on your thesis project because you have not been allowed to get any experiments done.  Find a new mentor in the department OR you can also go outside the department as long as that person has an adjunct or other appointment, or the dept. chair is willing to give them one.
Talk to the chair or some depts. will have a senior faculty assigned to herd students.
You can research funding sometimes through the university resources AND you can go direct to the NIH website to find who has funding and how long it lasts.  Pick someone who has money, has a good track record with students and has students that have gone on to post-docs in good labs.  This is more important than the exact research area, it is most important to get a good mentor who can imbue you with the skills to make it in the long run.  Your current mentor is clearly NOT that.
Get a new mentor and get going! Good luck.
p.s. you could try to find another lab that will let you use their equipment, but just ask your self what is going to happen next in the current lab?

This seems to be the nuclear option. You don't think that discussing with the advisor would be a good first move? Find out why the advisor thinks that changing track is a bad idea?

This has apparently already been discussed "my supervisor rejected this proposal".  I am also cuing on: 1. lack of funding in the lab, 2. thesis expected to be finished by July ( probably not going to happen at this point), 3. "difficult supervisor", a student should never be alone with the wolves.  Thus my suggestion that instead of a "formal complaint" that the student talk to the chair or other appropriate dept. resource or the dean about how to get into a lab and get going on a project that won't take years. On a Master's a good solid one years work would be my expectation.

Thank you very much for your reply. The problem I haven't mentioned is that I have a PhD lined up starting in October, so in order to finish my masters in time I need to make sure that I have to submit my thesis by July with no other choice if I am able to complete the course. Therefore, I need to generate enough results to sufficiently write my thesis in 4 months. What should I do?

Again, you have got to talk to the chair, faculty assigned as research coordinator or dean ASAP.  If your PhD program is at another institution then you may end up having to talk to the chair or head of the admissions committee there also, depending on what happens with your current masters track.  Talking to the higher-ups in the department or school is perfectly reasonable and expectable.  These are the persons that have control, power and responsibility to help you get things straightened out and going forward.


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Publishing: Is working at home perceived as unprofessional?
I've done research work entirely at home, it is completely unrelated to my thesis. I am going to publish it in some journal.
Although I am aware that I should not use my affiliation, and it is possible to publish without it, I am unsure about if it would turn into a disadvantage in the following sense: 1) Chances to be accepted for publishing (In real world!). 2) Perceived value of the work (for example, for future opportunities to obtain a post-doc position).
Also, the work could not be done in the same way, if someone close to me has not lent me his personal computer  (which is far more powerful than mine, but a regular PC) for few days. Does it look unprofessional to add acknowledgement to "Mr. X" (instead an institution) for providing the computational resources? Considering that, no unusual computational resources are needed (an ~400/500 USD PC in US), in a field where most first world research groups have very high computational power.
I know how it should be in theory, but I am looking for sincere answers about how  (in real world) the worldwide scientific community perceive about it, for both, chances of publication and future jobs. Any interesting consideration that I did not notice is welcome.
Edit:
Currently I am doing my PhD in a research institute which depends on one of the more recognized universities of my country. I have already published using this affiliation and using it wouldn't be a problem.

Are you a student, postdoc, or staff (faculty or professional research staff)?

@BillBarth , Thanks for reply. I edited the answer for clarification.

"I am aware that I should not use my affiliation" - shouldn't you? I'd have qualms listing, say, a commercial employer unrelated to any research as my affiliation in a paper on research conducted entirely in my spare time. But if your affiliation is a university department, it could well be justifiable to list it, if only because the daily work there gives you the motivation and operational skills to conduct research and write a paper. Or, maybe expressed in a more succinct way: Once your job is being part of the research world, the boundaries between on-duty and off-duty get very blurry ;)

@O.R.Mapper, I'd like to see that comment turned into an answer I could upvote.

@BillBarth: I would post it as an answer, but it wouldn't be fitting for this question.

I'm still trying to figure out why one would not use their normal professional affiliation for the work.

