ANNT member Amina Seferagić will give a lecture and a soft skills workshop at STEM Youth Camp 2022. From Belgium, Amina tells us her career story and invites you to apply for SYC 2022 https://www.annt.ba/bs/article/89/stem-youth-camp-syc-2022
“I am a postdoctoral researcher in the field of wireless networks at the Internet and Data Science Laboratory of the research and development institute for nano- and digital technologies „imec“ and at Ghent University in Belgium. We work on the modelling, evaluation and optimisation of wireless networks, which includes all networks from mobile (5G/6G), through Wi-Fi, of which there are many variants, Bluetooth and long-range networks such as LoRaWAN and Sigfox, to satellite communications. My colleagues and I deal with 2 aspects of communication: the physical one (radio waves of a certain frequency and certain coding emitted by antennas, how to change frequencies as efficiently as possible, how to convert bits into a radio signal, how to encode the maximum number of bits, how to create a signal with as little interference as possible and as little susceptible to interference as possible, etc.) and the data link one, which defines medium access control - in this case the medium is air.
I work on this layer, which involves creating algorithms for efficient medium access (transmissions that occur on the same frequency at the same time collide and data is lost), which is particularly challenging in large networks with thousands of nodes, such as sensor networks in the Internet of Things (IoT). I spend most of my working day at the computer, where I model networks and code protocols and optimisation algorithms. When I achieve the desired network performance in a simulator or emulator, I then test the network on real sensor nodes in a test centre and then, if required, in the field. We are currently verifying a new system we have developed for multimodal communication between vessels, which will enable applications on vessels to use all network interfaces simultaneously, which will greatly increase data transfer speeds, so I will spend most of the coming days on ships in the port of Antwerp.
It is possible to do network research from BiH, but as far as I know this is only possible at universities (paid). If there are enthusiasts who would like to use the test centres, they can get remote access and control the devices from a computer at home, free of charge.
Programming is the basic skill needed for this job. Of course, this involves several programming languages and tools, and an understanding of operating systems, because the solutions we develop need to work on all the operating systems they are developed for. It also certainly requires an understanding of computer networking concepts, the ability to process large datasets, critical thinking and data analysis in order to extrapolate valid conclusions from datasets.
From this point my career can go in two directions: academic or industrial. An academic career would mean greater involvement in teaching at the faculty and supervising more students on their theses (master's and PhD); currently my involvement in teaching is up to 10% of my working time. This would allow me to design future research projects myself and research what interests me personally. An industrial career can go in several directions: programming, devops, embedded systems, telecommunications, data science.
I finished the First Gymnasium in Sarajevo. I considered Applied Mathematics at the Faculty of Science (PMF UNSA) and Automatic Control and Electronics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (ETF UNSA), which is what I eventually chose. My secondary school love of mathematics still exists, and I am still a little sorry that I am not exclusively a mathematician, although my current job involves some mathematics (probability, statistics, transforms, …). I chose ETF because at that time I thought career opportunities in BiH were better for engineers; I did not plan to do a PhD or leave the country. What I did not understand is that applied mathematics is very much applicable, especially in engineering; I think career opportunities are good for mathematicians today too, because they can work in the fields of artificial intelligence, which is typically associated with software engineers.
A professor at my faculty recommended that I apply for a PhD position, which I did. That is the only PhD application I sent, in my fifth year of studies; I had not yet graduated. Since I had studied Automatic Control and Electronics, I thought my chances of getting this position were very small (computer science and informatics, and telecommunications, are more relevant for it). Honestly, I did not put in much effort. All that was needed was a CV and a motivation letter, and a couple of letters of recommendation. The selection process had 3 steps: the first filter based on the submitted documents, the second filter based on a non-technical interview with a professor, which broadly covers experiences and expectations, ambitions, etc. And the last filter was a technical interview with 2 professors. I was convinced they would not offer me the position, but I was obviously wrong. I think they chose me because I had worked on quite a few multidisciplinary projects at university and because I did an internship every summer (also different ones). I think this gave the impression that I cope well with unknowns, which is key for a researcher's job. The PhD position is paid; the salary is slightly higher than an engineer's starting salary. I had 13.5 salaries (12 salaries for each month, a bonus equal to one salary in June for the summer holiday, and another bonus equal to half a salary for the winter holiday). I paid tuition fees every year. IDLab pays all conference fees, travel costs, publication costs, equipment purchases, etc.
I think it is important not to “just study”. Everyone graduates from university today. What you do during your studies means much more in applications like this one, and others too. How proactive you have been speaks of your curiosity. I think you should choose challenging and interesting projects at university, list them all in your CV and document them well in case someone wants to look at them later, and do extracurricular projects/internships.”
