This post is long over due.
The entry exams for PhD candidates were held in my school last November. We called it "Concours taa' sursis". That is to say: an exam you pass to get a military service reprieve. It sounds funny, and somewhat superficial, yet it says a depressing lot!
For one, the fact that doctoral studies in one of the most prestigious engineering schools in the country are but a joke: Corrupted administration, labs that look like industrial revolution-themed museums, and enough paperwork to document the human history, before you hope to touch any sort of funding! Two reasons graduates take the doctoral exam: Military Service Reprieve (Sursis in French) and the right to occupy a room at the student dormitory!
The lodging problem is universal to all citizens, it is not a specification to new graduate engineers. But it's worth mentioning. For those who aim to work away from their home towns, which is not much of a choice most of the time, finding a roof is mandatory and hence problematic. New graduates wander around between distant parents, dorm rooms, and motels for a decent amount of time before they find shelter they can afford.
La bête noire though, is the infamous sursis! Virtually no company will hire you unless you provide justified explanation regarding your situation visa-vi the military service. It's effing frustrating and gets more dangerous as time goes by. You see, failing to join the ranks of the army in time, will earn you a research warrant which'll practically destroy your national and international mobility.
Trying to get my head around the very concept of military service fries my brain! Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the most effective way a freshly graduate engineer can contribute to the blooming of his country, is by doing, I don't know ... Engineering? maybe? It sure as hell isn't by scrubbing toilets and wielding fire arms! Then again, who am I to defy the great minds who rule over poor little me?
"Neddi l'Bac w nethenna", "Nerfed Diplôme w nethenna"* ... the kind of lies my classmates and I told ourselves for as long as I can remember. After the intoxicating haze of celebration would fade, the truth we tossed away to the corner of our minds would burst in an anti-climax of will power.
It never got better, it should have, and it looked like it did, but it didn't! Disappointment after disappointment ate away the thought that we could even hope to change anything. Whether you wanna do scientific research, work at a decent company, or mount your own start-up .. whether you wanna leave the country or stay put ... whether you wanna get married and start a family, work to build your country, or change the world .. someone or something out there, will make it their burden that your dreams will forever be dreams, and that you will only "tethenna" under a pile of dirt!
Neddi l'Bac w nethenna: I pass my Baccalaureate and be at peace. Baccalaureate is the university entry exam in Algeria.
Nerfed Diplôme w nethenna: I get my diploma and be at peace.
The entry exams for PhD candidates were held in my school last November. We called it "Concours taa' sursis". That is to say: an exam you pass to get a military service reprieve. It sounds funny, and somewhat superficial, yet it says a depressing lot!
For one, the fact that doctoral studies in one of the most prestigious engineering schools in the country are but a joke: Corrupted administration, labs that look like industrial revolution-themed museums, and enough paperwork to document the human history, before you hope to touch any sort of funding! Two reasons graduates take the doctoral exam: Military Service Reprieve (Sursis in French) and the right to occupy a room at the student dormitory!
The lodging problem is universal to all citizens, it is not a specification to new graduate engineers. But it's worth mentioning. For those who aim to work away from their home towns, which is not much of a choice most of the time, finding a roof is mandatory and hence problematic. New graduates wander around between distant parents, dorm rooms, and motels for a decent amount of time before they find shelter they can afford.
La bête noire though, is the infamous sursis! Virtually no company will hire you unless you provide justified explanation regarding your situation visa-vi the military service. It's effing frustrating and gets more dangerous as time goes by. You see, failing to join the ranks of the army in time, will earn you a research warrant which'll practically destroy your national and international mobility.
Trying to get my head around the very concept of military service fries my brain! Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the most effective way a freshly graduate engineer can contribute to the blooming of his country, is by doing, I don't know ... Engineering? maybe? It sure as hell isn't by scrubbing toilets and wielding fire arms! Then again, who am I to defy the great minds who rule over poor little me?
"Neddi l'Bac w nethenna", "Nerfed Diplôme w nethenna"* ... the kind of lies my classmates and I told ourselves for as long as I can remember. After the intoxicating haze of celebration would fade, the truth we tossed away to the corner of our minds would burst in an anti-climax of will power.
It never got better, it should have, and it looked like it did, but it didn't! Disappointment after disappointment ate away the thought that we could even hope to change anything. Whether you wanna do scientific research, work at a decent company, or mount your own start-up .. whether you wanna leave the country or stay put ... whether you wanna get married and start a family, work to build your country, or change the world .. someone or something out there, will make it their burden that your dreams will forever be dreams, and that you will only "tethenna" under a pile of dirt!
Neddi l'Bac w nethenna: I pass my Baccalaureate and be at peace. Baccalaureate is the university entry exam in Algeria.
Nerfed Diplôme w nethenna: I get my diploma and be at peace.
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