@JonCuster: To some extent, this is touched upon in another question.

You are asking a lot of questions here, some of which are duplicates or near duplicates to existing questions. Can you please browse the [tag:independent-researcher] tag and reduce your question to one question?

@JonCuster , Many factors. I had a lot of difficulties in publishing previously at "work" (lack of minimal resources, or lack of conditions to send a manuscript) that forced me to work at home in insane extra time (on unrelated things) to stay in the system. Also, I am not a formal worker even if my production does not belong to me. I found more difficult to find reasons to use affiliation.

@Wrzlprmft I found questions and the corresponding answers both from an ideal/theoretical/legal view point. I wish to know about how it works in real life.

No one will know that you are unaffiliated since you are free to put your research institute as an affiliation. Your institute might even be upset if you don't since you did this work while in their employment even if your contract doesn't give them rights to it if done on your own time at home using equipment that does not belong to them. If you put them as your affiliation, someone will eventually notice and may come asking questions. As such, it would probably be best to show this work to your employer through your current line manager/PhD supervisor and ask for their advice. It's likely that with some help you and your advisor will be able to publish this article together. This is how it works in the "real" world.
My favorite publication of my own was mostly done at home and in notebooks I bought myself while a student. I eventually passed it by my PhD advisor, he made some edits and suggested some changes, helped rewrite the introduction and conclusions, checked the math, and we eventually published a paper together. It was a very satisfying way to bring my side-project to a close. The material never even appeared in my dissertation (as I didn't do a so-called stapler thesis).

I would add: Do you spend all 40 hours/week at work, never doing unrelated things there, so that you don't consider your work from home as "home office"?

@yo', that didn't seem relevant to me. I was doing my job as a GRA and going to classes during my "at work" time, and then I was working on my side project at home and in coffee shops when not "at work". I assume the same from OP.

Ah ok. Well, it seems relevant to me because I can surely say that I spent less time at work, working from whereever I was at that time, including home, holidays, ...

@yo', I didn't take this as a "may I do my job from home" question but more as a "may I have side projects and label myself as an independent researcher while a student" question. I think the answer to the former is yes, and the latter is also "yes, but there's no need to do so".

Thank you. I clearly understand your point, and I followed this line of thought in the past. As consequence, the publication had a delay of more than one year, as once invited my advisor to sing on the manuscript I can't move freely. The manuscript was edited. Because of my position I had to accept the changes (cosmetics that supposed to say exactly the same, but to my  eyes many changes induced subtle conceptual mistakes). The final result was a paper that I would strong criticize (if it was not mine ;-)), and a non exclusive authorship. That would be very valuable for a future position.

That said. It is not an option to me, as I need soon make my CV grows. There have been a lot of things that do not depends on me that prevent me to have more published papers. The only way I found to publish papers fast is doing it in spare time. It is very stressful add 50-60 hours a week during months because of that. It is not about "I whish to involve myself in other project". It is publish or die. That is why my first interest is the external perception about the professionalism.

@user1420303, I haven't been on an academic hiring committee, but I don't find that my field values sole authorship. Is that a clear need in your field? Also, unless your advisor is trying to take the priority author position on the article (which is highly field-dependent and may not exist), you can probably get them to work a little faster to get the paper out, especially if it's nearly done.

Because of my position I had to accept the changes — [citation needed]  Because of your position as coauthor, you had every right to object to changes by your other coauthor(s).

@BillBarth  Not a clear need, but I think that for someone that will decide to get an employer, it is more reliable to be"The one who invented method X", because it assures that this person has all the capabilities needed and the complete understanding of the work.
Last time, the paper was already done(all by myself at home), in every aspect (from the original idea to the manuscript writing), but it took many months to be read (just 1 second to sign as author). I didn't win anything being generous, just the need of working 100 hours a week. If I get nothing from Y,why include Y again at all?

@JeffE It is not about right, it is about power. I had the right of publish it by myself. I did everything, at home, far away from the scope of my thesis and my advisor field of expertise, with my personal resources in my spare time.
I objected many many changes. Every one of the first objections (let say 10-15) were very well received. Then, not so well... Then I noticed that I should stop.

@user1420303, I don't think that what you want to do will be perceived as anything by any community. If you are listed in the priority author slot for your community (first, last, etc), then you will also gain the prestige for the method. Most communities are aware of this practice.


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Literature review in thesis and research paper
What are the major differences between a thesis and research paper literature review? Despite the volume of literature citations between thesis and research article what are the  other major differences?

A literature review in a thesis is there to put your own work into context. It should make it clear that you are familiar with what has been done in the field before, that there is a gap that your work will address, and that you have chosen your approach to the problem carefully in light of previous work.
A literature review section in an original research paper has a similar purpose, but should be much shorter. It should focus on making clear why your work is needed.
A stand-alone review paper has a very different purpose. A review paper should help readers to understand the state of the art in the field with respect to the review topic. It should cover important recent contributions to the field (and make clear why they are important). It should document recent trends and changes (for instance, if one theory or method seems to be falling out of favour while others are emerging). It should document important open challenges and problems.
In all types of literature review, it is important to show critical thinking: not just covering what has been done before, but thinking about how appropriate or successful that work was, or how relevant to current circumstances.

Let me first help you reframe the question slightly: What kind of literature review is necessary to support a thesis, what kind of literature review is necessary to support a research article, and how are these two types of literature review different?
It is hard to give a general answer, because there are many different kinds of theses (and thus different kinds of literature reviews to support them) and different kinds of research articles (and thus different kinds of literature reviews to support them, too). However, in general, I could say:

The purpose of a thesis is to partially demonstrate your qualification to receive an academic degree, usually a graduate degree. From this perspective, the best answer concerning what is expected in the literature review is: Ask your supervisor! Different supervisors have different expectations, and so no matter what kinds of general answers you might find here on Stack Exchange, what your supervisor thinks is what really matters. You wouldn't want to spend a lot of time doing work based on what you've read on the Internet, only to find that your supervisor in fact has very different ideas on this point. That said, I would say that in general that a doctoral thesis literature review should serve three main purposes:

Prove that your thesis contribution is original: Show that in spite of all the related and similar work that you are presenting in the literature review, what you are offering as your main research in the thesis is original and different from what anyone has ever done.
Demonstrate your knowledge of relevant literature: Prove that you have read very broadly and are a general expert in the topic of your thesis and in related work.
Contribute to the scholarly conversation: By reviewing related work, you can present how your thesis fits in the ongoing research stream and adds to what is already known, and establishes a platform upon which other researchers can further build.

The purpose of a research article is to make a concise original contribution to knowledge. In general, you should write everything you need to present the new knowledge, but you should not waste your readers' time by writing any more than is necessary. Thus, the literature review here is the minimum needed to help present the new knowledge. From that perspective, while all the three points above for a thesis are still relevant, points #1 and #2 (prove originality and demonstrate your knowledge of the literature, respectively) should be heavily abbreviated and are less important. #3 (contribute to the scholarly conversation) is probably the most important aspect for a research article literature review: you need to explain what the related work is, where it has gone so far, where your new contribution fits, and where you or others can go on in the future. (Strictly speaking, the last aspect on where to go in the future usually goes in the conclusion section, but you should have this in mind as you prepare the literature review section.)

A thesis generally grants a diploma. Its literature review possesses a part narrowed down to the part where the (junior) researcher is supposed to bring "novelty" or "innovation".
An overview paper generally has at least a more senior author, since more experience is required to compare approaches. There, the authors may credit less known  sources, the ones a junior may have overlooked, or spot the major paths. Since they will not be awarded a diploma, wisdom is what readers will look at. However, such a paper may attract more citations than a thesis.
Finally, PhD or MSc students should be advised that a thesis is a good place to learn and prepare for a review paper, later. In some fields (I think about bioinformatics) brand new "doctors" sometimes publish survey papers comparing the most recent works, in short-time frame reviews.